Skip to content
Agent Search Engine.

Workflow & Productivity · Head-to-head

Dust vs n8n

Dust and n8n are both workflow & productivity. Dust is Custom AI agents connected to your company knowledge and tools, while n8n is fair-code workflow automation platform with native AI capabilities. Combine visual building with custom code, self-host or cloud, 400+ integrations. Here's an independent, side-by-side look at how they compare — and which fits.

Dust

Platform· Paid product

Custom AI agents connected to your company knowledge and tools.

Visit Dust →
n8n

Platform· Open source

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

Visit n8n →

Bottom line

Dust and n8n take different routes to the same job: one is a commercial product, the other open-source and self-hostable. Choose based on whether you want a managed experience or full control.

Building one yourself? How to build AI workflow automation →

Side by side

SpecDustn8n
TypePlatformPlatform
ModelCommercialOpen source
PricingPaid productOpen source
GitHub stars—206,196
Language—TypeScript
Last activity—Sep 2026

Key differences

  • Dust is a commercial product; n8n is open-source and self-hostable.
  • Pricing model differs — Dust is a paid product, n8n is open source.

Choose Dust if

you want a managed, commercially-supported product.

Choose n8n if

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

About Dust

Custom AI agents connected to your company knowledge and tools.

Full Dust 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 Dust and n8n?
Dust is a commercial product; n8n is open-source and self-hostable.
Is Dust or n8n better?
Neither is universally better. Dust is the stronger fit for a managed, commercially-supported product; 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 Dust or n8n free?
Dust is a paid product; n8n is free to run and self-host.
Which is more popular, Dust or n8n?
We rank open-source projects by GitHub adoption, but at least one of these is a commercial product and stars don't measure commercial adoption — so compare them on capabilities and pricing instead.
For agent buildersMake your product part of the discovery.Explore advertising

More workflow & productivity comparisons

All workflow & productivity →