Microsoft Power Automate vs n8n
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Microsoft Power Automate
Cloud workflows and desktop RPA in the Microsoft Power Platform
Where they differ
- Microsoft Power Automate starts at $15 per user / month, paid yearly. n8n starts at €20 / month, billed annually, for 2,500 executions (n8n Cloud Starter).
- Only Microsoft Power Automate lists a Windows app.
- n8n is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Microsoft Power Automate also covers templates.
At a glance
| Microsoft Power Automate | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $15 per user / month, paid yearly | €20 / month, billed annually, for 2,500 executions (n8n Cloud Starter) |
| Free plan | Power Automate Free license: create and run cloud flows with standard connectors only, without sharing them, plus desktop flows authored and run locally in attended mode. | The self-hosted Community Edition is free with almost the complete feature set, but without SSO, projects, environments, Git version control or workflow sharing. n8n Cloud has no free plan, only a trial. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial per the pricing page; Microsoft's licensing docs describe a 90-day self-service trial license | 14-day n8n Cloud trial of Pro features, capped at 1,000 executions, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Windows | ||
| Made by | Microsoft | n8n |
| Price read from | microsoft.com | n8n.io |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 4, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Microsoft Power Automate
- Organizations already licensed for Microsoft 365 or Dynamics 365
- Automating older Windows applications that have no API
- Approval processes that run through Teams and SharePoint
n8n
- Technical teams that want to host their automation on their own servers
- Developers who mix visual workflows with JavaScript or Python
- Building AI agents where every step can be inspected
Worth knowing
Microsoft Power Automate
- The free license and Microsoft 365 licenses cover standard connectors only; premium and custom connectors need Premium at $15 per user / month.
- Unattended desktop flows need a Process license at $150 per bot / month, and the machine must be registered by a Premium user.
- The desktop app runs only on Windows 10, Windows 11 and Windows Server, and devices with ARM processors are not supported.
- The standalone iOS and Android app reached end of support on August 31, 2026; Microsoft points mobile users to the browser portal and Teams.
n8n
- n8n Cloud has no free plan; the free option is self-hosting the Community Edition, which you run and maintain yourself.
- The Community Edition leaves out SSO, projects, environments, Git version control and workflow sharing.
- The Business plan is self-hosted only and starts at €667 a month, billed annually.
- The pricing page showed prices in euros when checked; no US dollar price list was found on n8n's site.
Key features
Microsoft Power Automate
- Cloud flows
- Automated, scheduled and instant flows connect cloud apps, and on-premises services through a data gateway. Microsoft cites more than 1,400 prebuilt, certified connectors, and custom connectors can be built.
- Desktop flows (RPA)
- Power Automate for desktop builds or records flows that operate Windows and web applications through their interfaces. Attended runs happen with a person present; unattended runs need a Process license.
- Copilot authoring
- Copilot in Power Automate creates, edits and extends flows from a natural-language description, in both the cloud designer and the desktop app.
- Process and task mining
- Analyzes how a process actually runs to find steps worth automating. Premium includes 50 MB of mining data per user, and a tenant-wide add-on provides 100 GB.
- Microsoft 365 integration
- Flows can be built and run from inside Teams, Excel, SharePoint and OneDrive. Microsoft 365 licenses include the right to create and run cloud flows with standard connectors.
- Governance and hosted machines
- Managed Environments and data loss prevention policies give admins control over flows. Hosted Process runs unattended bots on virtual machines that Microsoft manages.
n8n
- Visual builder with code steps
- Workflows are built on a canvas, and JavaScript or Python can be written anywhere in them. Single steps can be re-run and earlier data replayed while debugging.
- AI agents
- Agents are assembled from AI nodes on the same canvas, with each step of their reasoning open to inspection and the option to require human approval.
- Self-hosting
- n8n can run on your own infrastructure with Docker, including air-gapped setups. The Community Edition is free; Business and Enterprise add SSO, environments and Git version control.
- Execution-based pricing
- One run of a whole workflow counts as a single execution, however many steps it has. Going over the plan quota does not stop workflows, but overage charges may apply.
- Integrations and custom APIs
- The homepage cites 500+ integrations, including Google Sheets, Slack and OpenAI, and other services can be reached through custom API connections.
- Shared projects
- Shared projects group workflows for a team: 1 on Starter, 3 on Pro, 6 on Business and unlimited on Enterprise. Pro adds admin roles and workflow history.
Plans
Microsoft Power Automate
Power Automate Free$0
Free license described in Microsoft's licensing docs: cloud flows with standard connectors only, no sharing, and desktop flows run locally in attended mode.
Power Automate Premium$15
per user / month, paid yearly
Cloud flows with standard, premium and custom connectors, attended desktop flows, process and task mining with 50 MB of data, and 250 MB of Dataverse database capacity.
Power Automate Process$150
per bot / month, paid yearly
One bot for unattended desktop flows, or a license for a cloud flow that any number of users can run, with up to 250,000 actions a day.
Power Automate Hosted Process$215
per bot / month, paid yearly
Unattended desktop flows on a virtual machine that Microsoft manages and hosts on Azure, so there is no machine of your own to maintain.
Process Mining add-on$5,000
per tenant / month, paid yearly
Add-on for the Premium plan only: 100 GB of process mining data, with 2 GB of Dataverse database and 1 TB of file capacity.
n8n
Community Edition€0
Self-hosted from GitHub. Almost the complete feature set, without SSO, projects, environments, Git version control or workflow sharing.
Starter€20
per month, billed annually, for 2,500 executions
Hosted by n8n. Unlimited steps per workflow, 1 shared project, 5 concurrent executions, and agents, MCP and AI nodes.
Pro€50
per month, billed annually, for 10,000 executions
Hosted by n8n. 3 shared projects, up to 50 concurrent executions, 7 days of insights, admin roles and workflow history.
Business€667
per month, billed annually, for 40,000 executions
Self-hosted only. 6 shared projects, SSO with SAML and LDAP, multiple environments, Git version control, queue mode and 30 days of insights.
EnterpriseCustom
Hosted or self-hosted. Custom executions, unlimited shared projects, 200+ concurrent executions, external secret store, log streaming and SLA support.
Ways to pay less
Microsoft Power Automate
No public discounts listed.
n8n
- Annual discount
Save 17% with annual billing
n8n's pricing page shows a 17% saving when a plan is billed annually instead of monthly. The prices listed here are the annual rates.
- Startups
Start-up Plan: 50% off Business
Companies with fewer than 20 employees can check whether they qualify for the Start-up Plan, which takes 50% off the Business plan.
