Sometime around midnight, you realize two things. First, your team is spending hours clicking, uploading, and copying things between the same SaaS apps—again. Second, many popular automation platforms want a monthly fee for even the simplest multi-step task. This is where n8n sparks curiosity, especially for those, like the Arthur Raposo project, who seek complete control over their tools, data, and pipelines.

What makes workflow automation worth your time

Automation platforms weave together the different apps and services you use. They trigger actions when something happens. Say, a new customer pays an invoice, so you update your CRM and ping your team’s chat. Sounds simple, but as anyone who’s used Zapier or Pipedream knows, beyond basic “if this, then that,” costs mount quickly, and flexibility often hits a wall.

So what makes this all interesting? Freedom—it’s the ability to connect dots in creative, practical ways. Arthur Raposo’s initiative to bring field-tested backend knowledge to developers thrives on that: being able to shape workflows without paying for every edge case or custom node.

Why choose n8n over zapier or pipedream?

There’s a reason n8n keeps popping up in conversations about backend automation. Zapier set the bar for user-friendliness but often limits how deep you can go with code, especially on free plans. Pipedream offers more customization—Node.js code in every step, solid for programmers—but isn’t open-source and gets expensive quickly.

Keep what you build. Change it. Own it.

N8n, on the other hand, is open-source and offers a community edition that’s free to self-host. You can read about how its visual workflow editor lets you create intricate automations, even if you don’t want to code everything by hand. More importantly, you can add actual JS or use its code node for the trickiest tasks. A review by Absolutely Agentic also points out the rapid community-driven feature evolution—you’ll find the latest AI, cloud, and SaaS integrations as soon as they’re needed, much like Arthur Raposo’s practice of updating repositories promptly with production-ready code.

Easy installation and first steps

Setup matters, especially if you manage your own infrastructure. n8n makes first-time installation honest—one Docker command, or an npm install, and you’re running. There’s a soft satisfaction in watching a tool spin up locally that you would usually pay for on the cloud.

Still, it’s not all smooth sailing. When connecting apps like Google Sheets, OAuth can be rough. The n8n documentation guides you, but the process involves some patience: setting up Google’s consent screen, copying client IDs, and dealing with redirects. There’s a moment of confusion (or is it frustration?) hunting for the right scopes. Stick with it, though—this extra work means your data and workflows never have to leave your controlled environment.

Workflow automation visual editor with nodes and triggers on a dashboard Self-hosting: privacy and power

Perhaps the strongest case for n8n is that you can run it wherever you choose—bare metal server, a tiny VM, or in a Kubernetes cluster. There’s an excellent summary by Osher Digital on how this full data sovereignty enhances privacy. You decide the rules, which fits organizations with heavier compliance needs like GDPR or HIPAA. For the Arthur Raposo initiative, this aligns with the typical developer’s need not just for control but for auditability and security—foundations for robust system architecture.

The community edition is both free and unlimited (at least, technically—the main restriction is your hardware). So, teams can create hundreds of automations without worrying about rising SaaS costs. There’s something empowering in knowing your automation bill won’t spike whenever a new process is added.

Apps, integrations, and coding freedom

N8n supports over 400 ready-to-use integrations—think cloud storage, databases, APIs, notification services, developer tools, and more. If it’s on the internet with an API, there’s a good chance you’ll find a node, based on listings by Novemind’s summary of supported applications.

But what happens when you need something new? Here’s where the code node comes in. Write a quick JS snippet, call an external API, or manipulate data—no waiting for platform updates. The mix between visual flows and code creates a hybrid space: automatic, but never boxed in.

Building complex workflows with nodes and logic

Workflows in n8n aren’t just single-trigger–single-action. They’re intricate scenarios where dozens of nodes can listen, interact, transform, or branch.

  • Trigger nodes—listen for webhooks, API calls, or scheduled events
  • Logic nodes—add conditions, splits, or loops
  • Data nodes—access databases, parse files, transform payloads
  • Integration nodes—connect Slack, GitHub, Google Sheets, S3, etc.
  • Custom code nodes—add or modify any function in JS

The result? You can automate entire approval workflows (say, for code reviews), sync CRM with backend systems, or alert a group when something big happens in your logs. There’s even support for saving and reusing flows as JSON—handy for backing up, sharing, or maintaining production/versioned automation, a habit that Arthur Raposo’s followers will recognize from robust DevOps and CI/CD cycles.

