n8n review

One execution per run, however many nodes you wire

n8n is workflow automation for people who outgrew Zapier's pricing and want more control. You build automations on a node canvas, connecting triggers and actions across 400+ apps, and you can drop into JavaScript or Python at any point when a prebuilt step does not exist.

Two things set it apart. First, it counts a whole workflow run as one execution, not one task per step, so complex workflows do not multiply your bill. Second, the core is source-available under the Sustainable Use License, so you can run the Community Edition on your own server for free and never see a usage meter at all.

Day to day it feels more like a developer tool than a no-code toy. That is the point. Native AI nodes, raw webhooks, custom code, and error branches are all there, so you rarely hit the wall you eventually hit in simpler builders.

Who should put n8n on a server

• Technical teams who can self-host and want unlimited automation without per-step billing
• Anyone building step-heavy or AI-driven workflows where Zapier's task meter gets expensive
• Builders who want to own their automation stack and keep data on their own infrastructure
• Developers who need code steps and webhooks alongside a visual canvas

Free on your own server, priced from 20 euros in the cloud

As of July 2026, the free path is the self-hosted Community Edition. You get unlimited workflows and unlimited executions on your own server, all the core nodes, code steps, AI nodes, and webhooks. There is no license fee, and the only cost is the server you run it on.

What free does not include: n8n Cloud. The hosted product has no free-forever tier, only a trial, after which Starter is 20 euros a month billed annually for 2,500 executions. Enterprise features like SSO, LDAP, and log streaming are also outside the free Community Edition.

The three limits: Docker, the denser canvas, and fair-code

Self-hosting is genuinely free but genuinely work. You need Docker or Node.js, a database, and the willingness to run updates and backups yourself. It is a straightforward evening for a developer and not a realistic path for a non-technical user, so read "free if you can run Docker" literally here.

The canvas has more surface area than Zapier's or Make's, and the first hour is slower because of it. If you want one two-step automation and nothing else, that depth is a cost.

There is also the license nuance. n8n is fair-code, not open source, so while you can self-host and modify it freely for your own use, you cannot resell it as a hosted service. For most readers that never matters, but it is worth knowing before you build a business on top of it.

Would we self-host it? Yes, if you can run a server

If you can run a server, n8n is the best free automation tool in this list, and its per-execution billing and self-hosting escape hatch are exactly what people leaving Zapier are looking for. If you cannot host anything, its cloud is capable but not free, and you should look at Make instead. Treat self-hosting as a real project, and treat "fair-code" as the honest label it is: source you can run and change, not source you can resell.