The silent revolution of workflow automation has finally reached everyone. For more than a decade, automating processes between different systems was a privilege reserved for large corporations with generous budgets, or it depended on tools that charged heavily for every small action executed.
Then n8n appeared.
An open-source platform created in Berlin that, in less than six years, amassed more than 163,000 stars on GitHub, surpassed 230,000 active users, and reached a $2.5 billion valuation in October 2025. More important than the numbers: n8n proved that it was possible to build powerful automations without spending a fortune or handing over data control to third parties.
This article takes a deep look at how workflow automation evolved, why traditional tools created artificial barriers, and how n8n broke those paradigms.
⚠️ Warning: this is a long, dense, research-heavy article.
Buckle up — story time. (apple-eating sound)
The world before n8n: a decade of automation for the few
To understand n8n’s impact, we first need to examine the landscape that existed before its arrival. The history of workflow automation for non-developers begins in 2010, when the idea of connecting applications without writing code felt revolutionary.
IFTTT and the birth of simple automation
In December 2010, Linden Tibbets and his brother Alexander launched IFTTT (If This Then That) in San Francisco. The idea was elegant in its simplicity: creating automatic recipes based on single triggers.
- If it rains, send a notification
- If you post on Instagram, save the photo to Dropbox
The platform quickly reached millions of users — peaking at 32 million — but its core architecture imposed severe limitations. IFTTT only supported single-step linear flows. There was no way to create:
- conditional branches
- loops
- complex data transformations
It was automation for consumers, not for businesses that needed to orchestrate sophisticated processes. When the company introduced a freemium model in September 2020, limiting free users to just three applets, the community reacted with frustration. The tool that promised simplicity revealed its structural limitations.
Zapier and the consolidation of the task-based model
In October 2011, Wade Foster, Bryan Helmig, and Mike Knoop realized they were building the same integrations repeatedly for different clients. Out of that frustration, Zapier was born — and it would become the dominant player in the category. Its trajectory was impressive:
- Y Combinator in 2012
- Profitability in 2014 with only $1.4M raised
- $310M in ARR by 2023
- A $5 billion valuation in 2021
Zapier proved there was massive demand for no-code automation.
The problem with task-based pricing
Zapier charges per task, and every action inside a workflow counts as a separate task.
A workflow with 10 steps processing 200 orders per day consumes 60,000 tasks per month.
On paid plans, that can easily exceed $899/month.
For startups and small businesses, costs scale exponentially as operations grow. In addition, many integrations are labeled as “premium,” forcing plan upgrades even with low usage. The model rewards simple workflows, exactly the opposite of what growing companies need.
Integromat → Make
In Prague, Ondřej Gazda started Integromat in 2012, launching the product in 2016. The platform stood out for:
- an advanced visual builder
- sophisticated conditional logic
- complex data manipulation
In October 2020, Celonis acquired the company for $100M+. In 2022, the product was rebranded as Make, positioning itself as an enterprise alternative to Zapier. Despite the improvements, it retained an operation-based pricing model, including:
- trigger polling
- invisible actions
- unexpected credit consumption
Users frequently report surprise bills.
Microsoft Power Automate and the enterprise world
Microsoft entered the market in 2016 with Microsoft Flow, renamed Power Automate in 2019. Clear advantages exist for organizations already embedded in the Microsoft ecosystem:
- Microsoft 365
- Dynamics 365
- Azure
But costs add up quickly:
- $15/user/month (Premium)
- $150/bot/month for RPA
On top of that, technical complexity pushes away non-technical users who could benefit from simple automations.
Workato, Tray.io, and the enterprise gap
At the top of the pyramid:
- Workato — valued at $5.7B
- Tray.io — valued at $600M
Customers like Coca-Cola, GE, and PwC use these platforms to orchestrate mission-critical processes. But pricing reflects positioning:
Annual contracts in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars
The market was polarized:
- accessible but limited tools
- powerful but inaccessible platforms
The four barriers that blocked democratization
1. Pricing that punishes growth
The more you automate, the more expensive it gets.
