n8n GmbH
platformFair-code workflow automation for technical teams
Code-level flexibility with a visual interface, available self-hosted for free or in the cloud. The only major automation platform that's both open-source and enterprise-ready.
Our Take
n8n is the automation tool that developers actually like. While Zapier and Make target business users with simple click-and-connect interfaces, n8n was built from the ground up for technical teams who want to write code when they need to and use visual workflows when they don't. The result is the most flexible workflow automation platform on the market.
The numbers speak for themselves: 42,000+ GitHub stars make n8n the most popular open-source automation tool by a factor of 10x over the next competitor. Self-hosted by over 50,000 companies, the community is massive and active. If you get stuck, chances are someone on the n8n forum or GitHub has already solved your problem.
The self-hosting option is the killer feature for regulated industries. If you're in healthcare, finance, or government and your data can't leave your infrastructure, n8n is one of the very few automation platforms that lets you run everything on your own servers for free. The cloud version (n8n Cloud) exists for teams that don't want to manage infrastructure, but the self-hosted option is what makes n8n uniquely valuable.
The trade-off: n8n has a steeper learning curve than Zapier or Make. It's not the right tool for a marketing manager who wants to connect two apps in 5 minutes. It's the right tool for a developer or technical team that needs to build production-grade automations with error handling, custom logic, and full control.
What Sets n8n GmbH Apart
n8n is the only major automation platform that's both open-source and enterprise-ready. You can self-host it for free (fair-code license), inspect and modify the source code, and run it on your own infrastructure with zero data leaving your environment. The 42K+ GitHub stars make it the most popular open-source automation tool by a factor of 10x. No other platform combines this level of transparency, community, and code-level flexibility.
Key Achievements
About n8n GmbH
n8n is a fair-code workflow automation platform that combines the ease of a visual interface with the power of custom code. Available as both self-hosted and cloud-hosted, it enables technical teams to build complex automation workflows with full flexibility.
Expertise & Services
Specializations
Industries Served
Services
Market Position
n8n competes with Zapier and Make for workflow automation, but targets a different buyer — technical teams vs. business users. Against Zapier, n8n wins on flexibility, self-hosting, and price (free to self-host vs. Zapier's $20-600+/month). Against Make, n8n wins on code capabilities and open-source transparency but Make has a more polished visual builder. Against enterprise tools (Workato, Tray.io), n8n wins on price and openness but loses on enterprise support, SOC 2 certification, and pre-built enterprise connectors. n8n's real competition is not another tool — it's custom code and internal scripts that developers would otherwise build themselves.
Our Story
Created in 2019 by Jan Oberhauser in Berlin, born from frustration with existing automation tools. As a developer, Oberhauser wanted a tool that combined the visual workflow building of tools like Zapier with the code-level flexibility that technical teams needed. Unable to find one, he built n8n — and released it as fair-code to ensure it would always be accessible while remaining sustainable as a business.
What Clients Say
"n8n gives us the best of both worlds — our team can build workflows visually for simple automations, and drop into code when we need complex logic. Self-hosting means our data never leaves our infrastructure."