n8n vs Sim

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

Sim

• Teams building internal agents that share knowledge bases, tables and logs
• Developers who want a visual builder plus an API and a CLI
• Organizations that need to self-host an open-source agent platform

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.

Sim

• The Free plan's 1,000 credits are a one-time grant with no weekly refresh, and it allows 1 workspace and no teammates.
• Every workflow run carries a base charge of 1 credit, even when you bring your own model keys.
• Sim Mailer, KB Live Sync, sandboxes and Slack Connect start at Max; access control and SSO are Enterprise only.
• The desktop app is for macOS only (macOS 12 or later); on other systems Sim is used in a browser.

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.

Sim

Workflow builder

Agent logic is laid out as connected blocks: agents, API calls, functions, conditions, routers, loops, parallel branches and human-in-the-loop steps.

Building in Chat

Describe a system in plain language and Chat scaffolds the workflows, tables and knowledge bases, which you then open, run and refine in the builder.

Knowledge bases, tables and files

Knowledge bases draw on uploaded documents and on connectors to sources such as Notion, Google Drive, Confluence and SharePoint. Tables hold structured rows, and files store agent inputs and outputs.

Triggers and deployment

Workflows start from a schedule, a webhook, an RSS feed or a table event, and are deployed as an API endpoint, a chat interface or an MCP server.

Logs and cost tracking

Each run is traced block by block, with token counts and cost per model, and alerts can be set on the logs.

Enterprise governance

The Enterprise plan adds SSO and SCIM provisioning, permission groups that decide which models and integrations a group may use, audit logs and data retention settings.

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.

Sim

• Free$0

  1,000 one-time credits, 1 workspace, 10 concurrent executions, 5 GB of file storage, 5 tables and 30-day log retention.

• Pro$21.25

  per user / month, billed annually ($255); $25 billed monthly

  6,000 credits a month plus 2,000 a week, 3 workspaces, teammates, 50 concurrent executions, 50 GB of storage and unlimited log retention.

• Max$85

  per user / month, billed annually ($1,020); $100 billed monthly

  25,000 credits a month plus 4,000 a week, 200 concurrent executions, 500 GB of storage, Sim Mailer, KB Live Sync, sandboxes and Slack Connect.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom credits and limits, with access control, SSO, SOC 2 compliance, self-hosting and dedicated support.

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.

Sim

• Annual discount

  15% off with annual billing

  Sim's docs list annual billing at a 15% discount on all paid plans: Pro is $255 a year instead of $25 a month, and Max is $1,020 a year instead of $100 a month.