{"slug": "n8n", "name": "n8n", "category": "productivity", "category_name": "Productivity", "description": "Workflow automation platform for connecting apps and APIs with node-based visual workflows.", "recommenders": 9, "commenters": 24, "warners": 2, "score": 9.584, "rising": 3.69, "first": "2025-11-02", "latest": "2026-10-16", "why": "HN commenters use n8n to build client and small-business automations, often self-hosted, and call it reliable and quick for shipping webhook-based tools.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 9, "neutral": 11, "compare": 2, "warn": 2}, "spark": [3, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Self-hosting", "Business automation"], "caveat": "Limited logic", "short_quote": "It\u2019s been very reliable, I would continue to use it for workflow automations", "icon": true, "domain": "n8n.io", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://n8n.io", "pricing": "freemium", "aliases": ["n8n"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters use n8n to build client and small-business automations, ", "cites": [{"id": 799876432, "item_id": 49992277, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49992277", "by": "ahnaf112", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Small team building one thing: website inquiry follow-up in n8n.", "excerpt": "Location: Petaling Jaya, Malaysia | Remote: yes | Relocate: no | Technologies: n8n, webhooks, Google Sheets, SMTP/Gmail | Site: https://www.oqviangroup.com/offer | Email: hossainahnaf700@gmail.com Small team building one thing: website inquiry follow-up in n8n. A form submission is saved to a sheet, the owner gets an alert, and the customer gets an instant reply. Fixed $300, 4 working days, one revision, 14 days of b", "context": "small team offering services", "use_case": "website inquiry follow-up automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2026)"}, {"id": 794891280, "item_id": 49680705, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49680705", "by": "akshaymad0608", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I build n8n automations that run a business process on a schedule and don't lie about whether they worked.", "excerpt": "Location: Surat, India Remote: Yes (remote only; happy to overlap US or EU hours for calls) Willing to relocate: No Technologies: n8n, JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, React, Vite, Vercel, OpenAI / Claude / Gemini APIs, schema-constrained LLM output, REST, webhooks, OAuth, Google Sheets and Gmail APIs R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https://akshay.website Email: akshaymad0608 at gmail dot com Freelance: automations and small web apps, bu", "context": "freelancer", "use_case": "business process automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (September 2026)"}, {"id": 796476768, "item_id": 49779798, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49779798", "by": "scrivna", "date": "2026-09-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It\u2019s been very reliable, I would continue to use it for workflow automations", "excerpt": "Yes I use it for a few workflows for a client. Been using their hosted version since it was dirt cheap (and grandfathered in to that pricing). It\u2019s been very reliable, I would continue to use it for workflow automations now as it\u2019s simpler to reason with than LLM generated spaghetti code.", "context": "builds workflows for a client", "use_case": "workflow automation for a client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Remember N8n? Anyone?"}, {"id": 782344880, "item_id": 48896555, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48896555", "by": "pknerd", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "enterprise business process automation in Python, n8n, PHP, and a few other tech.", "excerpt": "Won't take much of your time, as I often post here: So lately I have been doing a couple of things: - Programming related: GenAI/LLMs, Data Pipelines, automation, scraping, enterprise business process automation in Python, n8n, PHP, and a few other tech. - Implementing browser and server-side tracking to optimize Meta Ad spend by sending visitors' behavior data to Meta and other platforms to let their AI systems lear", "context": "freelance automation developer", "use_case": "business process automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (July 2026)"}]}, {"text": "often self-hosted, ", "cites": [{"id": 798862256, "item_id": 49928891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49928891", "by": "blackwaltz0818", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Technologies: n8n (self-hosted), ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot", "excerpt": "Location: Taipei, Taiwan (GMT+8) Remote: Yes, async Willing to relocate: Remote only Technologies: n8n (self-hosted), ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot; process mapping and requirements (CBAP, PMP) R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https://jasonchuang.com/about Email: jason@jasonchuang.com Freelance, fixed-price projects. 19 years as a business analyst in large organisations (KPMG Taiwan, E.SUN Bank, a global automotive finance co", "context": "Freelance business analyst, 19 years experience", "use_case": "small-business automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2026)"}, {"id": 735234624, "item_id": 45952164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45952164", "by": "m4c-pl", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use this solution in production in my own projects.", "excerpt": "Complete guide to installing self-hosted n8n on a FreeBSD server. The article describes step-by-step the configuration and setup process for a highly efficient and secure system environment for n8n, based on FreeBSD, using Nginx as a reverse proxy, SSL, and Redis with Queue Mode enabled. I use this solution in production in my own projects.", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "N8n on FreeBSD \u2013 installation, configuration, and optimisation"}, {"id": 777892257, "item_id": 48618266, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48618266", "by": "CommanderBlend", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Since i have my own n8n server running", "excerpt": "Hi