vs Runwork vs n8n
n8n is yours to host. Runwork is where your team's AI capability lives.
Quick Verdict
n8n is a genuinely good piece of software. Open source, self-hostable, no per-task meter, and the automation logic stays yours in a format you can read. If you have people who like running infrastructure, it is hard to argue with. What it automates is the traffic between services. It does not hold what your team knows. Runwork does that part: the skills every teammate's AI picks up, the work that runs unattended overnight, and the tools your people make with their own agents. Runwork imports n8n workflows, so this is not either-or.
Overview
n8n brought automation to people who wanted the source, a self-hosted option, and no per-task bill. The node editor is strong, the community writes nodes for whatever is missing, and your workflow logic is portable JSON rather than someone's proprietary format. Those advantages are real and they stay real. What n8n is not is the place your team's AI capability lives. Your people are teaching their own agents things every day in Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor, and none of it reaches anyone else. That is what Runwork holds. Your agent does the making. Runwork keeps it, does not stop when people go home, and hands it to the rest of the team.
n8n is a Workflow Automation Platform.
Runwork Strengths
- What one person teaches their AI, every teammate's AI knows.
- Work keeps running after everyone logs off, and the whole team can see it.
- Your own AI tools connect straight to it. Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex, 60+ AI tools in all. No node to write.
- 3,300+ integrations, managed, with credentials handled once for the team.
- Nothing to host, patch, or upgrade at 2am.
- Roles, permissions, and audit logs across everything the team's AI touches.
- What one teammate teaches their AI, every teammate's AI can do.
- A dashboard that shows who on the team is actually getting better at AI.
n8n Strengths
- Open source and self-hostable. Run it on your own hardware, in your own network.
- Fair-code license, and you can read every line of what you are running.
- 400+ nodes, plus a community that writes one for almost anything else.
- Your automation logic is portable JSON. Nobody can lock it up.
- Data never has to leave your infrastructure, which settles a lot of compliance arguments.
- Engineers can drop into code inside a node when the UI runs out of road.
Feature Comparison
What each one is for
| Feature | Runwork | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Visual node canvas to build in | - | |
| Run history and status for every workflow | ||
| Pre-built connectors | 3,300+ | 400+ |
| Holds what your team teaches its AI | - | |
| Works inside the AI tools people already use | 60+ AI tools | - |
| Range of what can live there | A quick skill to a running tool | Workflows |
What the team gets
| Feature | Runwork | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Taught once, known by every teammate's AI | - | |
| Work keeps running after everyone logs off | ||
| A place the whole team can find it | Shared instance | |
| Screens people can use: dashboards, forms | - | |
| You can see who is getting better at AI | - |
Running the work
| Feature | Runwork | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled and event-driven runs | ||
| Branching and multi-step logic | ||
| Error handling and retries | ||
| Long-running work (hours or days) | ||
| Agents run in your team cloud | Via nodes | |
| Its own data to work on | Entities + file storage | Bring your own |
Ownership and hosting
| Feature | Runwork | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosting | - | |
| Data stays inside your own network | - | |
| Source you can read | - | Fair-code |
| What you make is exportable | Code, skills, workflows | Workflow JSON |
| Someone else patches the servers | Cloud plan |
Team and security
| Feature | Runwork | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Soon | Enterprise |
| Audit logs | Enterprise | |
| Role-based access | Enterprise | |
| Team workspaces | ||
| Custom domains | Self-host | |
| Adoption dashboard | - |
Which Tool is Right for You?
Choose Runwork if you need...
- * Teams where everyone uses AI separately and none of it adds up
- * Keeping the skills and small tools your people make with their own AI
- * Work that keeps going while the team is asleep
- * Giving every teammate's AI the same abilities without a training session
- * Teams who would rather not run another server
Choose n8n if you need...
- * Anything that has to run inside your own network
- * Teams with the DevOps people to keep an instance healthy
- * Complex automation between many services, at high volume, with no per-task bill
- * Engineers who want to read and modify the source
- * Compliance rules that keep data on your hardware
Pricing Comparison
n8n is free if you host it yourself, and the real cost is the person who keeps it running. Runwork is priced per seat with a monthly usage budget with everything included, and starts with a 14-day trial, no credit card. Compare it against your server bill plus that person's time, not against zero.
View Runwork pricingHow to Migrate from n8n
You do not have to shut n8n down, and you probably should not. Move the workflows that should stop depending on your server, leave the rest where they are, and let Runwork pick up the part n8n was never meant to hold.
Typical migration: A day or two, with n8n still running the whole time
Sort your workflows into two piles
The ones that have to run on your own hardware, and the ones that live there only because there was nowhere else to put them. The second pile is the one worth moving.
Import the ones that can move
Paste the workflow URL or its JSON. Your own agent rebuilds it in your workspace, with the data and screens it needs, and it runs in the team cloud.
Connect the team's AI tools
Everyone keeps Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or whatever they already chose. The workspace shows up inside those tools, so nobody has to learn a new interface.
Teach it the things that never fit a workflow
The judgment calls, the checklists, the way your team writes a reply. Somebody explains it once to their own agent, and every teammate's AI has it from then on.
Run both for a while
Keep the n8n instance until you trust what moved. There is no rush and no cutover date.
Frequently Asked Questions
I chose n8n for open source. What about lock-in with Runwork?
Can I self-host Runwork like n8n?
Who builds the apps, Runwork's AI?
Explore Runwork Features
Try Runwork for yourself
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