Head-to-head · facts checked 13 Sept 2026
CrewAI vs n8n
n8n uniquely has 7 features · CrewAI uniquely has 6 features.
From
€24/mo — Starter
Free plan
Yes — self-hosted Community Edition only
The verdict
CrewAI or n8n?
Section 01
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
CrewAI
Basic
Free
50 workflow executions/month, visual editor, GitHub integration, AI copilot
Enterprise
Custom
Unlimited executions, dedicated VPC, SSO, RBAC, on-site support, 50 hours dev/month
n8n
Community Edition
Free
Self-hosted only, unlimited workflows, no execution limits enforced by n8n
Starter
$24/mo · $240/yr
2,500 workflow executions/mo, 1 shared project, 5 concurrent executions, 2,300 AI credits/month
Pro
$60/mo · $600/yr
10,000 workflow executions/mo, 3 shared projects, 20 concurrent executions, up to 13,700 AI credits/month
Business
$960/mo · $9,600/yr
40,000 workflow executions/mo, 6 shared projects, SSO/SAML/LDAP, Git version control, different environments
Enterprise
Custom
Custom executions, unlimited shared projects, 200+ concurrent executions, dedicated SLA support, log streaming, external secret store
Section 02
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
CrewAI
Pros
- Supports both no-code visual editor and code-first Python API, making it accessible to non-developers and engineers alike.
- All visual editor work exports to Python, preventing vendor lock-in and enabling clean handoffs to engineering teams.
- Open-source foundation is active on GitHub, giving developers transparency, community support, and a free entry point.
- Already embedded in 63% of Fortune 500 companies according to the vendor, suggesting strong enterprise credibility.
- Supports multiple LLMs including OpenAI and Anthropic, offering flexibility in how the platform is configured.
- Multi-agent orchestration enables complex task completion that single LLM prompts cannot achieve alone.
- Enterprise control plane layered on top of open-source allows teams to start free and scale up to commercial tier naturally.
Cons
- Not listed on G2 or Capterra yet, making it difficult to find verified third-party user reviews or ratings.
- Trying to serve both no-code and developer audiences simultaneously risks being a poor fit for both if execution falls short.
- No hands-on testing data available from independent reviewers, so real-world performance claims are hard to verify.
- The dual-path approach (visual editor plus code-first API) adds complexity that teams must evaluate carefully before committing.
- Enterprise positioning means it is unlikely to be cost-effective or appropriate for small teams or solo developers.
- Born in 2023, the platform is still very young, and long-term stability and support are unproven.
n8n
Pros
- The self-hosted community edition is genuinely free with no workflow limits, which is rare among automation platforms.
- Code nodes allow JavaScript or Python to be inserted anywhere in a workflow, so developers never feel constrained by visual node limitations.
- Full infrastructure flexibility — runs on Docker, on-prem, or cloud depending on team preference.
- The visual canvas shows every step of a workflow with execution tracing, giving technical users clear visibility into what happened and why.
- A 200,000+ strong community actively solves real problems, often filling the gap when official support is slow.
- Cloud plans start at just €24/month, making the paid tier accessible compared to competitors that charge significantly more.
- Built without dumbing down the interface, making it a genuinely powerful tool for technical and DevOps teams.
Cons
- Non-technical users tend to bounce off the platform quickly due to its complexity and technical design philosophy.
- The interface is not designed to hide complexity, which creates a steep learning curve for teams without developer resources.
- Support tickets can be slow, pushing users to rely on the community forum rather than official channels.
- The tool is not competing with beginner-friendly platforms like Zapier, so teams expecting that experience will be disappointed.
- Self-hosting requires infrastructure management overhead that smaller or less technical teams may not be equipped to handle.
Side by side
| Company | ||
| Founded | 2023 | 2019 |
| HQ | San Francisco, USA | Berlin, Germany |
| AI model | Multi-LLM (OpenAI, Anthropic, and others) | Supports multiple — OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, and others via node integrations |
| User base | 63% of Fortune 500 + large developer community | 200K+ community members, 197K+ GitHub stars |
| Platforms | Web, CLI, API | Web, Self-hosted (Docker/on-prem), Cloud |
| Languages | English primarily | 25+ |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Freemium | Subscription |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes — self-hosted Community Edition only, no free cloud tier |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price | Free — Basic | €24/mo — Starter |
| Enterprise | Custom | Contact Sales |
| All plans | Basic — Free Enterprise — Custom | Community Edition — Free Starter — $24/mo Pro — $60/mo Business — $960/mo Enterprise — Custom |
| Positioning | ||
| Best for | Enterprises and developers building, deploying, and managing multi-agent AI workflows | Solo builders, small teams, and companies needing workflow automation |
| Differentiator | The only platform combining no-code visual builder, code-first API, and a full enterprise control plane (tracing, RBAC, human-in-the-loop, LLM optimization) for multi-agent workflows — used by 63% of the Fortune 500. | Unlimited steps per workflow execution across all plans |
| Competitors | LangChain, AutoGen, n8n, Make, Zapier, LlamaIndex | Zapier |
| Features | ||
| AI Credits | — | ✓ |
| Github Integration | ✓ | — |
| Global Variables | — | ✓ |
| Pii Redaction | ✓ | — |
| Rbac | ✓ | — |
| SSO | ✓ | — |
| SSO/Saml/Ldap | — | ✓ |
| Self Hosted Option | — | ✓ |
| Vpc Deployment | ✓ | — |
| Version Control via Git | — | ✓ |
| Visual Editor and AI Copilot | ✓ | — |
| Workflow History | — | ✓ |
| AI Agents | ✓ | ✓ |
| API Webhooks | ✓ | ✓ |
| Conditional Logic | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom Code | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data Transform | ✓ | ✓ |
| Error Handling | ✓ | ✓ |
| Execution Logs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Human in Loop | ✓ | ✓ |
| Num Integrations | Standard tools, enterprise connectors, MCP server export, UI component export; exact count not stated | 2,174+ |
| Scheduled Runs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Team Features | ✓ | ✓ |
| Trigger Types | Webhook / schedule (cron) / Slack/Teams / API / human-in-loop gates | Webhook / Schedule / HTTP / Queue / Email / Manual / API / External event |
| Visual Builder | ✓ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ||
| API Access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google Workspace | — | ✓ |
| Key Integrations | Slack, Microsoft Teams, GitHub, Arize, Galileo, DataDog, Patronus, Okta, Microsoft Entra | Slack, OpenAI, Google Workspace, GitHub, Salesforce |
| Openai Integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Slack | ✓ | ✓ |
| Webhook Support | ✓ | ✓ |
Section 03
CrewAI vs n8n: common questions
Is CrewAI or n8n cheaper?
CrewAI's cheapest paid plan is Free — Basic and n8n's is €24/mo — Starter. Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
Keep comparing
More CrewAI matchups
