it'll be interesting to see what happens with n8n over the next few years.
On one hand, a ton of people are using it to build AI workflows.
On the other, it's never been easier to build a similar workflow in Python with Claude Code or other tools where you get infinite flexibility, version control, and more flexibility on hosting.
We're betting on the later at https://www.definite.app/. Our agent writes pure Python with pre-built integrations into stuff like Hubspot, Salesforce, Attio, Stripe, Postgres, etc.
Didn't their change their licensing or something and now folks are leaving? I've seen a few ex-N8n'ers coming over to the Node-RED forum, hence the question.
When I set up n8n last year I was thoroughly confused at the lack of state management. I ended up storing as JSON in a remote blob “database”, a horrible hack.
The other licensing shoe is going to drop.
And when it does, it will be same as always. Important features will be cut of from “community” edition, like admin for minio, and pricing will be predatory for full product, like Taipy. Seriously, screw
Taipy. Got quoted 200k for an open license if I wanted to self host it, with no limit on number users.
What is the point of this... platform? Also you can't scroll down to the footer because some wonderfully experienced designer (or PM or even engineer) decided the infinite scroll list was a good idea.
You want to make an easy automation but doesn't want to write integration code for bunch of platforms.
n8n is good because of loads of easy to use and straightforward to configure with good documentation nodes. Like 'get message from whatsapp' trigger. I have a bot which gets messages from WhatsApp looks for URL in it, downloads a video and posts it to private video hosting, and then shares link in chat with friends.
All components are already there and you don't have to code really annoying infra around maintaining WhatsApp bot.
I already felt the need to persist data between different nodes and workflows, so I made a bespoke API with dedicated endpoints that perform CRUD tasks (Yes, it defeats the purpose of a no-code platform but I can code, so...).
I have to say I love N8n so far, it is a great productivity tool.
I self-host n8n along with about two dozen other services for personal use.
I make extensive use of the webhook triggers. Being able to spin up an endpoint with minimal effort is quite handy.
The data table feature looks useful. Similar to another poster, I've been using json blobs on disk instead, since I don't have concurrency, scaling, or performance concerns for my use cases.
I get some very weird vibes from the n8n subreddit. There's a bunch of 'get rich quick with AI workflows' posts which feel icky.
We got workflows, tables and case management. Focused on SecOps, ITOps, and prod eng / infra use cases.
Even if you’re on Jira or SNOW, having even a basic ticketing system built in turned out to be a very productive persistence layer for our users to prototype with.
All these platforms are kind of a non-starter at scale. The thing that would really stand out is something that has the user friendly workflow definition but then for production running, bakes it into a container that's orchestrated on k8s natively.
I'd recommend node-red. We've tried N8N, zapier, windmill, activepieces, flowfuse, crosser and can't for the life of me get off node-red.
We use it extensively in handling simply API endpoints, websocket pipelining, and extremely complex commerce and an AI workflows.
However, node-red is simply the best option for now. We're moving away from visual based coding for various accessibility and inclusivity reasons (not just human) and recreating the concepts of node-red flow-based-programming directly in cloudflare workers that are orchestrated by human+ai CI/CD flows.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 46.2 ms ] threadOn one hand, a ton of people are using it to build AI workflows.
On the other, it's never been easier to build a similar workflow in Python with Claude Code or other tools where you get infinite flexibility, version control, and more flexibility on hosting.
We're betting on the later at https://www.definite.app/. Our agent writes pure Python with pre-built integrations into stuff like Hubspot, Salesforce, Attio, Stripe, Postgres, etc.
N8n seems to be standing out thanks to their open source roots (and not deliberately hampering the OSS variant too much).
DataTables will make a big difference again - being able to store some level of "state" has been a need in almost every workflow I've built.
When I set up n8n last year I was thoroughly confused at the lack of state management. I ended up storing as JSON in a remote blob “database”, a horrible hack.
Classic.
Seems like a lot, and I find it surprising that people would build real world workflows on platforms like this.
n8n is good because of loads of easy to use and straightforward to configure with good documentation nodes. Like 'get message from whatsapp' trigger. I have a bot which gets messages from WhatsApp looks for URL in it, downloads a video and posts it to private video hosting, and then shares link in chat with friends.
All components are already there and you don't have to code really annoying infra around maintaining WhatsApp bot.
I make extensive use of the webhook triggers. Being able to spin up an endpoint with minimal effort is quite handy.
The data table feature looks useful. Similar to another poster, I've been using json blobs on disk instead, since I don't have concurrency, scaling, or performance concerns for my use cases.
I get some very weird vibes from the n8n subreddit. There's a bunch of 'get rich quick with AI workflows' posts which feel icky.
We got workflows, tables and case management. Focused on SecOps, ITOps, and prod eng / infra use cases.
Even if you’re on Jira or SNOW, having even a basic ticketing system built in turned out to be a very productive persistence layer for our users to prototype with.
Copy left AGPL 3.0 license.
We use it extensively in handling simply API endpoints, websocket pipelining, and extremely complex commerce and an AI workflows.
However, node-red is simply the best option for now. We're moving away from visual based coding for various accessibility and inclusivity reasons (not just human) and recreating the concepts of node-red flow-based-programming directly in cloudflare workers that are orchestrated by human+ai CI/CD flows.