n8n automation -
self-hosted, GDPR-compliant, no execution limits.

n8n is a workflow automation platform that lets you visually connect apps, APIs, databases and AI models into automated flows - by drag-and-drop, without coding every step. Unlike pure no-code tools, you can extend any node with your own JavaScript or Python. It is used for routing leads into a CRM, data enrichment, document and invoice workflows, internal IT and ops automations, and AI agents. The key point: n8n can be self-hosted, so all data stays inside your own infrastructure.

The biggest difference is the pricing model. n8n counts one complete workflow run as a single execution - no matter how many steps it contains. Zapier charges per task, meaning per individual step. A workflow with 10 nodes that runs 10,000 times per month is 10,000 executions on n8n versus 100,000 tasks on Zapier - a documented cost gap of around 90 percent. Make sits in between (operations per module) but, like Zapier, remains a pure US SaaS with no self-hosting. n8n is the only one of the three you can run entirely on your own infrastructure - with full data sovereignty and no volume limits.

n8n itself is only a tool - compliance comes from how it is operated. With self-hosted n8n on an EU or German server, customer data, API keys and webhook payloads never leave your infrastructure, and no data processing agreement (DPA) with a US SaaS provider is required. That is exactly the advantage over cloud automators that transfer data to the US. We host n8n on German infrastructure (Hetzner) and work to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 - so the operation is set up in a privacy-friendly way. This is a technical assessment and does not replace legal advice.

Yes. The n8n Community Edition is source-available and free to use - when self-hosting you pay only for the server, typically around 5 to 20 EUR per month on a small VPS. For comparison: n8n Cloud starts at 20 EUR/month (2,500 executions) and rises to 667 EUR/month (Business, 40,000 executions); Zapier plans climb quickly into four- and five-figure monthly bills at scale. Because self-hosting has no execution limits, costs do not grow with volume. We do not quote flat project prices - every project is scoped individually.

No, and the distinction matters: n8n is not open source in the strict sense, but fair-code under the Sustainable Use License. That means source-available - the code is visible and free for internal business or personal use. The only restriction is reselling n8n as a hosted or white-label product. For use inside your own company, n8n is therefore free and unrestricted - with no license fees.

Anything recurring, rule-based and cross-system: capturing leads from forms and routing them into a CRM, lead enrichment and scoring, CRM data hygiene (duplicates, normalization), drip and nurture triggers, invoice and document workflows, syncing between tools, and internal ops and IT automations. For scale: Delivery Hero saves over 200 hours of IT work per month with a single n8n workflow, and StepStone integrates new data sources around 25 times faster. High-volume or sensitive-data workflows benefit most from self-hosting.

Yes. n8n ships over 70 AI-specific, LangChain-based nodes and supports AI agents, RAG pipelines and vector databases (Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, Chroma) plus more than 12 LLM providers. Through Ollama you can run local language models - so a complete LLM pipeline runs on your own server without data flowing to external APIs such as OpenAI. That is sovereign AI: automation with the intelligence of a language model, but under full data control.

We do, if you want. Managed n8n with us means: we set up the server (Hetzner Germany), apply updates and security patches, monitor the workflows, run backups and step in when something breaks. Unlike a SaaS subscription, though, the solution belongs to you - you get full access, the workflows and the documentation. You can take over operations yourself at any time or move to a different provider. No lock-in.

In two cases almost always: when your automation volume grows (task-based Zapier/Make costs then explode while self-hosted n8n stays flat) and when data protection matters (EU self-hosting wins back your data sovereignty). For small, static setups with a few hundred runs per month, an existing SaaS plan may be enough. We migrate existing Zapier and Make scenarios to n8n and calculate the savings over 1 to 3 years up front, so the switch is based on numbers, not a hunch.

In five steps: first analysis - we map your processes and identify the workflows with the highest leverage. Second build - we build the workflows on your infrastructure. Third test - each flow is verified with real data and failure cases. Fourth go-live - a controlled production start with monitoring. Fifth handover - you receive access, documentation and, on request, training. Simple setups go live within days, more complex integrations take a few weeks.