n8n review
Node-based workflow automation billed by execution, with a genuinely free unlimited self-hosted tier
Unpaid review. We currently earn nothing if you sign up for n8n — links here go straight to the vendor. We review it anyway because it's the honest answer, and scores never depend on commissions — how we test.
ToolsGavel verdict
n8n is the clearest structural outlier in this guide: it's the only tool here with a genuinely free, unlimited self-hosted option, and its Cloud plans bill purely on execution volume with no per-seat pricing at all. That makes it the right pick for a team with a developer on staff or real cost sensitivity at scale, not a first automation tool for a non-technical small-business owner. The learning curve, APIs, JSON, expressions, silent node failures, is the recurring theme across every review platform checked, and the "free" self-hosted tier still costs real labor even though it costs no money.
Audited price: €20/mo billed annually , €24/mo month-to-month (advertised: €24/mo (Starter, billed monthly)) — verified 2026-10-30.
Best for: Teams with a developer on staff who want unlimited automation on their own infrastructure, or technical buyers comfortable with APIs and JSON on n8n's paid Cloud plans
What we liked
- The only genuinely free, unlimited self-hosted option in this guide: no execution cap, no user cap, every integration, as long as a team can run its own server (n8n.io/pricing)
- No per-seat pricing anywhere in the Cloud ladder, so a 20-person team on Starter pays the same as a 2-person team at the same execution volume (n8n.io/pricing)
- The deepest technical control of the three tools: native code nodes, full HTTP/webhook access, and Git-based version control on Business and up (n8n.io)
- A strong G2 score, 4.7 out of 5 from 323 reviews, among the highest in this guide, from the population that uses the tool as intended (G2)
- Every Cloud plan includes unlimited workflow steps per execution, a generous allowance once a team clears the learning curve (n8n.io/pricing)
What to watch
- The steepest learning curve of the three: APIs, JSON data structures and n8n's own expression syntax are the dominant complaint theme across G2 and Capterra's negative reviews (G2 / Capterra)
- "Free" self-hosting carries real hidden labor: Docker or Kubernetes provisioning, SSL, backups and manual version upgrades are the team's responsibility, not n8n's (n8n.io)
- Support is forum-first even on the paid Starter and Pro Cloud tiers, a downgrade from Zapier's and Make's ticketed support (n8n.io)
- Pricing renders in euros only with no USD toggle, and Business-tier overage is a real invoice, €4,000 per extra 300,000 executions, if usage outgrows the plan and nobody upgrades first (n8n.io/pricing)
How much does n8n really cost?
| Advertised price | €24/mo (Starter, billed monthly) |
|---|---|
| Real monthly cost, billed annually | €20/mo |
| Real monthly cost, month-to-month | €24/mo |
| Month-to-month premium | +20% over the annual-billing rate |
| The billing catch | Pricing renders only in euros with no USD toggle, and hitting the Starter execution cap just pauses workflows until the next monthly reset rather than billing an overage. |
| Permanent free tier | Yes |
| Price last verified | 2026-10-30, against the live pricing page at n8n.io |
Model seats and billing cycles for n8n in the true-cost calculator, or see every audited price in the Pricing Gap Index.
Price watch
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n8n is a node-based workflow automation tool built for technical teams: a marketing-ops generalist will hit a real learning curve here, but a team with a developer on staff gets the deepest control of any tool in this guide, plus a genuinely free, unlimited self-hosted option. Cloud pricing runs from €24 to €667-plus a month depending on tier, metered by workflow executions rather than by step or task; the self-hosted Community edition is free forever, with no execution cap, for a team willing to run its own server. n8n’s pricing page renders only in euros, with no USD toggle found, so every price in this review is the vendor’s own figure, not a converted estimate. G2 rates it 4.7 out of 5 from 323 reviews, among the highest scores in this category, and the open-source Community edition has drawn more than 209,000 GitHub stars.
What n8n is for
n8n’s builder is node-based like Zapier’s or Make’s canvas, but it also exposes raw JavaScript and Python code nodes plus direct HTTP and webhook nodes, more technical depth than either competitor offers, and intentionally so. The self-hosted edition runs on a “fair-code,” source-available license: the code is visible and free to self-host, short of pure open-source, and it’s the only tool in this guide with a genuinely free, unlimited self-run option. Cloud plans add AI nodes and Assistant credits for agent-style workflows on top of the same node-based core. The project’s 209,000-plus GitHub stars on the Community repo signal real developer mindshare, even though that doesn’t translate into an easy onboarding for a non-technical buyer.
What you get on each plan
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per mo) | Executions/mo | Concurrency | Key limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | €24 | €20 | 2,500 | 5 | 1 shared project, AI nodes |
| Pro | €60 | €50 | 10,000 | 50 | 3 projects, workflow history, admin roles |
| Business | — | €667 (annual, self-hosted) | 40,000 | up to 50 | SSO/LDAP, queue mode, Git integration |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | 200+ | Unlimited projects, dedicated SLA support |
| Self-hosted Community | Free | — | Unlimited | Own infra | Open-source, unlimited workflows/users |
Annual billing saves roughly 17% versus monthly across the Cloud tiers. Every plan, Starter through Enterprise, bills purely on execution volume with unlimited users and unlimited workflows included; nothing in this ladder is priced per seat.
