How much does n8n cost?

n8n uses a freemium model. Paid plans include Starter at 20€, Pro at 50€, and Business at 667€. Enterprise pricing requires contacting sales. The software is source-available and free to self-host, though commercial restrictions apply under its Fair-Code license.

No, n8n is not OSI-approved open source. It uses a Fair-Code license, meaning it is source-available. You can self-host it for free, but commercial restrictions apply. It is not a pure-code agent SDK or a strictly OSI-licensed framework.

Which AI models and vector stores does n8n support?

n8n is model-agnostic, supporting OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, Ollama, and local models. It also integrates with vector stores like Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, and Supabase pgvector. MCP servers are also available as first-class nodes for building RAG pipelines.

How does n8n compare to Zapier or LangChain?

n8n is a serious alternative to Zapier or Make for engineering teams, offering more control. Compared to LangChain, it is more pragmatic for ops/automation work, providing a visual UI plus code escape hatches. It includes production plumbing like cron triggers and webhooks that pure agent SDKs often lack.

What are the main limitations of n8n?

The Fair-Code license is not OSI-approved. Agent nodes are newer than core automation features, and debugging complex agents on large canvases can become unwieldy. It is not suitable if you require a strict OSI-licensed framework, a pure-code SDK, or a no-engineer-required tool.

n8n

✓ Editorially verified

Source-available workflow automation with first-class AI-agent and RAG building blocks.

Freemium· Starter: 20€ · Pro: 50€ · Business: 667€ · Enterprise: Contact SalesAgentsMulti-model8.3 / 10

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In short

n8n is a source-available visual workflow platform for building AI agents and RAG pipelines. It combines 500+ integrations with code escape hatches and production-ready plumbing like cron and webhooks.

Best for

Pick n8n if you want to build AI agents and RAG pipelines on top of real production plumbing you can self-host and version-control.

Skip if

Skip it if you need a strict OSI-licensed framework, a pure-code agent SDK, or a no-engineer-required tool like Zapier.

n8n is a visual workflow automation platform that has aggressively repositioned itself as an AI-agent orchestration tool. You drag nodes onto a canvas to wire 500+ integrations together, drop in JavaScript or Python where the UI runs out, and chain LLM calls into multi-step agents with branching, memory, RAG retrieval, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints. Unlike pure agent SDKs, it gives you the plumbing (cron triggers, webhooks, queues, retries, credential vault) that production automations actually need.

It's a serious alternative to Zapier or Make for engineering teams, and a more pragmatic alternative to LangChain for ops/automation work where you want a UI plus code escape hatches. The code is Fair-Code licensed (source-available, free to self-host but commercial restrictions apply), with a paid Cloud plan and an Enterprise tier that adds SSO, RBAC, audit logs, and external secret stores. The GitHub repo sits at ~194k stars, which is one of the largest communities in the automation space.

It's model-agnostic: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, Ollama, local models, vector stores (Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, Supabase pgvector), and MCP servers are all first-class nodes. The main caveats are that the Fair-Code license isn't OSI-approved, the agent nodes still feel newer than the core automation features, and complex agent debugging can get unwieldy on large canvases.

Editor's take

n8n is the most credible self-hostable home for AI agents right now. It splits the difference between a Zapier-style canvas and a LangChain-style framework, and the engineering team has been shipping agent and MCP features at a pace most competitors aren't matching. The Fair-Code license is the only real asterisk.

— The AI Tool Bible editorial team

Pros

✅ 500+ integrations plus arbitrary JS/Python escape hatches
✅ Self-hostable via Docker with full feature parity
✅ Native nodes for LLMs, vector DBs, RAG, and MCP
✅ Massive community (~194k GitHub stars) and node ecosystem
✅ Built-in cron, queues, retries, credentials, and audit logs

Cons

⚠️ Fair-Code license is not OSI-approved open source
⚠️ Agent debugging gets messy on large multi-branch canvases
⚠️ Cloud pricing scales by executions, can surprise heavy users
⚠️ Steeper learning curve than Zapier for non-engineers

Use cases

ai-agentsworkflow-automationrag-pipelinesdata-integrationwebhook-orchestrationinternal-tools

Frequently asked

How much does n8n cost?: n8n uses a freemium model. Paid plans include Starter at 20€, Pro at 50€, and Business at 667€. Enterprise pricing requires contacting sales. The software is source-available and free to self-host, though commercial restrictions apply under its Fair-Code license.
Is n8n open source?: No, n8n is not OSI-approved open source. It uses a Fair-Code license, meaning it is source-available. You can self-host it for free, but commercial restrictions apply. It is not a pure-code agent SDK or a strictly OSI-licensed framework.
Which AI models and vector stores does n8n support?: n8n is model-agnostic, supporting OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, Ollama, and local models. It also integrates with vector stores like Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, and Supabase pgvector. MCP servers are also available as first-class nodes for building RAG pipelines.
How does n8n compare to Zapier or LangChain?: n8n is a serious alternative to Zapier or Make for engineering teams, offering more control. Compared to LangChain, it is more pragmatic for ops/automation work, providing a visual UI plus code escape hatches. It includes production plumbing like cron triggers and webhooks that pure agent SDKs often lack.
What are the main limitations of n8n?: The Fair-Code license is not OSI-approved. Agent nodes are newer than core automation features, and debugging complex agents on large canvases can become unwieldy. It is not suitable if you require a strict OSI-licensed framework, a pure-code SDK, or a no-engineer-required tool.