guys!, I love keeping track of satellites and see them on a globe, the scale and the orbits and what not, but most of the popular tracking sites out there look like they were built with a Raspberry Pi at the dawn of the internet. So I wanted to build something fast, minimalist, and interactive, so I custom-built AstroSat. Since i have my own n8n server running i thought might as well add an AI chat bot which has k", "context": "runs own n8n server", "use_case": "AI chatbot backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "AstroSat \u2013 A modern 3D satellite globe tracker using browser-side SGP4"}]}, {"text": "and call it reliable and quick for shipping webhook-based tools.", "cites": [{"id": 796476768, "item_id": 49779798, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49779798", "by": "scrivna", "date": "2026-09-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It\u2019s been very reliable, I would continue to use it for workflow automations", "excerpt": "Yes I use it for a few workflows for a client. Been using their hosted version since it was dirt cheap (and grandfathered in to that pricing). It\u2019s been very reliable, I would continue to use it for workflow automations now as it\u2019s simpler to reason with than LLM generated spaghetti code.", "context": "builds workflows for a client", "use_case": "workflow automation for a client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Remember N8n? Anyone?"}, {"id": 755432672, "item_id": 47214542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47214542", "by": "armanidev", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The n8n webhook approach is really powerful for shipping these kinds of micro-tools quickly.", "excerpt": "Nice approach to root cause analysis! I love seeing AI applied to structured thinking frameworks like this. I recently built a few free AI tools using n8n webhooks \u2014 one of them is a \"Roast My Website\" tool that does an AI-powered design critique: https://crazeemedia.app.n8n.cloud/webhook/roast-my-website The n8n webhook approach is really powerful for shipping these kinds of micro-tools quickly. How are you hosting ", "context": "built free AI tools", "use_case": "shipping AI micro-tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: I built an AI tool that walks you through Toyota's 5 Whys method"}]}, {"text": " The main caveat is that its node graphs make complex logic hard to express without dropping to code", "cites": [{"id": 788527025, "item_id": 49282939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49282939", "by": "TeMPOraL", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "This is, to me, what sinks most of those services like Zapier and n8n in power-user market", "excerpt": "The thing in TFA looks like it can draw trees. Can it do DAGs? Can it do directed graphs with loops? This is, to me, what sinks most of those services like Zapier and n8n in power-user market, and dooms them to become marketing platform for third-party integrations, concealed by some drag&drop complexity. Because the moment you want to do anything that isn't a direct ETL job with SaaS for databases, you discover the ", "context": "Power user", "use_case": "workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ballet \u2013 Workflow automation that writes integrations against any API"}]}, {"text": ", and some see workflow builders as a poor fit for AI agents.", "cites": [{"id": 786897570, "item_id": 49181098, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181098", "by": "_pdp_", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I think workflow builders are mostly the wrong mental model for AI.", "excerpt": "Full disclosure I'm a founder of cbk.ai and chatbotkit.com, where we've built reusable agent components. I have never really saw flowise, n8n the now defunct OpenAI agent builder and other similar products as competitors and I wanted to describe why. I think workflow builders are mostly the wrong mental model for AI. A graph of predefined nodes and edges is useful when you already know the exact sequence of work.... ", "context": "founder", "use_case": "workflow builder", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flowise Is Shutting Down"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Self-hosting", "summary": "Commenters run n8n on their own servers and home machines, including in production.", "quotes": [{"id": 735234624, "item_id": 45952164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45952164", "by": "m4c-pl", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use this solution in production in my own projects.", "excerpt": "Complete guide to installing self-hosted n8n on a FreeBSD server. The article describes step-by-step the configuration and setup process for a highly efficient and secure system environment for n8n, based on FreeBSD, using Nginx as a reverse proxy, SSL, and Redis with Queue Mode enabled. I use this solution in production in my own projects.", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "N8n on FreeBSD \u2013 installation, configuration, and optimisation"}, {"id": 777892257, "item_id": 48618266, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48618266", "by": "CommanderBlend", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Since i have my own n8n server running", "excerpt": "Hi guys!, I love keeping track of satellites and see them on a globe, the scale and the orbits and what not, but most of the popular tracking sites out there look like they were built with a Raspberry Pi at the dawn of the internet. So I wanted to build something fast, minimalist, and interactive, so I custom-built AstroSat. Since i have my own n8n server running i thought might as well add an AI chat bot which has k", "context": "runs own n8n server", "use_case": "AI chatbot backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "AstroSat \u2013 A modern 3D satellite globe tracker using browser-side SGP4"}, {"id": 798862256, "item_id": 49928891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49928891", "by": "blackwaltz0818", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Technologies: n8n (self-hosted), ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot", "excerpt": "Location: Taipei, Taiwan (GMT+8) Remote: Yes, async Willing to relocate: Remote only Technologies: n8n (self-hosted), ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot; process mapping and requirements (CBAP, PMP) R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https://jasonchuang.com/about Email: jason@jasonchuang.com Freelance, fixed-price projects. 