Activepieces vs n8n: what a run costs, and what's missing
Both tools bill one unit per workflow run, however many steps it has. The difference is AI: Activepieces adds credits for every AI step unless you bring your own model key, while n8n always needs your own key. Below: the same 3-step AI workflow priced on both, and a check of n8n's most used apps against Activepieces' piece list.
Short answer
- Under about 5,000 runs a month on cloud, Activepieces Plus ($20 for 10,000 credits) costs less than n8n Cloud, if you use your own AI key. n8n Starter is $24 a month for 2,500 executions on monthly billing, and Pro is $60 for 10,000.
- Self-hosting: Activepieces' code is MIT-licensed outside its
eefolders. n8n's self-hosted Community Edition is under the Sustainable Use License, which limits how you may resell it. - Apps: 17 of the 18 apps most used in public n8n templates have a piece with the same name. That doesn't mean the same actions.
- Community and examples: n8n has 208,648 GitHub stars to Activepieces' 25,236, and a public library of 13,574 templates we could measure.
How each tool counts a run
| Activepieces | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Credit. One run is 1 credit, whatever the number of steps | Execution. One run is one execution, whatever the number of steps (see {_NEX}) |
| AI steps | Extra credits per AI step: 2 (fast model), 10 (smart), 20 (frontier). With your own key (Plus and up), each AI step is 1 credit | No AI surcharge from n8n. You pay your model provider directly |
| Agents | Each agentic action is 1 credit | An agent run is one execution, however many tools it calls |
| When you run out | Free: runs wait for the next refresh. Plus and Team: $0.007 per extra credit | Cloud plans have execution limits; see {_PN} |
| Free option | Free cloud plan: 1,000 credits, no card, unlimited flows | No free cloud plan; a trial. Self-hosted Community Edition is free |
Activepieces' pricing table says the Free credits reset daily, while its FAQ says Free includes 1,000 credits every month. We couldn't tell which is right, so we left Free out of the cost table.
The same 3-step AI workflow, priced
21 of our 25 recipes are a trigger, one AI step and one output. On Activepieces that run costs 2 credits with your own key (1 for the run, 1 for the AI step), 3 with the fast built-in model and 11 with the smart model. On n8n it's one execution plus whatever your model provider charges.
| Runs a month | Activepieces, own key | Activepieces, fast model | Activepieces, smart model | n8n Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $20 Plus, 2,000 credits | $20 Plus, 3,000 credits | $27 Plus, 11,000 credits | $24 Starter, 2,500 executions |
| 2,500 | $20 Plus, 5,000 credits | $20 Plus, 7,500 credits | $142.50 Plus, 27,500 credits | $24 Starter, 2,500 executions |
| 5,000 | $20 Plus, 10,000 credits | $55 Plus, 15,000 credits | $235 Team, 55,000 credits | $60 Pro, 10,000 executions |
| 10,000 | $90 Plus, 20,000 credits | $160 Plus, 30,000 credits | $620 Team, 110,000 credits | $60 Pro, 10,000 executions |
| 25,000 | $200 Team, 50,000 credits | $375 Team, 75,000 credits | $1,775 Team, 275,000 credits | higher Pro tier or Business |
Monthly billing for both, in US dollars. Activepieces: the cheaper of Plus ($20, 10,000 credits) and Team ($200, 50,000 credits), plus $0.007 per extra credit; annual billing saves two months. n8n: Starter and Pro from n8n.io/pricing; above 10,000 executions n8n quotes higher Pro tiers and Business on its pricing page. The built-in model columns include the AI cost; the own-key and n8n columns don't. We read the credit rules as 1 credit for the run plus the AI step's credits; check this against Activepieces' FAQ before you budget.
Do n8n's most used apps exist in Activepieces?
We took the most used app integrations in our study of 13,574 public n8n templates and looked each one up in Activepieces' public pieces API (775 pieces on Oct 26, 2026). Trigger-only nodes are merged into their app.
