Z
ZNo-code workflow automation and AI agents across 9,000+ apps for businesses
Free, from $19.99/mo
Microsoft Power Automate vs n8n
Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.
M
Choose Microsoft Power Automate if…
- you work on Windows
- you're in its core audience: enterprise it and automation teams, microsoft 365 organizations
N
Choose n8n if…
- you want a free plan to start with
- you work on Self-hosted
- you're in its core audience: developers, operations teams
Side by side
Feature Microsoft Power Automate n8n
Pricing modelFree trialFreemium
Starting price$15/mo—
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
Trains AI on your content—No
Data retention—Execution data deleted automatically based on account's retention settings
Security and complianceGDPRSOC 2, GDPR
GitHub stars—208.8K
Self-hosting—
MCP server—
AI agent builder
Custom code steps—
Prompt-to-workflow—
Desktop RPA—
Custom connectors
PlatformsWeb, WindowsWeb, Self-hosted
CategoryWorkflow AutomationWorkflow Automation
CompanyMicrosoft Corporationn8n GmbH
Based inUnited StatesGermany
Founded——
Part of——
Key features
M Microsoft Power Automate
- Cloud flows for digital process automation
- Attended and unattended desktop RPA
- Natural-language flow authoring with Copilot
- More than 1,400 prebuilt connectors plus custom connectors
- Process and task mining with AI recommendations
- AI document and image processing
- Hosted RPA on Microsoft-managed virtual machines
- Managed Environments and data loss prevention controls
N n8n
- Visual workflow builder with optional custom code
- 500+ native integrations plus HTTP for any API
- AI agents, AI nodes and MCP support
- Human-in-the-loop approvals, e.g. via Slack
- Re-run only the failed step
- Version history with Git-based version control
- SSO (SAML), LDAP, RBAC and audit logs
- Cloud hosting or self-hosting with Docker
Plans and prices
From each vendor's site. Prices change — confirm before buying.
Microsoft Power Automate
Free trialFree
Power Automate Premium$15.00 user/month, paid yearly
Power Automate Process$150.00 bot/month, paid yearly
Power Automate Hosted Process$215.00 bot/month, paid yearly
Process Mining add-on$5,000.00 tenant/month, paid yearly
n8n
Community EditionFree (self-hosted)
Starter€20/mo billed annually
Pro€50/mo billed annually
Business€667/mo billed annually
EnterpriseCustom
Strengths and limitations
Microsoft Power Automate
- 30-day free trial includes premium features
- More than 1,400 prebuilt connectors
- Works inside Teams, Excel, SharePoint and OneDrive
- Covers cloud, desktop RPA and process mining in one product
- Listed prices are billed yearly
- Not available on-premises; cloud service only
- Desktop app is Windows 10 and 11 only
- Process Mining add-on costs $5,000 per tenant per month
n8n
- Self-hosted Community Edition available on GitHub
- All plans include unlimited users and workflows
- Cloud trial needs no credit card
- Pricing is per execution, regardless of workflow complexity
- Prices listed in euros for annual billing only
- Business plan is self-hosted only
- Support on non-Enterprise plans is forum only
- Self-hosted licensed features need a daily license server check-in
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