19 years as a business analyst in large organisations (KPMG Taiwan, E.SUN Bank, a global automotive finance co", "context": "Freelance business analyst, 19 years experience", "use_case": "small-business automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2026)"}]}, {"label": "Business automation", "summary": "Freelancers and small teams use it to build scheduled business processes for clients.", "quotes": [{"id": 794891280, "item_id": 49680705, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49680705", "by": "akshaymad0608", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I build n8n automations that run a business process on a schedule and don't lie about whether they worked.", "excerpt": "Location: Surat, India Remote: Yes (remote only; happy to overlap US or EU hours for calls) Willing to relocate: No Technologies: n8n, JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, React, Vite, Vercel, OpenAI / Claude / Gemini APIs, schema-constrained LLM output, REST, webhooks, OAuth, Google Sheets and Gmail APIs R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https://akshay.website Email: akshaymad0608 at gmail dot com Freelance: automations and small web apps, bu", "context": "freelancer", "use_case": "business process automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (September 2026)"}, {"id": 799876432, "item_id": 49992277, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49992277", "by": "ahnaf112", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Small team building one thing: website inquiry follow-up in n8n.", "excerpt": "Location: Petaling Jaya, Malaysia | Remote: yes | Relocate: no | Technologies: n8n, webhooks, Google Sheets, SMTP/Gmail | Site: https://www.oqviangroup.com/offer | Email: hossainahnaf700@gmail.com Small team building one thing: website inquiry follow-up in n8n. A form submission is saved to a sheet, the owner gets an alert, and the customer gets an instant reply. Fixed $300, 4 working days, one revision, 14 days of b", "context": "small team offering services", "use_case": "website inquiry follow-up automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2026)"}, {"id": 782344880, "item_id": 48896555, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48896555", "by": "pknerd", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "enterprise business process automation in Python, n8n, PHP, and a few other tech.", "excerpt": "Won't take much of your time, as I often post here: So lately I have been doing a couple of things: - Programming related: GenAI/LLMs, Data Pipelines, automation, scraping, enterprise business process automation in Python, n8n, PHP, and a few other tech. - Implementing browser and server-side tracking to optimize Meta Ad spend by sending visitors' behavior data to Meta and other platforms to let their AI systems lear", "context": "freelance automation developer", "use_case": "business process automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (July 2026)"}]}, {"label": "App integrations", "summary": "Commenters use it to connect other tools, such as pushing jobs into Notion or parsing invoices.", "quotes": [{"id": 746587873, "item_id": 46661742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46661742", "by": "dakheera47", "date": "2026-01-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "i use that to push the job into my notion db via n8n", "excerpt": "i built JobOps, basically a devops style pipeline for my jobhunt. im in the UK, on a student visa, trying to find a graduate job that\u2019ll sponsor skilled worker. it\u2019s basically my job application process turned into a pipeline, because i got sick of the same two things happening every time: - i apply, then the link dies and i lose the job description i actually applied to - i apply, then two weeks later i can\u2019t rememb", "context": "", "use_case": "webhook automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "JobOps: DevOps thinking applied to job hunting (self-hosted, local-first)"}, {"id": 740753009, "item_id": 46297063, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46297063", "by": "wastu", "date": "2025-12-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use it in n8n to parse invoices and bank statements", "excerpt": "I got tired of building custom OCR pipelines for every document type and fixing parsers whenever a PDF layout changed. So I built Parsley. Parsley uses LLMs to parse PDFs or images into structured data. You define the fields you want and it extracts them by meaning rather than fixed positions or labels. The web app uses your own API keys with providers like Google or OpenRouter. Documents go directly to them. The app", "context": "", "use_case": "workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Parsley - Open-source AI parser for PDFs and images to JSON/CSV"}, {"id": 787127568, "item_id": 49195473, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49195473", "by": "stuess", "date": "2026-08-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use n8n a lot for automations", "excerpt": "Open source side project to serve a real need I had: I use n8n a lot for automations, and sometimes it's helpful to have a human (myself) in the loop. New customers signs up? Open their LinkedIn profile automatically in my browser. New article in an RSS feed I care about, open it in a browser tab near real time. Hope it's helpful for others! Can be self-hosted, and is built in a data-sparse way (minimal data retentio", "context": "", "use_case": "workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: OpenThat.Link \u2013 Trigger a webhook, open a link in the browser"}]}, {"label": "Zapier alternative", "summary": "Commenters suggest it as a replacement for Zapier or for stitching tools together.", "quotes": [{"id": 732697345, "item_id": 45793584, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45793584", "by": "jimmydin7", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "zapier -> n8n", "excerpt": "for example: netlify, render -> coolify zapier -> n8n", "context": "", "use_case": "open source alternative to Zapier", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the best Open Source alternatives to popular SaaS?"