n8n vs Power Automate
n8n connects systems through their APIs and can run on your own server with no licence fee, but it cannot operate a desktop application. Power Automate puts a desktop recorder on every Windows machine and uses the Entra accounts a Microsoft shop already has. API-rich estates with technical staff take n8n; Microsoft-standardised firms with screen-bound tasks take Power Automate.
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Choose n8n ifthe systems in your process all expose a usable API, you have people prepared to own a self-hosted server, and you want a bill that does not grow with every execution.
Choose Power Automate ifyour company is standardised on Microsoft, the work is a long list of small tasks around Office, Teams and Dataverse, and some of them need a robot clicking through a Windows application.
n8n and Power Automate side by side
| n8n | Power Automate | |
|---|---|---|
| Our robotic process automation rank | #1 of 13 | #3 of 13 |
| Established in | Germany | United States |
| Pricing | Self-hosting free under a source-available licence; cloud published per month | Per user per month, published; hosted processes billed separately |
| Free tier | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | Yes | — |
| Built for | Teams automating between systems that already expose a usable API | Microsoft-standardised companies automating small tasks around Office, Teams and Dataverse |
| Not for | Processes that depend on legacy desktop or terminal screens | Teams needing complex unattended robots at low cost |
Both are reviewed in full in our robotic process automation ranking: n8n and Power Automate.
Where they differ
n8n 1 · Power Automate 1 · open 2- 01
Applications with no API behind them
This is the hard boundary between the two. n8n cannot drive a Windows desktop application or a Citrix session at all, so a process that ends in a legacy screen is out of its reach. Power Automate includes a desktop recorder that ships with Windows, which makes screen-driven tasks possible without buying anything extra to begin.
Edge: Power Automate
- 02
What the meter counts
Self-hosted n8n is free under a source-available licence and removes per-execution billing entirely; its cloud version has a published monthly price. Power Automate publishes a per-user price, but premium connectors, hosted processes and AI Builder credits are each metered separately, and a pilot that succeeds can multiply the invoice well beyond the seat count.
Edge: n8n
- 03
Upkeep once the automation is live
An n8n flow runs headless without a Windows session and does not fail because someone moved a button, but a self-hosted install makes upgrades, queues and failures your job. Power Automate spares you the server, yet its desktop flows carry the fragility of any screen automation, and flows written by staff tend to become unowned when the author changes role.
Depends on the buyer
- 04
Identity and oversight in a Microsoft estate
Every Power Automate user already exists in Entra, and its governance tooling is rated as genuinely good, even if the maker experience is less stable. Our data does not describe equivalent controls for n8n, so the comparison is partly one-sided; what it does record is that n8n's error handling for long-running human processes is basic next to a full orchestrator.
Depends on the buyer
When neither fits
If the process runs through Citrix or an old Windows application and needs complex unattended robots, n8n cannot reach it and Power Automate is not the low-cost route. UiPath offers the deepest desktop toolkit for an in-house team; OpenRPA provides Windows robots and a self-hosted orchestrator with no robot licences.
n8n or Power Automate: questions
3 answersCan n8n replace Power Automate?
Only for the part of the work that runs through APIs. n8n is not an RPA tool in the strict sense and cannot operate a desktop or Citrix application, so any Power Automate desktop flow that clicks through a Windows program has no n8n equivalent.
Integrations between systems with APIs can move across.
Is n8n cheaper than Power Automate?
Self-hosted n8n carries no licence fee and no per-execution charge, though you pay in server upkeep.
Power Automate is cheapest to start because the recorder ships with Windows, then bills premium connectors, hosted processes and AI Builder credits on top of the per-user price. Which is lower depends on how many extras you use.
Should a Microsoft-based company pick n8n or Power Automate?
Power Automate fits the hundred small tasks around Office, Teams and Dataverse that nobody would write a business case for, with identity already in place.
n8n is worth adding or choosing where the job is connecting systems by API and you want to avoid separately metered connectors.