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Issue 001 / A living technical almanac

Rankings never sold

Workflow & Productivity · Head-to-head

activepieces vs n8n

activepieces and n8n are both workflow & productivity. activepieces is AI Agents & MCPs & AI Workflow Automation • (~400 MCP servers for AI agents) • AI Automation / AI Agent with MCPs • AI Workflows & AI Agent…, while n8n is fair-code workflow automation platform with native AI capabilities. Combine visual building with custom code, self-host or cloud, 400+ inte…. Here's an independent, side-by-side look at how they compare — and which fits.

activepieces

Platform· Open source

AI Agents & MCPs & AI Workflow Automation • (~400 MCP servers for AI agents) • AI Automation / AI Agent with MCPs • AI Workflows & AI Agent…

Visit activepieces
n8n

Platform· Open source

Fair-code workflow automation platform with native AI capabilities. Combine visual building with custom code, self-host or cloud, 400+ inte…

Visit n8n

Bottom line

activepieces and n8n are both open-source workflow & productivity you can self-host for free. n8n has wider GitHub adoption — 196k stars vs 23k. Neither is universally better — pick by fit.

Side by side

Specactivepiecesn8n
TypePlatformPlatform
ModelOpen sourceOpen source
PricingOpen sourceOpen source
GitHub stars23,194195,864
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Last activityJul 2026Jul 2026

Key differences

  • n8n has wider GitHub adoption — 196k stars vs 23k.

Choose activepieces if

AI Agents & MCPs & AI Workflow Automation • (~400 MCP servers for AI agents) • AI Automation / AI Agent with MCPs • AI Workflows & AI Agent….

Choose n8n if

Self-hostable workflow automation with native AI agent nodes and 400+ integrations..

About activepieces

AI Agents & MCPs & AI Workflow Automation • (~400 MCP servers for AI agents) • AI Automation / AI Agent with MCPs • AI Workflows & AI Agents • MCPs for AI Agents

Full activepieces profile →

About n8n

Fair-code workflow automation platform with native AI capabilities. Combine visual building with custom code, self-host or cloud, 400+ integrations.

Full n8n profile →

Frequently asked

What's the main difference between activepieces and n8n?
n8n has wider GitHub adoption — 196k stars vs 23k.
Is activepieces or n8n better?
Neither is universally better. activepieces is the stronger fit for aI Agents & MCPs & AI Workflow Automation • (~400 MCP servers for AI agents) • AI Automation / AI Agent with MCPs • AI Workflows & AI Agent…; n8n for Self-hostable workflow automation with native AI agent nodes and 400+ integrations. Use the side-by-side specs to decide by your own constraints.
Is activepieces or n8n free?
activepieces is free to run and self-host; n8n is free to run and self-host. Both are free to self-host — you only pay for the infrastructure and any model or API usage.
Which is more popular, activepieces or n8n?
By GitHub stars — a proxy for open-source adoption — n8n is ahead (196k vs 23k). Stars measure attention, not necessarily the better fit for you.
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