}, {"id": 732684881, "item_id": 45792805, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45792805", "by": "AznHisoka", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Or just use N8N :)", "excerpt": "Comen'n, you're a techie. Use Google Sheets + Google App Scripts to make external API calls for each column! Or just use N8N :) I feel like there are a lot of tools in this space, but they're all flawed, or they all defeat the purpose of Clay - which is having easy access to a lot of integrations with external data providers, and then falling back to their AI agent if you can't find a data provider. You're probably n", "context": "", "use_case": "enrichment workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to Clay for Enrichment?"}]}, {"label": "Webhook micro-tools", "summary": "Its webhooks are described as a fast way to ship small tools.", "quotes": [{"id": 755432672, "item_id": 47214542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47214542", "by": "armanidev", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The n8n webhook approach is really powerful for shipping these kinds of micro-tools quickly.", "excerpt": "Nice approach to root cause analysis! I love seeing AI applied to structured thinking frameworks like this. I recently built a few free AI tools using n8n webhooks \u2014 one of them is a \"Roast My Website\" tool that does an AI-powered design critique: https://crazeemedia.app.n8n.cloud/webhook/roast-my-website The n8n webhook approach is really powerful for shipping these kinds of micro-tools quickly. How are you hosting ", "context": "built free AI tools", "use_case": "shipping AI micro-tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: I built an AI tool that walks you through Toyota's 5 Whys method"}, {"id": 799876432, "item_id": 49992277, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49992277", "by": "ahnaf112", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Small team building one thing: website inquiry follow-up in n8n.", "excerpt": "Location: Petaling Jaya, Malaysia | Remote: yes | Relocate: no | Technologies: n8n, webhooks, Google Sheets, SMTP/Gmail | Site: https://www.oqviangroup.com/offer | Email: hossainahnaf700@gmail.com Small team building one thing: website inquiry follow-up in n8n. A form submission is saved to a sheet, the owner gets an alert, and the customer gets an instant reply. Fixed $300, 4 working days, one revision, 14 days of b", "context": "small team offering services", "use_case": "website inquiry follow-up automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2026)"}]}, {"label": "Reliability", "summary": "One long-term user calls it very reliable and simpler to reason about than LLM-generated code.", "quotes": [{"id": 796476768, "item_id": 49779798, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49779798", "by": "scrivna", "date": "2026-09-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It\u2019s been very reliable, I would continue to use it for workflow automations", "excerpt": "Yes I use it for a few workflows for a client. Been using their hosted version since it was dirt cheap (and grandfathered in to that pricing). It\u2019s been very reliable, I would continue to use it for workflow automations now as it\u2019s simpler to reason with than LLM generated spaghetti code.", "context": "builds workflows for a client", "use_case": "workflow automation for a client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Remember N8n? Anyone?"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Limited logic", "summary": "Expressing logic beyond simple ETL reportedly requires shelling out to code.", "quotes": [{"id": 788527025, "item_id": 49282939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49282939", "by": "TeMPOraL", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "This is, to me, what sinks most of those services like Zapier and n8n in power-user market", "excerpt": "The thing in TFA looks like it can draw trees. Can it do DAGs? Can it do directed graphs with loops? This is, to me, what sinks most of those services like Zapier and n8n in power-user market, and dooms them to become marketing platform for third-party integrations, concealed by some drag&drop complexity. Because the moment you want to do anything that isn't a direct ETL job with SaaS for databases, you discover the ", "context": "Power user", "use_case": "workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ballet \u2013 Workflow automation that writes integrations against any API"}]}, {"label": "Workflow portability", "summary": "Installing an exported workflow somewhere new still means rebuilding connections and environment by hand.", "quotes": [{"id": 784857537, "item_id": 49053596, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49053596", "by": "zajasa", "date": "2026-07-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to reach for n8n and custom deployed services running on my own infra", "excerpt": "hi folks. I build custom services and integrations for ccaas platforms. something that's always annoyed me: every workflow tool lets you export a workflow. cool, here's your JSON. now go rebuild the connections, the environment, the trigger, the data tables it works with, and whatever dashboard the customer wanted on top. by hand. every single time you install it somewhere new. In my integration work, I used to reach", "context": "builds custom integrations for ccaas platforms", "use_case": "workflow integrations", "switched_from": "", "story": "QuickFlo \u2013 I got sick of exporting workflows and everything that came with them"}, {"id": 784855009, "item_id": 49053438, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49053438", "by": "zajasa", "date": "2026-07-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to reach for n8n and custom deployed services running on my own infra", "excerpt": "hi folks. I build custom services and integrations for ccaas platforms. something that's always annoyed me: every workflow tool lets you export a workflow. cool, here's your