Executions, overage and self-hosting
An execution is one complete run of a workflow, trigger to finish, regardless of how many nodes sit inside it, a structurally different unit from Zapier’s per-action task or Make’s per-action credit. On Starter and Pro, Cloud’s two entry tiers, hitting 100% of the monthly execution quota simply pauses active workflows until the reset, with no surprise charge. On Business and Enterprise, both self-hosted, workflows keep running past the quota instead, and overage bills in buckets: €4,000 for every extra 300,000 executions, auto-invoiced about 45 days later if the account hasn’t upgraded first. The free Community edition sidesteps all of this: no execution cap, no user cap, every integration, run entirely on infrastructure the team owns and maintains. That maintenance is the real cost: Docker or Kubernetes provisioning, SSL, backups and version upgrades don’t happen on their own.
What users say in reviews
n8n’s review scores are the most internally consistent of the three tools in this guide: 
G2 rates it 4.7 out of 5 from 323 reviews, 
Capterra 4.6 out of 5 from 48, and 
Trustpilot 2.9 to 3.0 out of 5 from only about 50 reviews, a much thinner, noisier sample than the category norm rather than a settled verdict. Across the negative reviews on G2 and Capterra, one theme dominates: the learning curve. Reviewers describe needing working knowledge of APIs, JSON data structures and n8n’s own expression syntax before building anything past a trivial workflow, with debugging silently failing nodes as the most-cited frustration. A second, related theme is that self-hosting “looks free but isn’t free in practice,” given the Docker, SSL, backup and monitoring work it actually requires. Support on the lower Cloud tiers is forum-first, which a buyer used to Zapier’s or Make’s ticketed support may find like a step down exactly when they’re stuck.
Who should skip it
Skip n8n if there’s no developer on staff and the goal is a first automation tool; both Zapier and Make have a far gentler non-technical ramp, at the cost of a real monthly bill n8n’s free tier doesn’t carry. Skip the self-hosted route specifically if nobody on the team wants to own server maintenance: Docker, SSL renewal and backups are real, recurring work, not a one-time setup task. n8n earns its place for a technical team that wants unlimited execution volume without a per-seat bill, or genuine cost sensitivity at scale once a workflow is proven. For the full three-way breakdown and a worked cost example at real volume, see Best Workflow Automation Tools for Small Business.
Pricing note: n8n's pricing page renders only in euros, with no USD toggle found, so every figure here is the vendor's own EUR pricing, not a converted estimate. Billing meters workflow executions, not steps: one run from trigger to finish counts as one execution, no matter how many nodes it contains. Starter costs €24/mo billed monthly or €20/mo billed annually for 2,500 executions a month and 5 concurrent runs, with AI nodes and roughly 1,600 Assistant credits a month; no card is required for the free trial. Pro costs €60/mo monthly or €50/mo annually for 10,000 executions and 50 concurrent runs, adding workflow history and admin roles. Business, self-hosted only, runs €667/mo billed annually for 40,000 executions, adding SSO/LDAP, queue mode and Git integration. Enterprise is custom-priced for 200-plus concurrent runs. On Starter and Pro, hitting the monthly execution cap simply pauses workflows until the next reset, no surprise invoice. On Business and Enterprise, workflows keep running past the quota and overage bills in buckets, €4,000 per extra 300,000 executions, invoiced roughly 45 days later if the account doesn't upgrade first. Every Cloud tier is unlimited on users and workflows; nothing in this ladder is priced per seat. Annual billing saves roughly 17% versus monthly. The free, self-hosted Community edition runs on a team's own infrastructure with no execution cap, no user cap and every integration, at the cost of running and maintaining the server.
Frequently asked questions
How much does n8n cost?
n8n's Cloud plans are priced in euros, with no USD option found on the pricing page. Starter costs €24/mo billed monthly or €20/mo billed annually for 2,500 executions a month. Pro costs €60/mo monthly or €50/mo annually for 10,000 executions. Business, self-hosted only, runs €667/mo billed annually for 40,000 executions. Enterprise is custom-priced. The self-hosted Community edition is free forever, with no execution cap, if a team runs its own server.
Is n8n really free?
The self-hosted Community edition has no price tag and no execution cap, every integration included, but it isn't free in practice: someone has to provision a server, set up Docker and SSL, back it up and keep it updated. That's real ongoing labor, not a hidden fee, but it means "free" shifts the cost from a subscription to a person's time.
What counts as an n8n execution?
One execution is one complete run of a workflow, from the trigger to the last step, no matter how many nodes or steps are inside it. That's different from Zapier, which counts each action that fires separately, and from Make, which counts most actions as a credit. A five-step n8n workflow that runs 1,000 times a month uses 1,000 executions, not 5,000.
Is n8n harder to use than Zapier or Make?
Yes, by a wide margin according to the review record. The dominant complaint across G2 and Capterra's negative reviews is the learning curve: n8n expects working knowledge of APIs, JSON data structures and its own expression syntax before a non-trivial workflow comes together, and debugging a silently failing node is a common sticking point. It's built for a team with a developer on staff, not a first-time automator.
Does n8n charge per user?
No, not anywhere in its Cloud lineup. Every Cloud plan bills purely on monthly execution volume, with unlimited users and unlimited workflows included at every tier, a structural difference from Zapier's per-seat Team plan. See how that plays out at real volume in Best Workflow Automation Tools.
Bottom line
n8n is the clearest structural outlier in this guide: it's the only tool here with a genuinely free, unlimited self-hosted option, and its Cloud plans bill purely on execution volume with no per-seat pricing at all. That makes it the right pick for a team with a developer on staff or real cost sensitivity at scale, not a first automation tool for a non-technical small-business owner. The learning curve, APIs, JSON, expressions, silent node failures, is the recurring theme across every review platform checked, and the "free" self-hosted tier still costs real labor even though it costs no money.
