Power Automate costs $15/user/mo and lives inside the Microsoft ecosystem. n8n is open source, works with any stack, and costs $3/mo to self-host on InstaPods - regardless of team size.
| Feature | Power Automate | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $15/user/mo (Premium) | $3/mo total (self-hosted on InstaPods) |
| Per-User Licensing | Yes - $15/user/mo | No - unlimited users on your instance |
| Ecosystem | Microsoft 365 focused | Platform-agnostic - works with anything |
| Cloud Flows | Unlimited (with limits per flow) | Unlimited workflows, no throttling |
| Premium Connectors | Require Premium license ($15/user) | All integrations included free |
| Custom Connectors | Available on Premium plans | Build any integration with HTTP or code nodes |
| RPA / Desktop Flows | Included in Premium ($15/user) | Not available (cloud workflows only) |
| AI Builder | Add-on credits required | Built-in AI nodes (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) |
| Self-Hosting | Not available | Full control on your server |
| Source Code | Closed source | Open source (fair-code license) |
Limitations that push you toward self-hosting.
At $15/user/mo, a 10-person team pays $150/mo just for workflow automation. And that's only for Premium connectors - standard connectors have their own throttling limits.
Power Automate works best with Microsoft 365 apps. Connecting to non-Microsoft services often requires Premium connectors, custom connectors, or workarounds.
Even on paid plans, flows have daily run limits and API call throttling. High-volume automations hit these limits and fail silently.
Free, Per User, Per User with RPA, Per Flow, Pay-as-you-go - Microsoft's licensing model requires a spreadsheet to understand.
What you get when you own your infrastructure.
$3/mo covers your entire n8n instance. Add 5, 10, or 50 users - the price stays the same.
n8n connects to 400+ services regardless of vendor. Google Workspace, AWS, Slack, custom APIs - no premium connector upsells.
Your workflows run as fast as your server allows. No daily caps, no API throttling, no silent failures.
Connect to OpenAI, Anthropic, or local AI models directly. Build AI agents and chains without buying separate AI credits.
A 5-person team running 20 workflows with premium connectors.
For cloud workflows connecting Microsoft apps to other services, yes. n8n has nodes for Microsoft Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, and Excel. What n8n can't replace is desktop RPA (automating Windows applications) - that's a Power Automate-specific feature.
n8n can connect to Microsoft Graph API, which covers SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, and other Microsoft 365 services. You'll use the HTTP Request node with OAuth2 authentication.
Yes. n8n has user management, role-based access, workflow sharing, and audit logging. Many companies run n8n in production for business-critical automations. Self-hosting gives you full compliance control.
n8n focuses on cloud workflow automation and doesn't include desktop RPA features. If you need to automate Windows desktop applications, Power Automate's Desktop Flows is the better tool for that specific use case.
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