JSON. now go rebuild the connections, the environment, the trigger, the data tables it works with, and whatever dashboard the customer wanted on top. by hand. every single time you install it somewhere new. In my integration work, I used to reach", "context": "builds custom integrations for ccaas platforms", "use_case": "workflow integrations", "switched_from": "", "story": "QuickFlo \u2013 I got sick of exporting workflows and everything that came with them"}]}, {"label": "AI agent fit", "summary": "One founder argues predefined workflow graphs are the wrong mental model for AI agents.", "quotes": [{"id": 786897570, "item_id": 49181098, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181098", "by": "_pdp_", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I think workflow builders are mostly the wrong mental model for AI.", "excerpt": "Full disclosure I'm a founder of cbk.ai and chatbotkit.com, where we've built reusable agent components. I have never really saw flowise, n8n the now defunct OpenAI agent builder and other similar products as competitors and I wanted to describe why. I think workflow builders are mostly the wrong mental model for AI. A graph of predefined nodes and edges is useful when you already know the exact sequence of work.... ", "context": "founder", "use_case": "workflow builder", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flowise Is Shutting Down"}]}], "who": [{"by": "ahnaf112", "context": "small team offering services", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49992277", "date": "2026-10-07"}, {"by": "nosfertech", "context": "backend and automation engineer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49953740", "date": "2026-10-04"}, {"by": "blackwaltz0818", "context": "Freelance business analyst, 19 years experience", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49928891", "date": "2026-10-02"}, {"by": "scrivna", "context": "builds workflows for a client", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49779798", "date": "2026-09-20"}, {"by": "akshaymad0608", "context": "freelancer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49680705", "date": "2026-09-13"}, {"by": "zajasa", "context": "builds custom integrations for ccaas platforms", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49053596", "date": "2026-07-25"}, {"by": "pknerd", "context": "freelance automation developer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48896555", "date": "2026-07-13"}, {"by": "CommanderBlend", "context": "runs own n8n server", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48618266", "date": "2026-06-21"}, {"by": "HMETechnologies", "context": "hiring at a media company", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48059654", "date": "2026-05-08"}, {"by": "sharyphil", "context": "30-year Windows user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47471042", "date": "2026-03-21"}, {"by": "armanidev", "context": "built free AI tools", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47214542", "date": "2026-03-01"}, {"by": "tawman", "context": "Linux user for 30 years", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46595490", "date": "2026-01-12"}], "tags": ["self-hostable", "for freelancers", "for small businesses", "for homelabs", "Zapier alternative"], "use_cases": ["workflow automation", "business process automation", "workflow integrations", "self-hosted workflow automation", "website inquiry follow-up automation", "booking workflow automation"], "compared": [{"slug": "zapier", "name": "Zapier", "co": 7, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "chatgpt", "name": "ChatGPT", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "terraform", "name": "Terraform", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "immich", "name": "Immich", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "claude-code", "name": "Claude Code", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "notion", "name": "Notion", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49922568", "title": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2026)", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49522896", "title": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (September 2026)", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49053437", "title": "QuickFlo \u2013 I got sick of exporting workflows and everything that came with them", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109715", "title": "What I self-host", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49763466", "title": "Ask HN: Remember N8n? Anyone?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49582000", "title": "Cloud in a Bottle: making self-hosting accessible to everyone", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 3}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 2, "compare": 1}, "2026-08": {"warn": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"compare": 1, "neutral": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 801897314, "item_id": 50118582, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50118582", "by": "dd_xplore", "date": "2026-10-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "n8n", "excerpt": "I had a N100 mini PC with 16GB DDR5 (the chinese ones with 4 Ethernet for router use). That thing ran lot's of my services - arr stack, jellyfin, immich (iGPU + ML + another container running on my PC for additional ML resource), n8n, it-tools, handbrake, and another project that I used to do. This mini PC also handled 4k hevc quite fine! This is a surprisingly capable chip.But I wanted more so I bought a core Ultra ", "context": "", "use_case": "workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 799876432, "item_id": 49992277, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49992277", "by": "ahnaf112", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Small team building one thing: website inquiry follow-up in n8n.", "excerpt": "Location: Petaling Jaya, Malaysia | Remote: yes | Relocate: no | Technologies: n8n, webhooks, Google Sheets, SMTP/Gmail | Site: https://www.oqviangroup.com/offer | Email: hossainahnaf700@gmail.com Small team building one thing: website inquiry follow-up in n8n. A form submission is saved to a sheet, the owner gets an