In many cases, automation cost more than hiring someone to do the work manually.
2. Cloud-only means zero data control
Tokens, sensitive data, and documents flowed through third-party servers — mostly located in the United States. For companies under GDPR, HIPAA, or strict security policies, this was unacceptable.
3. Vendor lock-in with no escape route
- Workflows were not portable
- Learning time became dependency
- Switching meant rebuilding everything from scratch
4. Developers treated as second-class citizens
Arbitrary limits:
- 30-second execution time
- 256MB memory
- no external libraries
- no CI/CD
- no real debugging
Tools designed to remove friction ended up creating new kinds of friction.
The birth of n8n in Berlin
This is where Jan Oberhauser enters the story. Before n8n, Jan worked in the Hollywood VFX industry, spending time at studios such as:
- Rising Sun Pictures
- Pixomondo
- Digital Domain
He contributed to films like Maleficent and Happy Feet Two. Automating pipelines was a core part of the job.
From personal frustration to a side project
After founding startups like Link Fish and Showreel, Jan ran into the same automation problems:
- tools that were too expensive
- too rigid
- poorly documented
The solution was to build his own.
Over roughly 1.5 years, as a side project, n8n was born.
The official launch
- Company founded: June 2019
- First public GitHub commit: June 2019
- Hacker News launch post: October 2019
The reaction was immediate.
Fun fact:
“n8n” is a numeronym for nodemation
(node + automation)
The decision not to move to Silicon Valley
Y Combinator invited Jan. He declined. With a young family in Berlin, he didn’t want to move to San Francisco. That decision shaped n8n’s values:
- data privacy
- sustainability
- genuine community
- growth without empty hype
What did n8n do differently?
n8n didn’t reinvent automation. It redefined the rules.
1. Source-available (fair-code)
- Public code on GitHub
- Free self-hosting for internal use
- Custom extensions and integrations
- Restrictions only for commercial hosting
License: Sustainable Use License
For 99% of use cases, it behaves like free software.
2. Free and unlimited self-hosting
- Unlimited executions
- A $5–10/month server is enough
- Docker or Kubernetes support
- Data never leaves your infrastructure
No vendor lock-in.
No surprises.
3. Pricing per execution, not per task
- One workflow with 50 steps
- Processing 1,000 records
- Counts as 1,000 executions, not 50,000 tasks
It can be 10–50x cheaper.
4. Full freedom to write code
- Full JavaScript and Python
- Any npm library
- Terminal commands, GraphQL, cURL
- Real-time visual debugging
Developers are finally treated as first-class citizens.
Real-world market impact
Startups can automate from day one.
Personal experience:
I spend less than $8/month running n8n.
The Bordr case illustrates this perfectly:
- Integrations with Paperform, Postmark, Stripe, Airtable
- Growth into a six-figure business in just a few months
An ecosystem that grows organically
- 400+ native nodes
- 2,200+ community extensions
- 900+ ready-made workflow templates
AI was the final push
Since 2022, n8n has become the ideal platform to orchestrate AI workflows.
- 70+ LangChain nodes
- Native connectors for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini
- Support for local models via Ollama
75% of customers already use AI features
With self-hosting, sensitive data remains fully private.
The post-n8n future
The line between workflow automation and AI agents is disappearing. n8n validates an in-between model:
- neither naive open source
- nor closed proprietary software
Transparency becomes the baseline expectation. Premium pricing becomes harder to justify.
Automation finally belongs to everyone
For over a decade, automating business processes meant choosing between expensive simplicity or inaccessible power. n8n broke that false dichotomy.
The numbers tell part of the story:
- From a side project to a $2.5B unicorn
- 163,000+ GitHub stars
- 230,000+ active users
But the real impact is human:
- faster startups
- more efficient teams
- developers who feel respected
- compliance without sacrificing velocity
The future of productivity is doing less of what doesn’t matter
so you can do more of what does.
n8n is a tool built for that future.