n8n
Top pickAutomate everything in your business
Try n8n
Self-hosted free · Cloud from $24/mo
My take
Why I use it
n8n is how I automate the repetitive parts of running my business. My social media posts, email workflows, and data pipelines all run on autopilot through n8n. It's more powerful than Zapier and cheaper.
Breakdown
Pros & cons
✓ What I like
- •Self-hostable (free forever if you host it yourself)
- •Much more powerful than Zapier
- •Visual workflow builder is intuitive
- •Connects to almost any tool via API
- •Active community and great documentation
✗ What to watch out for
- •Steeper learning curve than simpler tools
- •Self-hosting requires some technical knowledge
Review
My full review
n8n changed how I run my business. Before it, I was doing repetitive tasks manually, posting to social media, moving data between tools, sending follow-up emails. Now most of that runs automatically.
The key advantage over Zapier is power. n8n lets you write custom code, handle complex logic, and connect to any API, not just pre-built integrations. I use it to automatically post to Instagram and Facebook, process form submissions, and sync data between my tools.
If you're technical, self-hosting on something like Zeabur makes it essentially free. If not, their cloud plan is still cheaper than Zapier for what you get.