alert, and the customer gets an instant reply. Fixed $300, 4 working days, one revision, 14 days of b", "context": "small team offering services", "use_case": "website inquiry follow-up automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2026)"}, {"id": 799259840, "item_id": 49953740, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49953740", "by": "nosfertech", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "n8n workflows, an LLM with guardrails and handoff to a human", "excerpt": "Location: Madrid, Spain (UTC+1/+2) Remote: Yes, remote only Willing to relocate: No Technologies: Python, SQL, PostgreSQL/Supabase (multi-tenant RLS), n8n, Docker, WhatsApp Business API, Google Calendar API, LLM integrations (prompts, guardrails, human handoff); earlier C++ and PHP (IVR) R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivermedmat (PDF on request) Code: https://github.com/NoSFeR88/citabot-demo Email: medmato8", "context": "backend and automation engineer", "use_case": "booking workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2026)"}, {"id": 798862256, "item_id": 49928891, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49928891", "by": "blackwaltz0818", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Technologies: n8n (self-hosted), ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot", "excerpt": "Location: Taipei, Taiwan (GMT+8) Remote: Yes, async Willing to relocate: Remote only Technologies: n8n (self-hosted), ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot; process mapping and requirements (CBAP, PMP) R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https://jasonchuang.com/about Email: jason@jasonchuang.com Freelance, fixed-price projects. 19 years as a business analyst in large organisations (KPMG Taiwan, E.SUN Bank, a global automotive finance co", "context": "Freelance business analyst, 19 years experience", "use_case": "small-business automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2026)"}, {"id": 796476768, "item_id": 49779798, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49779798", "by": "scrivna", "date": "2026-09-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It\u2019s been very reliable, I would continue to use it for workflow automations", "excerpt": "Yes I use it for a few workflows for a client. Been using their hosted version since it was dirt cheap (and grandfathered in to that pricing). It\u2019s been very reliable, I would continue to use it for workflow automations now as it\u2019s simpler to reason with than LLM generated spaghetti code.", "context": "builds workflows for a client", "use_case": "workflow automation for a client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Remember N8n? Anyone?"}, {"id": 794891280, "item_id": 49680705, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49680705", "by": "akshaymad0608", "date": "2026-09-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I build n8n automations that run a business process on a schedule and don't lie about whether they worked.", "excerpt": "Location: Surat, India Remote: Yes (remote only; happy to overlap US or EU hours for calls) Willing to relocate: No Technologies: n8n, JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, React, Vite, Vercel, OpenAI / Claude / Gemini APIs, schema-constrained LLM output, REST, webhooks, OAuth, Google Sheets and Gmail APIs R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https://akshay.website Email: akshaymad0608 at gmail dot com Freelance: automations and small web apps, bu", "context": "freelancer", "use_case": "business process automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (September 2026)"}, {"id": 794619958, "item_id": 49663747, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49663747", "by": "phudyka", "date": "2026-09-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I delivered a remote patient monitoring proof of concept in n8n in under a month.", "excerpt": "Location: France (CET) Remote: Yes, fully remote only (occasional travel/offsites fine) Willing to relocate: No Technologies: Flutter/Dart, Supabase (PostgreSQL, RLS, Deno Edge Functions), TypeScript, React, Next.js, Django, Angular, Docker, GitHub Actions, n8n R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: on request. linkedin.com/in/paul-hudyka, github.com/phudyka, phudyka.github.io Email: phudyka.dev@gmail.com Web and mobile developer. I ship produc", "context": "", "use_case": "AI automation workflows", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (September 2026)"}, {"id": 793357522, "item_id": 49584845, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49584845", "by": "gavmor", "date": "2026-09-06", "stance": "compare", "quote": "others might use n8n[2] for the same purpose", "excerpt": "If your \"opt-in platform features\" and \"interface to allow permissioned access to data and capabilities between different apps\" is more expressive/discoverable than eg Cloud Foundry's \"Service Broker\" approach[0], then I am pretty excited! I run a lot of disparate services which don't interoperate except through explicit workflow automation pipelines (I use ConcourseCI to eg upload images to Immich [1] albums, but ot", "context": "", "use_case": "workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cloud in a Bottle: making self-hosting accessible to everyone"}, {"id": 788527025, "item_id": 49282939, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49282939", "by": "TeMPOraL", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "This is, to me, what sinks most of those services like Zapier and n8n in power-user market", "excerpt": "The thing in TFA looks like it can draw trees. Can it do DAGs? Can it do directed graphs with loops? This is, to me, what sinks most of those services like Zapier and n8n in power-user market, and dooms them to become marketing platform for third-party integrations, concealed by some drag&drop complexity. Because the moment you want to do anything that isn't a direct ETL job with SaaS for databases, you discover the ", "context": "Power user", "use_case": "workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ballet \u2013 Workflow automation that writes integrations against any API"}, {"id": 787127568, "item_id": 