n8n vs Microsoft Power Automate 2026: Which Workflow Automation Tool Wins?
Quick verdict: Microsoft Power Automate is our overall pick for n8n vs Power Automate.
- Best overall: Microsoft Power Automate (4.3/5)
- Best free: n8n
- Best for teams: Microsoft Power Automate
- Pricing last checked: 2026-09-25
Power Automate (4.3/5) leads on governance, localisation and predictable per-user pricing; n8n (4.0/5) leads on cost floor — self-host free with unlimited executions — and on code-level control with JavaScript, Python and 70+ LangChain nodes.
| Tool | Rating | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| n8n Best free | 4.0/5 | Free €20/mo (Starter, annual) | n8n is the only tool in the class you can self-host free with unlimited workflows, executi… |
| Microsoft Power Automate Best overall Best for teams | 4.3/5 | $15/user/mo (Premium, paid yearly) | Power Automate is the Microsoft 365-native automation layer: $15/user/mo for cloud and att… |
Bottom line: Power Automate (4.3/5) is the enterprise-safe choice: $15/user/mo paid yearly with no usage meter, tenant governance, DLP, managed environments and the best localisation in the class, plus unattended RPA at $150/bot/mo. n8n (4.0/5) is the engineer's choice: the Community Edition is free to self-host with unlimited workflows, executions and users, cloud bills per complete execution from EUR 20/mo, and workflows can run JavaScript or Python anywhere with 70+ LangChain nodes for AI agents and RAG. The trade-offs are symmetric. Microsoft has no free plan and concentrates its depth inside its own estate; n8n has the lowest cost floor in the class but makes you the operator and caps concurrency at 5 on Starter. Choose Power Automate for governed, Microsoft-centric estates; choose n8n when you want per-execution economics and full code control.
Pricing and details
n8n · 4.0/5
Free plan available · €20/mo (Starter, annual)
Priced per complete workflow execution, not per step - a workflow counts as one execution no matter how many nodes it contains, and every plan includes unlimited users, unlimited workflows and every integration. Starter gives 2,500 executions/mo with 5 concurrent executions and 1 shared project; Pro gives 10,000 with 20 concurrent, admin roles, global variables, workflow history and execution search; Business gives 40,000 with SSO/SAML/LDAP, Git version control, environments and a self-hosted option. The Community Edition is free to self-host under the fair-code Sustainable Use License with unlimited workflows, executions and users - you pay only for infrastructure. Enterprise is quote-only.
Annual billing saves ~17%; month-to-month is available at a higher rate
n8n is the only tool in the class you can self-host free with unlimited workflows, executions and users — and on cloud it bills per complete workflow execution, not per step, with JavaScript and Python anywhere in the flow.
Score breakdown
Pros
- Community Edition is free to self-host with unlimited workflows, executions and users — you pay only for infrastructure.
- Cloud bills per complete workflow execution, not per step: a 40-node workflow still counts as one execution.
- JavaScript and Python code nodes everywhere, plus 70+ LangChain nodes for AI agents, vector stores and RAG.
- Every cloud plan includes unlimited users and workflows, so seat count never drives the bill.
Cons
- Highest setup burden in the class: self-hosting means owning patching, backups, monitoring and execution-data pruning.
- Cloud starters are tight on concurrency — Starter allows 5 concurrent executions, and Business jumps to €667/mo.
- Interfaces and documentation are English-first, and the builder assumes a technical mental model.
Pricing verified 2026-09-25
Microsoft Power Automate · 4.3/5
30-day free trial · $15/user/mo (Premium, paid yearly)
Per-user and per-bot licensing rather than usage metering. Premium ($15/user/mo) covers cloud flows, attended desktop flows (RPA) and process mining with 50MB of stored data, plus 250MB Dataverse database and 2GB file capacity. Process ($150/bot/mo) licenses an unattended bot for a core business process that unlimited users in the organisation can access; Hosted Process ($215/bot/mo) adds a Microsoft-hosted virtual machine on Azure. The Process Mining add-on is $5,000/tenant/mo per 100GB. Limited cloud-flow use rights are bundled with select Microsoft 365 licences. There is no free plan - only a 30-day trial.
Prices shown are the paid-yearly rates; Power Automate per flow is $100/flow/mo (minimum 5 licenses)
Power Automate is the Microsoft 365-native automation layer: $15/user/mo for cloud and attended desktop flows, $150/bot/mo for unattended RPA, and per-user or per-bot licensing instead of usage metering.
Score breakdown
Pros
- Per-user and per-bot licensing rather than usage metering, so a busy month does not generate a surprise invoice.
- Best localisation and enterprise governance of the five: tenant-level admin, DLP policies, managed environments, broad language coverage.
- Attended and unattended RPA in the same product as cloud flows — $15/user/mo covers attended desktop flows, $150/bot/mo unattended.
- Limited cloud-flow use rights are bundled with select Microsoft 365 licences, so existing estates may already own part of it.
Cons
- No free plan — only a 30-day trial, which makes it the least accessible option for solo evaluation.
- Steepest conceptual surface of the five: licensing SKUs, environments, Dataverse capacity and connectors all interact.
- Deepest capability sits inside the Microsoft estate; non-Microsoft SaaS coverage trails Zapier and Make.
Pricing verified 2026-09-25
Frequently asked questions
Which is better overall, n8n or Microsoft Power Automate?
Microsoft Power Automate is our overall pick (4.3/5 vs 4.0/5). Power Automate (4.3/5) leads on governance, localisation and predictable per-user pricing; n8n (4.0/5) leads on cost floor — self-host free with unlimited executions — and on code-level control with JavaScript, Python and 70+ LangChain nodes.
Do n8n and Microsoft Power Automate offer free plans?
n8n has a free tier. n8n paid plans start at €20/mo (Starter, annual); Microsoft Power Automate paid plans start at $15/user/mo (Premium, paid yearly).
What does Microsoft Power Automate cost?
$15/user/mo (Premium, paid yearly) — Per-user and per-bot licensing rather than usage metering. Premium ($15/user/mo) covers cloud flows, attended desktop flows (RPA) and process mining with 50MB of stored data, plus 250MB Dataverse database and 2GB file capacity. Process ($150/bot/mo) licenses an unattended bot for a core business process that unlimited users in the organisation can access; Hosted Process ($215/bot/mo) adds a Microsoft-hosted virtual machine on Azure. The Process Mining add-on is $5,000/tenant/mo per 100GB. Limited cloud-flow use rights are bundled with select Microsoft 365 licences. There is no free plan - only a 30-day trial. Prices were last verified on 2026-09-25.