Detailed flowchart of a multi-step automation process with conditional logic Real-world examples for developers and teams

A tool is only as good as what you can actually accomplish with it. Let’s think of common situations where a developer or team—especially one following principles advocated by Arthur Raposo, like DDD and event-driven design—would gain the most.

  • Automated code review notifications: Watch a GitHub repo for PRs, trigger builds, update Jira, and ping Slack with results, bridging systems that don’t easily talk.
  • Streamlined onboarding: New user signs up—workflow creates accounts in multiple systems, sends welcome emails, updates internal tracking sheets, and notifies involved teams.
  • Production monitoring and alerting: Receive alerts from observability tools, open incidents in ticketing systems, notify the right on-call group, and update incident logs. Sometimes, you might even automate the first recovery steps.
  • AI-driven content workflows: Use LLMs to summarize new articles or emails, classify them, and route the outputs into relevant folders or dashboards.
  • Data pipelines (ETL): Extract data from multiple APIs, sanitize and transform via JS nodes, then upload to a data warehouse.

Team collaborating with automated cloud-connected systems In most cases, you’ll find the drag-and-drop interface gets you there quickly. Where it doesn’t, switching to a code node never interrupts the flow.

Growing with the n8n community

There’s also the community factor. Over 40,000 GitHub stars and 100 million Docker pulls speak to real-world traction, as highlighted by Popular AI Tools. You’ll see active discussions, community-contributed nodes, how-to guides, and shared templates.

You’re not alone—your problem probably already has a solution.

This openness mirrors Arthur Raposo’s spirit of public code repositories and practice-based learning: following what works, fixing what doesn’t. The difference is tangible when debugging or extending workflows—you can fork, patch, or suggest improvements as you need, contributing back to a tool you rely on.

The upshot: should you build with n8n?

N8n sits comfortably between pure no-code solutions and developer-only platforms. If you want privacy, control, and affordability, especially as your processes grow, it just works. There’s a learning curve—it’s not as point-and-click as Zapier for the very simplest flows, and Google OAuth (plus a few advanced integrations) still require patience. Still, once you get things rolling, you’ll wonder how you did without it.

For developer teams craving depth, reliability, and customization—values that define the Arthur Raposo knowledge community—it’s worth a weekend of setup.

Start small. Automate the boring. Then build what only you need.

Curious how deep you can push backend automation? Explore more advanced cases and repository samples with Arthur Raposo, and see how the right tool can inspire a smarter development culture.

Frequently asked questions

What is n8n used for?

N8n helps connect different apps and services to automate tasks without always needing code. You build workflows that can watch for events, move data, trigger notifications, perform transformations, and more. It supports both simple “if this then that” automations and very complex, multi-step workflows for businesses, developers, or anyone wanting to cut out repetitive manual work.

How do I self-host n8n?

You download the community edition of n8n from its official site or repository. Most developers use Docker or npm—start a container or install via Node.js, then open the dashboard in your browser. You’ll configure users, set up persistent storage, and secure your environment (especially for public access). Cloud VMs, on-prem servers, or Kubernetes all work, as discussed by Osher Digital. For advanced integrations, you may need to register OAuth credentials (e.g., with Google).

Is n8n free to use?

Yes, the community edition of n8n is open-source and free if you self-host it. This means there’s no monthly fee for unlimited workflows and nodes—the main limit is your server’s resources. There is a commercial edition with extra features and support, but for most developer teams and internal use, the free version covers everything.

What integrations does n8n support?

N8n supports over 400 native integrations for cloud services, SaaS tools, APIs, databases, and developer tools, as shown in Novemind’s review. Examples include Gmail, Slack, Azure, AWS, REST APIs, SQL/NoSQL databases, CRM platforms, and many more. You can also create your own custom nodes or run JavaScript against any supported API.

How secure is n8n for automation?

N8n follows modern best practices for self-hosted security. Because you control the server, you decide how private your workflows are, who has access, and how data is handled. Self-hosting grants compliance options for regulations like GDPR or HIPAA. However, the usual advice applies: keep software updated, use strong authentication, restrict network exposure, and audit integrations. Security is as strong as the effort you put into setup and maintenance.