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Updated #1 in Workflow Automation & Agentsn8n.io
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n8n.io
53/100

n8n is a workflow automation platform for building multi-step workflows and AI agents with a visual editor plus code nodes, available as a hosted cloud service or as a free, self-hosted Community Edition.

Verdict: Independent users are largely positive: self-hosting keeps running costs low and flat, code nodes and branching handle logic that simpler tools cannot, and many now build workflows by having Claude drive n8n through its MCP server. The trade-off is that it is not really no-code, and self-hosters own the operational work, from security patches on exposed instances to expiring OAuth tokens and a bloating executions database. The sample leans heavily on r/n8n and r/selfhosted; about one in eight comments was promotional, including three accounts steering one thread toward the Blotato scheduler and plugs for Kareenos, Windmill, Ayrshare and a cheap VPS host.

23 positive9 mixed8 negativeacross 40 rated independent comments

Astroturf check12 of 100 comments read as promotion or coordinated seeding and were excluded.

What users like

  • Self-hosting keeps costs low and flat: users run it on a Raspberry Pi or a small VPS for a few dollars a month, and pricing is per workflow run rather than per step[1][2][3][4][5]
  • Code nodes, loops and branching handle complex logic and odd data transformations without workarounds[1][2][3][4]
  • Works well with AI assistants: users have Claude build and fix workflows through the n8n MCP server, though it still makes mistakes on complex expressions[1][2][3][4]
  • Execution logs and the visual flow make it easy to find the slow or failing step and to hand workflows to non-technical clients[1][2][3]
  • Teams depend on it for production workflows such as CRM and email automation, HR screening and finance processes[1][2][3][4]

What users complain about

  • Steeper learning curve than Make or Zapier, and self-hosting is beyond most people's idea of no-code[1][2][3][4][5]
  • Self-hosters carry the security risk: it has had pre-auth remote code execution CVEs, and webhook endpoints stay publicly reachable by design[1][2]
  • Ongoing maintenance: Google OAuth apps left in testing mode expire tokens every seven days and stop workflows, and an unpruned executions database (1.66 GB in one case) slows the instance[1][2]
  • Some developers find it unnecessary or limiting next to plain code, CI tools or AI coding agents[1][2][3][4]
  • Its fair-code license means it is not open source in the strict sense[1]

Best for

  • Technical builders and automation agencies who want code-level control
  • High-volume workflows where per-step pricing would get expensive
  • Teams that want to self-host and keep data on their own infrastructure

Skip it if

  • Non-technical users who want true no-code
  • Anyone unwilling to patch, secure and maintain a self-hosted instance
PricingVendor-statedFrom 20€/mo

Self-hosted Community Edition is free. Cloud plans billed annually: Starter 20€/mo (2.5k executions), Pro 50€/mo (10k executions); Business 667€/mo (40k executions, self-hosted only); Enterprise via sales. Executions count whole workflow runs, not steps. Annual billing saves 17%; cloud trial needs no card.

Source , checked 2026-10-14

In their own words

You can install n8n locally. On your desktop or on a dedicated device such as a raspberry pi. I have a raspberry pi running with n8n and it is a breeze. It performs really well. You can even have it talk with your local IoT by using the mqqt trigger node. It's a bit more complex if you want to run a good ai model locally though, but if you are just using the openai gpt4o-mini (which is really cost efficient) it is …
r/n8n2025-03-08in “A fully autonomous AI news agent in n8n”View on Reddit
I've done both for clients, and the deciding question for me is who runs it after I leave. If the client has nobody technical, n8n on a small server in their own account, on their card, is easier for them to live with than a Python service only I can debug. Hosting cost on a self-hosted box is usually a few bucks a month either way, so I charge for the build and a maintenance retainer and let them pay the infra direc…
r/n8n2026-10-05in “I'm a bit confused, I need your help”View on Reddit
Don't hand the client an engineering menu; picking the stack is your job, not theirs. They don't buy n8n or LangGraph; they buy "the problem goes away and stays gone." Pick off the problem: simple glue (sync, trigger, enrich) goes to n8n/Make, stateful/branching/agentic stuff with real retries goes to Python + FastAPI. On cost, you're not wrong that no-code gets expensive, but it only bites at volume, since Make and …
r/n8n2026-10-04in “I'm a bit confused, I need your help”View on Reddit
The hosting piece is usually pretty small. I run n8n on a DigitalOcean Droplet and even a modest one that can run Docker comfortably handles multiple clients' workflows without breaking a sweat, unless someone's firing thousands of executions per hour. Where it creeps toward $100 is almost always the API side. OpenAI calls, paid data enrichment, SMS or email services. That stuff scales with usage and is genuinely unp…
r/n8n2026-05-23in “How much does it actually cost per month to keep a client's n8n automation running?”View on Reddit
the real answer is n8n's ceiling is higher in three specific places: 1. code when you need it — a full JS/Python node anywhere in the flow. in make/zapier you eventually hit some transformation the built-in functions can't express and you're stuck doing gross workarounds. in n8n you just write ten lines of code and move on. 2. loops and branching that don't fight you. iterating over a few hundred items, merging bra…
Your Round 3 → Round 4 arc is painfully familiar. I went through almost the exact same progression last year. One thing that helped me avoid the full custom-Python trap was leaning harder into n8n's **Code node** for lightweight transforms and the **Execute Command** node to shell out to short scripts when I needed file I/O. It's not a full workspace, but for scoring leads and writing drafts, it was enough that I di…
r/n8n2026-05-17in “Tried n8n, Zapier, Make, and a custom Python script for the same agent workflow. Here's what stuck.”View on Reddit

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Frequently asked questions

Independent users are largely positive: self-hosting keeps running costs low and flat, code nodes and branching handle logic that simpler tools cannot, and many now build workflows by having Claude drive n8n through its MCP server. The trade-off is that it is not really no-code, and self-hosters own the operational work, from security patches on exposed instances to expiring OAuth tokens and a bloating executions database. The sample leans heavily on r/n8n and r/selfhosted; about one in eight comments was promotional, including three accounts steering one thread toward the Blotato scheduler and plugs for Kareenos, Windmill, Ayrshare and a cheap VPS host. n8n scores 53/100 from 40 independent comments (23 positive, 9 mixed, 8 negative).

Evidence base: 337 independent comments kept from 578 that mention n8n, after removing vendor accounts, self-disclosed employees and founders, affiliate links, service pitches and repeat promoters. Methodology.