n8n
Open-source workflow automation with AI agents
n8n is the open-source automation platform built for technical teams. With 2300+ integrations and native AI agent nodes, it lets you build sophisticated multi-agent workflows that run on your own infrastructure.
Editor rating is our overall editorial judgment of the tool, out of 5. It is not a test score and not a user-review average. Ratings have not been re-scored since the tool was listed here. The reasons are in Best for and Pros & cons below.
Requires some technical comfort with API keys, command line, or coding. If you're new to AI, start with a chat-based tool first.
Best for
Pros & cons
✓ Pros
✗ What this won't do
Use cases
AI research pipelines
Self-hosted customer automation
Data scraping + AI processing
Internal tool automation
Start n8n
Sign up for the n8n Cloud free trial, or install n8n on your own computer. Either way, you build workflows in your web browser.
Build the sample workflow
The official first workflow starts with a Schedule Trigger, then a NASA node set to Get a DONKI solar flare, then an If node and two PostBin nodes. A node is one step in the workflow.
Run it and check the output
Click Execute step to test one node, or Execute Workflow to run them all. Results show in the OUTPUT panel, and PostBin shows the data it received on a temporary web page.
If nothing comes through
If there were no X class solar flares, change X in Value 2 to A, B, C or M. PostBin bins last only 30 minutes, so make a new bin and update its ID if yours expired.
Compare alternatives
| Tool | Category | Editor rating | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| n8n (current) | Automation | 4.7 | Free (self-host) / $20 mo cloud |
| Make (formerly Integromat) | Automation | 4.6 | Free / from $9 mo |
| Zapier | Automation | 4.5 | Free / from $20 mo |
| Activepieces | Automation | 4.4 | Free (self-host) / from $16 mo cloud |