n8n: what it is, pricing, and how to use it at work
In plain words: A workflow-automation tool with built-in AI agent steps. More technical than Zapier, but powerful and can be self-hosted for free.
Free tierYes (self-hosted)
PriceCloud from €20/mo; self-host free
Ease of use●●○○○
Acts on the webVia integrations/HTTP
Who it's for
Tech-comfortable owners (or their IT person) who want flexible automations and low cost at volume.
Pricing tiers
| Self-hosted | Free community edition (you run the server) |
|---|---|
| Starter (cloud) | €20/month annual or €24 monthly: 2,500 executions |
| Pro (cloud) | €50/month annual or €60 monthly: 10,000 executions |
| Business/Enterprise | Check site |
Checked on the official site or help pages in October 2026. Prices change often; confirm on n8n.io before buying.
Daily-use examples by profession
Business owners
- Every night, pull sales from your POS and email a summary
- Classify support emails with AI and route them
- Sync orders to accounting
Doctors & medical offices
- (Self-hosted, with IT review) route fax/email referrals into a queue
- Automate supply reorder alerts
- Weekly report on no-show rates from exports
Real estate
- Scrape new public listings and alert you
- Enrich leads and push to CRM
- Generate weekly market stats emails
Trainers & coaches
- Sync bookings to a client sheet
- Send AI-written check-ins
- Track payments and flag late ones
Restaurants & bars
- Pull daily POS data and flag low stock
- Collect reviews into one report
- Auto-post daily specials
Trades & home services
- Turn missed calls into SMS follow-ups
- Track parts orders
- Generate weekly job-profit reports
Pros and cons
Pros
- Self-hosting can be free
- Unlimited users and workflows on cloud plans
- Very flexible AI agent nodes
Cons
- Steeper learning curve
- Self-hosting means you maintain it
- Priced in euros
Bottom line
n8n is best for: Custom, high-volume automations. Start on the cheapest plan that fits, give it one real task from the list above, and check its work before relying on it.