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Lindy vs n8n
A plain-English comparison to help you choose between them.
These two automate from opposite ends of the technical spectrum: Lindy asks for a job description, n8n asks for a server. Pick Lindy when the goal is delegation without construction, inbox triage, scheduling and CRM upkeep described in plain language, assembled from templates and run on triggers with judgement inside your rules. Pick n8n when the constraint is where data may live and what volume costs, self-hosted workflows on infrastructure you control, execution-based pricing that keeps heavy pipelines economical, and visual nodes that accept real code when the logic demands it. The person who has stalled in a flowchart builder belongs with Lindy; the engineer who refuses to rent automations belongs with n8n.
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Side by side
- Summary
Lindy is a platform for building AI agents that do real work across your existing tools. Each agent, a Lindy, is set up in plain language rather than code: describe the job, connect the apps it needs, such as email, calendar, a CRM or Slack, and set the rules it must follow.
Agents run on triggers rather than waiting to be asked. Typical deployments triage and draft email, schedule and reschedule meetings, prepare briefs before calls, take notes and send follow-ups, keep HubSpot or Salesforce records current and chase leads. A library of prebuilt templates covers the common jobs, so a first agent is usually assembled rather than designed.
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Lindy has moved from a free-plan model to subscription tiers with a short trial, and now presents itself as an AI assistant for the whole work loop rather than a single-purpose bot. It suits people who want delegation, not another dashboard.
- Best for
- Delegating whole jobs such as inbox triage or meeting scheduling to an agent
- Building agents in plain language without code or flowcharts
- Keeping CRM records current from email and meeting activity
- Meeting preparation, notes and follow-ups handled end to end
- Starting from prebuilt agent templates rather than a blank canvas
- Cost
- Paid only
- Ease
- Openness
- Hosted service
- Data
- Agents hold live access to email, calendar and connected tools; grant scopes per agent, per job.
- Summary
n8n is the engineer's automation platform: open source and self-hostable, with execution-based pricing that keeps high-volume workflows economical, visual nodes that accept real code when logic demands it, and first-class support for AI and agentic flows.
Self-hosting is the headline: data residency, compliance and cost control all follow from running it on your own infrastructure, with a hosted option when that is not the point.
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It rewards technical users and punishes casual ones: the curve is steeper than the consumer platforms, and the operational effort is yours.
- Best for
- Self-hosted automation with data residency
- Execution-based pricing at high volume
- Visual flows with real code where needed
- AI and agentic workflows under your control
- Technical teams who want to own the platform
- Cost
- Freemium (Free tier + paid plans)
- Ease
- Openness
- Runs privately (self-hostable)
- Data
- Execution-based pricing (whole workflow = one execution) is usually cheaper than per-task, but AI Workflow Builder credits (50 Starter / 150 Pro) and any LLM API calls you wire in are metered separately, and Business overage is charged per block of extra executions. The sticker price is not the whole bill. Self-hosting shifts cost to your own infrastructure/maintenance.
Pricing
- Lindy
$49.99·$99.99·$199.99·Custom
Prices as of August 2026.
- Plus
- $49.99per month
- Pro
- $99.99per month
- Max
- $199.99per month
- Enterprise
- Price on applicationno list price published
- n8n
$20·$50·$800·Custom
Prices as of August 2026.
- Starter
- $20per monthbilled annually
- Pro
- $50per monthbilled annually
- Business
- $800per monthbilled annually
- Enterprise
- Price on applicationno list price published
By area
Where each one pulls ahead, area by area.
| Area | Lindy | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| By job | ||
| AI agents & automation | Lindy hands over meeting scheduling and rescheduling across connected calendars and prepares the briefing notes before a call | n8n suits the technical team that can run and update a server, whose volume makes metered pricing painful and whose data-location requirements came from outside engineering |
| By task | ||
| Automation & agents | Lindy keeps HubSpot or Salesforce updated from email and meeting activity, which is a job description rather than a pipeline | n8n's connector breadth trails the biggest directory, which is part of the price of running the thing yourself |
Common questions
What does self-hosting n8n actually buy?
Structural answers to residency and compliance questions no hosted platform can give, plus escape from per-task metering at volume. The costs are equally structural: someone owns the server, the updates and the uptime, and self-hosted automation holding credentials to every connected system is a concentrated attack surface to secure like the keys-to-everything system it becomes.
Can a non-technical team run either?
Lindy, yes, deliberately: describing a job in sentences is the whole setup, and templates mean a first agent is assembled rather than designed. n8n punishes casual users by its own admission, with a steeper curve than the consumer platforms and operational effort that must be owned. A business without engineering capacity gets simple automations running faster almost anywhere else.
How does judgement figure in each?
Lindy makes it the feature: agents act with discretion inside rules you set, which suits work where variation is acceptable and needs a probation period while trust builds. n8n treats judgement as a component, AI and agentic flows running as first-class steps under the same ownership as everything else, inside workflows whose logic you drew and can inspect.
Related comparisons
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Tool facts last checked August 2026