| n8n app | Public n8n templates using it | Activepieces piece |
|---|---|---|
| Google Sheets | 4,846 (35.7%) | Google Sheets: 27 actions, 4 triggers |
| Gmail | 3,059 (22.5%) | Gmail: 11 actions, 4 triggers |
| Slack | 2,252 (16.6%) | Slack: 29 actions, 14 triggers |
| Telegram | 1,659 (12.2%) | Telegram Bot: 20 actions, 1 triggers |
| Google Drive | 1,455 (10.7%) | Google Drive: 17 actions, 3 triggers |
| Airtable | 495 (3.6%) | Airtable: 15 actions, 2 triggers |
| Notion | 399 (2.9%) | Notion: 15 actions, 4 triggers |
| Postgres | 340 (2.5%) | Postgres: 7 actions, 1 triggers |
| Google Calendar | 303 (2.2%) | Google Calendar: 9 actions, 7 triggers |
| WhatsApp Business Cloud | 274 (2.0%) | WhatsApp Business: 22 actions, 4 triggers |
| Google Docs | 251 (1.8%) | Google Docs: 6 actions, 1 triggers |
| HubSpot | 237 (1.7%) | HubSpot: 45 actions, 24 triggers |
| Supabase | 208 (1.5%) | Supabase: 22 actions, 1 triggers |
| Discord | 204 (1.5%) | Discord: 16 actions, 2 triggers |
| 155 (1.1%) | LinkedIn: 3 actions, 0 triggers | |
| GitHub | 140 (1.0%) | GitHub: 19 actions, 14 triggers |
| WordPress | 139 (1.0%) | WordPress: 5 actions, 1 triggers |
| Facebook Graph API | 136 (1.0%) | No same-name piece; Facebook Pages and Facebook Leads pieces cover parts |
A same-name piece can still lack the action you need, so open the piece before you plan a move. Action counts include generic "custom API call" actions where a piece has one. Activepieces' largest categories: AI 125, productivity 108, marketing 105, communication 72, sales and CRM 68 pieces. A piece can sit in more than one category.
Plans side by side
| Activepieces plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1,000 credits, unlimited flows, up to 5 users |
| Plus | $20 a month | 10,000 credits a month, your own AI keys, up to 5 users |
| Team | $200 a month | 50,000 credits a month, 25 users, unlimited projects, SSO, email support |
| Ultimate | Custom | Yearly credit pool, unlimited users, SCIM, custom roles, audit logs, Git sync |
All Activepieces plans can run on its cloud or on your own servers. Its EU cloud runs in Frankfurt, and its FAQ lists SOC 2 as in progress. n8n Cloud plans include unlimited users; its self-hosted Community Edition is free to run.
Which one to pick
- Pick Activepieces if you want a free cloud tier to start, a flat $20 for low volume, or an MIT-licensed codebase you can modify and embed.
- Pick n8n if you run agents with many tool calls, want to self-host the most used tool in this space, or want a large set of public templates to copy from.
- Moving from n8n: n8n workflow JSON is n8n-specific, so plan to rebuild each flow by hand. Check every app in the table above first.
Try n8n first with one of our 25 free n8n templates, for example Invoice PDFs from email into a sheet or Telegram AI agent with memory in n8n. The nodes they use are covered in the n8n node library: AI Agent, HTTP Request, Google Sheets.
Read from activepieces.com/pricing, the Activepieces GitHub repo, Activepieces' public pieces API, n8n.io/pricing and the GitHub API on Oct 26, 2026. We have no affiliate deal with either company.
Related comparisons
- n8n vs ZapierCost of the same workflow at 100 to 10,000 runs a month
- n8n vs MakeCredits vs executions, polling and loops
- n8n vs Zapier vs Make for AI agentsWhat one agent run costs on each
- 25 free n8n templatesImport one and price it on your own plan
- n8n node libraryUsage data and known problems for the 22 most used nodes
Questions
- Is Activepieces cheaper than n8n?
- On cloud at low volume, usually yes if you use your own AI key: Activepieces Plus is $20 a month for 10,000 credits, where a 3-step AI run uses 2 credits. n8n Cloud is $24 a month for 2,500 executions on monthly billing. With Activepieces' built-in models, each AI step adds 2 to 20 credits.
- Is Activepieces free?
- There is a free cloud plan with 1,000 credits and no card. The pricing table says the credits reset daily, the FAQ says monthly. The code is MIT-licensed outside its ee folders, so you can also self-host.
- Does Activepieces have the same integrations as n8n?
- Not one for one. 17 of the 18 apps most used in public n8n templates have a same-name Activepieces piece; Facebook Graph API doesn't. A same-name piece can have different actions.
- Can I import n8n workflows into Activepieces?
- n8n workflow JSON is n8n-specific. Plan to rebuild each flow by hand in Activepieces, piece by piece.
- Which is more popular?
- On GitHub on Oct 26, 2026, n8n had 208,648 stars and Activepieces 25,236.