n8n vs Activepieces
Side-by-side, using only facts verified on each official site (2026-11-05). Rankings are never paid; some links are affiliate links.
| What it does | n8n is a workflow automation platform that uniquely combines AI capabilities with business process automation, giving technical teams the flexibility of code with the speed of no-code. | Chat, agents, flows, tables, and 770+ apps in one workspace, so your whole team works with AI in the tools they already use. Open source at the core. |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Automation & workflow | Automation & workflow |
| Pricing (as stated) | See official pricing → | Free tier See official pricing → |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No — Source available (fair-code / not OSI open source) · repo | Yes · repo |
| Verified | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-05 |
| Details | n8n listing → | Activepieces listing → |
| Website | Visit n8n ↗ | Visit Activepieces ↗ |
Which should you pick?
Pick n8n if…
No verified differentiator on price, free plan or licence — compare features on the vendor sites.
Pick Activepieces if…
- you want an open-source option you can inspect or self-host
- you want public, self-serve pricing
Our take on n8n
Based on the official site, docs and public info checked 2026-10-26 — not hands-on testing.
A fair-code workflow automation platform with native AI agent nodes and MCP support, available as n8n Cloud or self-hosted Community Edition.
Pros
- Billed per workflow execution regardless of steps, which is predictable for long workflows
- All plans include unlimited users, workflows and every integration
- Self-hosted Community Edition is available on GitHub
Cons / watch-outs
- Fair-code licence, not OSI open source
- Cloud pricing is in euros and quoted billed annually
- Some features (bash scripts, custom nodes, LangSmith tracing) are self-hosted only; SSO and Git version control need Business/Enterprise
Who it's for
Technical teams who want a visual builder with the option to drop into code and to self-host.Pricing notes
Starter 20€/mo and Pro 50€/mo (billed annually, hosted); Business 667€/mo (self-hosted); Enterprise contact sales. Cloud trial needs no credit card.Sources: n8n.io/pricing/ · github.com/n8n-io/n8n. Prices change; confirm on the vendor site.
Both are listed under Automation & workflow. Prices change — confirm on the vendor sites.