Automation platforms like Zapier or Make have become essential allies for saving time and easily connecting online services. Yet, n8n takes a different approach: open-source, self-hosted, and highly customizable. Whether you’re a technical professional or a team looking to industrialize workflows without relying on a SaaS solution, n8n deserves your attention.
In this article, we’ll explore what sets n8n apart from other automation tools, its main advantages, common use cases, limitations, and situations where it truly shines.
In short: why choose n8n?
Launched in 2019, n8n is an open-source visual automation tool that allows you to connect different services and automate business processes, similar to Zapier or Make.
Where these platforms may quickly show their limits — mandatory cloud hosting, rigid integrations, or high per-action costs — n8n stands out with a much freer and customizable approach.
- Open-source: Its code is fully accessible and modifiable, supported by an active developer community.
- Self-hosted: Install n8n on your own servers and retain full control over your data.
- Highly flexible: Integrate JavaScript or Python code directly into your workflows, connect any API, and build advanced, tailor-made automations.
- Cost-efficient: Self-hosted n8n is free. On the cloud version, billing is based on the number of workflows, not each action executed.
What makes n8n unique
Unlike Zapier or Make, n8n doesn’t lock you into a closed ecosystem. Each workflow step is fully customizable: you can create your own connectors, adapt business logic to your needs, and, importantly, host the solution in-house.
This is a major advantage for sensitive environments with strict requirements, such as GDPR compliance, healthcare data, or finance.
Its visual interface is based on interconnected nodes. A workflow can be triggered by an external event — form submission, incoming email, webhook call — and then enriched with filters, data transformations (via code), database entries, or pushes to tools like Slack or Notion.
n8n truly shines in complex, custom scenarios where multiple processes must be orchestrated or specific business needs addressed. It doesn’t impose a standard model — it adapts to yours.
Concrete use cases
- Automated monitoring: Collect information daily from RSS feeds or APIs, summarize it automatically using a language model, and share a clear report with your team by email.
- Tool synchronization: Connect your CRM to Google Sheets, Notion, or an ERP to automate data updates. Any status change in one tool can instantly trigger a chain of actions in another.
- Real-time alerts: Set business thresholds in dashboards and automatically trigger alerts via Slack, email, or SMS when they’re exceeded.
- Customer support: When a ticket is opened, automatically create a task in Trello, notify the responsible sales rep, and archive information in a shared space for optimal follow-up.
AI agents embedded in your workflows
n8n no longer just connects tools — it becomes the true conductor of intelligent agents. With integrations to language models like GPT-4.5 or Claude, it’s now possible to inject contextual intelligence directly into workflows. AI no longer only summarizes content or answers queries — it actively participates in decision-making.
For example, you can design an autonomous agent capable of:
- Detecting a new business opportunity,
- Analyzing it using a large language model (LLM),
- Generating a personalized proposal,
- Sending it to the relevant team while ensuring follow-up.
Even better, these agents can interact with multiple tools through n8n to enrich themselves with real-time data, adapt their behavior according to your business rules, and act automatically within your work environment (Slack, CRM, databases, etc.).
This combination of n8n and AI opens a new era: agentic automation, where entire processes are handled by autonomous entities — supervised but not continuously controlled. A first step toward orchestrating a truly intelligent back office.
Who is n8n for?
- Developers, DevOps, Data Engineers: to create custom automations with the full freedom of code.
- Product Managers or tech-savvy operations teams: to industrialize business processes and gain autonomy.
- Small businesses or freelancers: to automate efficiently at low cost, without relying on restrictive SaaS subscriptions.
If you’re a complete beginner or looking for a 100% no-code tool, other solutions may be more suitable. But if your goal is to build a robust, scalable, and open automation platform, n8n is an indispensable ally.
