Documentation-based comparison
Power Automate versus n8n
Compare documented scope and conditions. Unknowns remain unknown; different billing units do not establish a cost winner.
| Requirement | Power Automate | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $180/yr per user | From €24/mo |
| Who it is for | Cloud flows, attended desktop flows (RPA) and process mining for individual users. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Power Automate pricing page | Workflow automation priced by monthly workflow executions, regardless of complexity. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · n8n pricing page with annual billing and FAQ |
| Coverage limits | A cloud flow uses its owner's licence; if the owner leaves the organisation, the flow falls back to the Low performance profile. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Power Automate limits and configuration | The Business plan is available only for self-hosted n8n, not on n8n Cloud. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · n8n pricing page with annual billing and FAQ |
| Usage definition | Power Platform requests: every connector call, HTTP action and built-in action (even initialising a variable or a compose step) counts, successful or failed, including retries and pagination. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Power Platform request limits and allocations | One execution is one run of a whole workflow, however many steps it has or how much data it processes. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · n8n pricing page with annual billing and FAQ |
| Included volume |
| The n8n Cloud free trial includes 1,000 executions, 5 concurrent executions, a 180-second execution timeout and 1 team project. No credit card is required for the Cloud trial. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · n8n pricing page with annual billing and FAQ
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| Trigger polling | Scheduled (recurrence) flows can run as often as every 60 seconds. Connector polling intervals are not stated. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Power Automate limits and configuration | Each scheduled run is an execution: a daily schedule is 30 or 31 executions a month, and a 5-minute schedule about 8,600 to 8,900. No minimum schedule interval is stated. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · n8n pricing page with annual billing and FAQ |
| Premium integrations | The 30-day free trial covers UI-based cloud flows and standard connectors. Flows that use a custom connector need a premium or trial licence (Microsoft Learn limits page). Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Power Automate pricing page | Every plan includes every integration, unlimited users and unlimited workflows. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · n8n pricing page with annual billing and FAQ |
| Hosting responsibility |
| On n8n Cloud, n8n hosts and maintains the service; self-hosting means you provide and manage the infrastructure and maintenance. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · n8n docs: choose n8n Cloud or self-hosted
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| AI charges | AI-powered runtime such as agents is outside the request limits and consumes Copilot Credits. Agent flows are metered through Microsoft Copilot Studio, not Power Platform requests. Copilot Studio is sold as prepaid Copilot Credit Commit Units, up to 20% cheaper bought up front, with pay-as-you-go coverage when prepaid credits run out; no credit price is shown. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Power Platform request limits and allocations | Assistant credits for AI-assisted building: 1,600 a month on Starter, 4,000 or 9,600 on Pro, none on Enterprise; Free trials include 800 Assistant credits; Credits refresh monthly, do not roll over, and extra credits can be bought; On self-hosted n8n you bring your own AI key and no credit limit applies Assistant is in preview. The price of extra credits is not stated. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · n8n pricing page with annual billing and FAQ |
| Overage charges | No per-request charge is listed; Microsoft may enforce limits by throttling; Capacity is added to the user or flow that exceeds its limit; Each Power Platform requests add-on raises a limit by 50,000 requests per 24 hours, and several can be assigned A cloud flow that is throttled consistently for 14 days is turned off (Microsoft Learn limits page). The add-on price is not on the pricing page. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Power Platform request limits and allocations |
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| Coverage note | n8n Cloud stores data in the EU, on servers in Frankfurt, Germany. |