Someone on your team installed n8n, and it's already sending web form submissions to the CRM. It works, and then the questions start: Is it free? Is it fit for critical processes? Who answers if it breaks at 8 a.m. on a Monday?
In this guide you'll learn what n8n is, eight use cases, its licensing and costs, how it's used with AI and with Odoo, when another platform is a better fit, and what to require in an SLA.
What is n8n: visual workflows, code when you need it, and AI nodes
n8n is a workflow automation platform that connects applications through a visual node editor, lets you write JavaScript or Python code when the logic calls for it, and includes AI nodes for building agents. It can be used on n8n Cloud or installed on your own servers, and its license is fair-code, not open source.
A workflow starts with a trigger (a webhook, a schedule, or an event) and continues with nodes that read, transform, and write data. Paid plans charge per execution: one complete run of the workflow, however many steps it has. For more background, see workflow automation.
How to apply n8n to process automation in an organization
Applying n8n in an organization means using it as the layer that connects your systems (CRM, ERP, email, spreadsheets, chat) so data flows between them without anyone retyping it. Eight use cases by department:
| Department | Use case | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | Create an opportunity for every web form submission | Webhook |
| Marketing | Sync email marketing contacts with the CRM | Schedule |
| Customer service | Classify emails with AI and create the ticket | |
| Finance | Daily accounts receivable summary | Schedule |
| Operations | Notify the warehouse of every online order | Webhook |
| People | Create accounts and onboarding tasks | HR event |
| IT | Alert if a service stops responding | Schedule |
| Management | Consolidate data sources for reports | Schedule |
To prioritize, use the criteria from AI process automation: high volume, clear rules, and systems with an API.
n8n license: fair-code, what you can do, and what requires a commercial license
The n8n license is the Sustainable Use License, which allows you to use or modify the software only for internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use. n8n calls it fair-code and doesn't present it as open source. Its license FAQ clarifies that the Community license is free and applies only to the self-hosted version.
You can:
- Use it to run your business.
- Pay a consultant to build and maintain your workflows or manage n8n on your server, as long as they don't also sell you the hosting.
- Use it as the engine behind your product, if only your backend talks to n8n and end users don't configure workflows.
You need a commercial agreement to:
- Host it as a service so your customers can build workflows.
- Let external users configure workflows, whether through your own interface, an API, MCP, or an AI agent.
- Fork it to launch your own product or offer n8n without its branding.
- Use enterprise features without an Enterprise license.
Self-hosted n8n vs the cloud: costs and what running it involves
Self-hosted n8n means installing n8n on your own servers or cloud account instead of using n8n Cloud; for production, its documentation recommends Docker Compose. Community has no license fee: you pay for the server and for operations.
n8n plans in euros, billed annually (as of October 2026):
| Plan | Price | Executions per month | Where it runs | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community | Free | Depends on your server | Self-hosted | Code on GitHub |
| Starter | €20/month | 2,500 | n8n Cloud | 5 concurrent, 7-day logs |
| Pro | €50/month | 10,000 | n8n Cloud | Up to 50 concurrent, 30-day logs |
| Business | €667/month | 40,000 | Self-hosted only | SSO, LDAP, environments, Git |
| Enterprise | Custom quote | Custom | Cloud or self-hosted | Dedicated support with SLA |
All plans include unlimited users and workflows. If you self-host, someone has to:
- Update n8n and the server.
- Back up the database and the encryption key, without which restored credentials can't be read.
- Monitor the server and the workflows.
- Scale with queue mode, which distributes executions across workers coordinated through Redis; high availability with multiple main instances is Enterprise-only.
AI agents and MCP in n8n
n8n includes LangChain-based AI nodes, such as the AI Agent, to which you connect a model, memory, and tools. MCP Client Tool lets it use tools from external MCP servers, and MCP Server Trigger makes your workflows available to MCP clients (more in what is MCP).
You can also require human approval before the agent uses a tool: the workflow pauses until someone approves or rejects the action, for example in Slack or Teams. Use it if the agent sends messages or modifies data.
Integrating n8n with Odoo: external API, required plan, and JSON-2
Integrating n8n with Odoo means having a workflow read or write records through the API, using the Odoo node or HTTP requests. Check three things:
- The plan. According to the Odoo API documentation, the external API is available only on Custom plans, not on One App Free or Standard (as of October 2026). Odoo.sh and on-premise Enterprise installations already require Custom; Odoo Community also includes the API.
- The API. XML-RPC and JSON-RPC were deprecated in Odoo 19: the
dbservice was removed in Odoo 20, andcommonandobjectwill be removed in Odoo 22 (Northern Hemisphere fall 2028) or, on Odoo Online, in 21.1 (Northern Hemisphere winter 2027). Their replacement is the JSON-2 API, which version 2 of the n8n node uses with an API key on Odoo 19 or later; with a password credential or the v1 node, it stays on the old endpoint. Review this before upgrading your Odoo version. - The credentials. Use a dedicated user with minimum permissions and schedule API key rotation: Odoo doesn't allow keys valid for more than three months.
n8n vs Power Automate vs Zapier vs Make: which fits your ecosystem
It depends on where your data lives and who will maintain the flows:
| Scenario | Usually fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You work in Microsoft 365 | Power Automate | Standard connectors included; premium ones (SQL Server, Dataverse) cost extra |
| Simple integrations between cloud apps | Zapier or Make | Cloud services, no server of your own |
| Complex logic, high volume, or data on your own infrastructure | Self-hosted n8n | Code, and Community with no license cost |
| AI agents with human approval | n8n or custom development | Agent nodes, MCP, and approvals |
| Rules and alerts on ERP data | Native ERP automation | No extra platform |
Microsoft pricing is covered in Power Automate licensing, and if you work with Zoho, its integration tool is Zoho Flow (Zoho Creator and alternatives). Before comparing, check which unit each platform charges for.
Key SLA requirements for automation platforms
An SLA (service level agreement) is the contractual commitment that sets a platform's availability, its support response times, and the compensation if they aren't met. An availability target published on a website is not a guarantee. Check:
- Contractual availability: the percentage, how it's measured, and the credits if it isn't met.
- Support with response times by severity. In n8n, dedicated support with an SLA is Enterprise-only; on Community, the SLA comes from you or your provider.
- History: n8n Cloud keeps execution logs for 7 days on Starter and 30 on Pro.
- Limits and scaling: concurrency, duration (on n8n Cloud, 5 minutes per execution on Starter and 40 on Pro), and what happens when the load increases.
- Errors: retries and an error workflow that notifies a person.
- Recovery: how much data you could lose (RPO) and how quickly service comes back (RTO).
- Data: region and handling of personal data (see Chile's Law 21,719).
What to require from whoever implements it is covered in our guide to choosing an AI automation company.
Why work with KPB Solutions
Not every process needs an external platform. As an Odoo Gold Partner, at KPB we review with you which flows fit inside Odoo and which justify n8n or another platform, based on what they cost to build and run.
- Integrations: in our Odoo implementation work we design native automations and custom integrations; our support includes integration monitoring.
- Processes that call for judgment: the custom AI assistants and agents from Kersify interpret emails or conversations and trigger the right flow in your CRM (Odoo or another), with the same human approval you'd require of an agent in n8n.
- Alerts in Odoo: if the workflow only needs to notify you when a value goes out of range (threshold alerts), Keep Checking handles it inside Odoo, with alerts such as "Customers with invoices overdue beyond X time" and no server to run; put together your selection in the quote builder.
Evaluating n8n or an alternative? Book a meeting and let's figure out which flows belong on each platform.