49195473, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49195473", "by": "stuess", "date": "2026-08-06", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use n8n a lot for automations", "excerpt": "Open source side project to serve a real need I had: I use n8n a lot for automations, and sometimes it's helpful to have a human (myself) in the loop. New customers signs up? Open their LinkedIn profile automatically in my browser. New article in an RSS feed I care about, open it in a browser tab near real time. Hope it's helpful for others! Can be self-hosted, and is built in a data-sparse way (minimal data retentio", "context": "", "use_case": "workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: OpenThat.Link \u2013 Trigger a webhook, open a link in the browser"}, {"id": 786897570, "item_id": 49181098, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181098", "by": "_pdp_", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I think workflow builders are mostly the wrong mental model for AI.", "excerpt": "Full disclosure I'm a founder of cbk.ai and chatbotkit.com, where we've built reusable agent components. I have never really saw flowise, n8n the now defunct OpenAI agent builder and other similar products as competitors and I wanted to describe why. I think workflow builders are mostly the wrong mental model for AI. A graph of predefined nodes and edges is useful when you already know the exact sequence of work.... ", "context": "founder", "use_case": "workflow builder", "switched_from": "", "story": "Flowise Is Shutting Down"}, {"id": 784857537, "item_id": 49053596, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49053596", "by": "zajasa", "date": "2026-07-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to reach for n8n and custom deployed services running on my own infra", "excerpt": "hi folks. I build custom services and integrations for ccaas platforms. something that's always annoyed me: every workflow tool lets you export a workflow. cool, here's your JSON. now go rebuild the connections, the environment, the trigger, the data tables it works with, and whatever dashboard the customer wanted on top. by hand. every single time you install it somewhere new. In my integration work, I used to reach", "context": "builds custom integrations for ccaas platforms", "use_case": "workflow integrations", "switched_from": "", "story": "QuickFlo \u2013 I got sick of exporting workflows and everything that came with them"}, {"id": 784855009, "item_id": 49053438, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49053438", "by": "zajasa", "date": "2026-07-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to reach for n8n and custom deployed services running on my own infra", "excerpt": "hi folks. I build custom services and integrations for ccaas platforms. something that's always annoyed me: every workflow tool lets you export a workflow. cool, here's your JSON. now go rebuild the connections, the environment, the trigger, the data tables it works with, and whatever dashboard the customer wanted on top. by hand. every single time you install it somewhere new. In my integration work, I used to reach", "context": "builds custom integrations for ccaas platforms", "use_case": "workflow integrations", "switched_from": "", "story": "QuickFlo \u2013 I got sick of exporting workflows and everything that came with them"}, {"id": 782785889, "item_id": 48924118, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48924118", "by": "khimaros", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "compare", "quote": "a more streamlined and minimalist alternative to n8n", "excerpt": "https://github.com/khimaros/flow if you're looking for a more streamlined and minimalist alternative to n8n. it also has CLI integration with piped input and output. user nodes can be written in Typescript, Python, and Rhai in addition to fully declarative nodes. UX it's more similar to ComfyUI", "context": "", "use_case": "workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "CVE-2026-59208: Cross-Issuer Account Takeover in n8n"}, {"id": 782344880, "item_id": 48896555, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48896555", "by": "pknerd", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "enterprise business process automation in Python, n8n, PHP, and a few other tech.", "excerpt": "Won't take much of your time, as I often post here: So lately I have been doing a couple of things: - Programming related: GenAI/LLMs, Data Pipelines, automation, scraping, enterprise business process automation in Python, n8n, PHP, and a few other tech. - Implementing browser and server-side tracking to optimize Meta Ad spend by sending visitors' behavior data to Meta and other platforms to let their AI systems lear", "context": "freelance automation developer", "use_case": "business process automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (July 2026)"}, {"id": 777892257, "item_id": 48618266, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48618266", "by": "CommanderBlend", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Since i have my own n8n server running", "excerpt": "Hi guys!, I love keeping track of satellites and see them on a globe, the scale and the orbits and what not, but most of the popular tracking sites out there look like they were built with a Raspberry Pi at the dawn of the internet. So I wanted to build something fast, minimalist, and interactive, so I custom-built AstroSat. Since i have my own n8n server running i thought might as well add an AI chat bot which has k", "context": "runs own n8n server", "use_case": "AI chatbot backend", "switched_from": "", "story": "AstroSat \u2013 A modern 3D satellite globe tracker using browser-side SGP4"}, {"id": 768954468, "item_id": 48059654, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48059654", "by": "HMETechnologies", "date": "2026-05-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Build automations (Make, Zapier, n8n)", "excerpt": "HME Technologies | AI Operations Lead | REMOTE | Full-Time | $40k-$75k base + Bonus HME Technologies (https://hmetech.com/) is a small, profitable media and affiliate marketing company. We build audiences, sell sponsorships, and run a growing portfolio of content properties across YouTube and emerging platforms. We're operator-run, AI-native, and