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n8n vs Bardeen
A plain-English comparison to help you choose between them.
Where the work actually lives decides this. Pick n8n when the automation is company plumbing: a self-hostable workflow engine that runs server-side around the clock, accepts real code where the logic demands it, and keeps high volume economical on execution-based pricing. Pick Bardeen when the repetitive work happens in browser tabs: scraping pages into sheets, enriching CRM records from the open web, and running go-to-market playbooks from an extension a non-engineer can drive.
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Side by side
- 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.
- Summary
Bardeen automates the work that happens in a browser: scraping structured data off pages, enriching CRM records, moving information between web apps, and running go-to-market playbooks from a large template library. It lives as a browser extension, which is both its superpower and its boundary.
Its evolution points at agents: browser agents that traverse sites, find and summarise specific information and deliver it onward, rather than merely extracting what a selector matches.
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It suits the sales, marketing and ops person who lives in the browser.
- Best for
- Scraping structured data from pages without code
- Enriching CRM records from the open web
- GTM playbooks from a large template library
- Browser agents that find and summarise, not just extract
- Browser-resident work moved between apps automatically
- Cost
- Freemium (Free tier + paid plans)
- Ease
- Openness
- Hosted service
- Data
- Automations act inside your browser sessions with your logins, so audit what each playbook can reach before sharing it.
Pricing
- 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
- Bardeen
from $10·from $50·Custom
Prices as of August 2026.
- Basic
- from $10per monthbilled monthly
- Premium
- from $50per monthbilled monthly
- Enterprise
- Price on applicationbilled annually; no list price published
By area
Where each one pulls ahead, area by area.
| Area | n8n | Bardeen |
|---|---|---|
| By job | ||
| AI agents & automation | n8n secures and rotates the credentials a self-hosted automation server holds, which is work the design creates and then asks you to do properly | Bardeen collects structured data from web pages into a sheet without code and runs a browser agent to find and summarise exactly what was asked for |
| Founders & entrepreneurs | n8n pays off only once volume, data control or AI-heavy flows justify owning the machinery, and founders without that technical comfort should start on the consumer platforms | Bardeen runs playbook automations for the repetitive go-to-market chores and moves data between web apps without copy-paste |
| By task | ||
| Automation & agents | a step the visual nodes cannot express is written as code inside the same workflow, so a hard requirement does not end the automation | an automation can start from whatever is open in front of somebody at that moment, rather than from something configured in advance to run elsewhere |
Common questions
Can Bardeen replace a server-side automation platform?
No, and by design: Bardeen runs where the browser runs, so anything that must fire while the laptop is closed, or run continuously, belongs on a cloud or self-hosted platform like n8n. The two are complementary more than rivals. A common pattern is Bardeen collecting what only a browser session can see and a workflow engine carrying it onward reliably.
How different are the skill demands?
Considerably. Bardeen is built for the sales, marketing or ops person who lives in the browser; it needs nothing beyond the extension to start. n8n rewards technical users and punishes casual ones: the curve is steeper than consumer platforms, and self-hosting means someone owns the server, the updates and the uptime. There is a hosted n8n option, but the product still assumes engineering comfort.
What obligations come with each?
Different ones. Bardeen's scraping inherits the terms and data rules of the sites being read, and those obligations sit with the operator, not the tool. Self-hosted n8n concentrates credentials to every connected system on your own infrastructure, which is a real attack surface to secure as well as a residency win. Neither burden is a reason to avoid the tool; both are reasons to run it deliberately.
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Tool facts last checked August 2026