n8n
Connect your apps step by step on a canvas and add AI where a decision is needed. Use it hosted, or run it free on your own machine.
n8n is a workflow tool with ai agent steps from n8n GmbH. It has a free option, paid use starts at $24/mo, it is not open source, and setup is medium. Availability: Most countries, or anywhere if you self-host. We haven't tested it ourselves yet.
What it is
n8n is a workflow tool from n8n GmbH in Berlin. You lay out a job as steps on a canvas, like "new email arrives, read the PDF, add a row to a sheet", and add AI Agent steps that can read, decide and call tools. A newer Agents tab, still a preview, lets you set up an agent on its own. You can use the hosted n8n Cloud or install the free Community edition on your own computer or server.
What it costs
n8n plans
Official page- Community (self-hosted)$0You run it; server and AI model costs are yours
- Cloud free trial$014 days, Pro features, 1,000 runs
- Starter$24/mo$20/mo billed yearly. 2,500 runs a month
- Pro$60/mo$50/mo billed yearly. 10,000 runs a month
The Community edition is free to run on your own computer or server; you pay for the server and any AI model you connect. n8n Cloud has a 14-day free trial with no credit card.
Checked Oct 20, 2026. Prices in US dollars before tax.
Should you pick it?
- Pick it if you want a job to run the same way every time, with AI only for the steps that need judgment
- Pick it if you are fine spending an afternoon connecting apps on a canvas, or starting from a template
- Pick it if you want a free option you can run on your own computer
Watch out for
- If you don't pick a paid plan, the Cloud trial ends after 14 days and n8n deletes your workspace.
- Starter allows 2,500 runs a month and stops any single run after 5 minutes.
- Self-hosting is free, but keeping it running, backed up and updated is your job.
- The Agents tab is a preview. One person in our feed found it slow to call tools and moved back to the AI Agent step inside a normal workflow.
Real use cases in our feed (2)
Turn supplier invoice emails into a spreadsheet, with the sums checked before anything is saved
A consultant who builds workflows for small UK businesses shared a free n8n template. It only watches one Gmail label for supplier invoices, has an AI model read each PDF into fixed fields like supplier, dates, net, VAT and total, then checks the math in plain code: net plus VAT has to match the total and the line items have to add up. Invoices that pass go into a Google Sheet, and anything that fails lands on an Exceptions tab with the reason, so a person takes a look. She notes it can't read scanned invoices and doesn't catch duplicates yet.
Control your TV by chatting with an agent that never leaves your home network
The poster runs n8n on his own machine and built an agent he chats with to control his Roku TV. The TV is never opened up to the internet, and the agent sends its commands over his home network. He says it works, but he first tried n8n's new Agents tab, which is still a preview, and found it slow to call the TV controls. His fix is to use the AI Agent step inside a normal workflow instead.
Our test results
Not tested yet. We haven't run our own tests on this yet. When we do, results will appear here with the date, agent version, time, cost, how often we had to step in, and screenshots. How we test.
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Sources
- n8n pricing
- n8n Docs: Choose how to use n8n
- n8n Docs: Cloud free trial and plans
- n8n Docs: Host n8n yourself
- n8n license (GitHub)
- n8n blog: Cloud in Russia and Belarus
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