looking for our first AI Operations Lead to work directly with the co-f", "context": "hiring at a media company", "use_case": "building automations", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (May 2026)"}, {"id": 759536672, "item_id": 47471042, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47471042", "by": "sharyphil", "date": "2026-03-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "my Linux server I use for n8n and Outline", "excerpt": "I am a 30-year Windows guy. When I work with the terminal in my Linux server I use for n8n and Outline, I think that everything is broken and that makes me hate myself.", "context": "30-year Windows user", "use_case": "self-hosted automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ubuntu 26.04 Ends 46 Years of Silent sudo Passwords"}, {"id": 755432672, "item_id": 47214542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47214542", "by": "armanidev", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The n8n webhook approach is really powerful for shipping these kinds of micro-tools quickly.", "excerpt": "Nice approach to root cause analysis! I love seeing AI applied to structured thinking frameworks like this. I recently built a few free AI tools using n8n webhooks \u2014 one of them is a \"Roast My Website\" tool that does an AI-powered design critique: https://crazeemedia.app.n8n.cloud/webhook/roast-my-website The n8n webhook approach is really powerful for shipping these kinds of micro-tools quickly. How are you hosting ", "context": "built free AI tools", "use_case": "shipping AI micro-tools", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: I built an AI tool that walks you through Toyota's 5 Whys method"}, {"id": 746587873, "item_id": 46661742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46661742", "by": "dakheera47", "date": "2026-01-17", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "i use that to push the job into my notion db via n8n", "excerpt": "i built JobOps, basically a devops style pipeline for my jobhunt. im in the UK, on a student visa, trying to find a graduate job that\u2019ll sponsor skilled worker. it\u2019s basically my job application process turned into a pipeline, because i got sick of the same two things happening every time: - i apply, then the link dies and i lose the job description i actually applied to - i apply, then two weeks later i can\u2019t rememb", "context": "", "use_case": "webhook automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "JobOps: DevOps thinking applied to job hunting (self-hosted, local-first)"}, {"id": 745527844, "item_id": 46595490, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46595490", "by": "tawman", "date": "2026-01-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I do the same thing on my Hostinger VPS with Claude even though I have been using Linux 30 years. Just removes the friction and time. I version control the DevOps with git, and even had Claude setup automated backups to my Google Drive via cron. workdir/ \u251c\u2500\u2500 README.md \u251c\u2500\u2500 CLAUDE.md # Claude Code instructions \u251c\u2500\u2500 BACKUP.md # Backup documentation \u251c\u2500\u2500 .gitignore \u251c\u2500\u2500 traefik/ \u2502 \u251c\u2500\u2500 docker-compose.yml \u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500 config/ \u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500 ", "context": "Linux user for 30 years", "use_case": "self-hosted workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "2026 is the Year of Self-hosting"}, {"id": 740753009, "item_id": 46297063, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46297063", "by": "wastu", "date": "2025-12-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use it in n8n to parse invoices and bank statements", "excerpt": "I got tired of building custom OCR pipelines for every document type and fixing parsers whenever a PDF layout changed. So I built Parsley. Parsley uses LLMs to parse PDFs or images into structured data. You define the fields you want and it extracts them by meaning rather than fixed positions or labels. The web app uses your own API keys with providers like Google or OpenRouter. Documents go directly to them. The app", "context": "", "use_case": "workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Parsley - Open-source AI parser for PDFs and images to JSON/CSV"}, {"id": 735234624, "item_id": 45952164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45952164", "by": "m4c-pl", "date": "2025-11-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use this solution in production in my own projects.", "excerpt": "Complete guide to installing self-hosted n8n on a FreeBSD server. The article describes step-by-step the configuration and setup process for a highly efficient and secure system environment for n8n, based on FreeBSD, using Nginx as a reverse proxy, SSL, and Redis with Queue Mode enabled. I use this solution in production in my own projects.", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "N8n on FreeBSD \u2013 installation, configuration, and optimisation"}, {"id": 732697345, "item_id": 45793584, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45793584", "by": "jimmydin7", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "zapier -> n8n", "excerpt": "for example: netlify, render -> coolify zapier -> n8n", "context": "", "use_case": "open source alternative to Zapier", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the best Open Source alternatives to popular SaaS?"}, {"id": 732684881, "item_id": 45792805, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45792805", "by": "AznHisoka", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Or just use N8N :)", "excerpt": "Comen'n, you're a techie. Use Google Sheets + Google App Scripts to make external API calls for each column! Or just use N8N :) I feel like there are a lot of tools in this space, but they're all flawed, or they all defeat the purpose of Clay - which is having easy access to a lot of integrations with external data providers, and then falling back to their AI agent if you can't find a data provider. You're probably n", "context": "", "use_case": "enrichment workflow automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to Clay for Enrichment?"}]}