🔁 Workflow Automation
Lindy vs n8n: Which Should You Choose?
Both are workflow automation agents, but they are built for different people. Here is the honest split.
Lindy
by Lindy AI
No-code AI assistants that live in your inbox, calendar and CRM and handle the work around meetings.
n8n
by n8n GmbH
A source-available workflow automation platform with AI agent nodes you can self-host and own outright.
Side by side
Lindy vs n8n at a glance
| 🪄 Lindy | 🔗 n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| Editor score | 4.0★★★★★ | 4.5★★★★★ |
| Vendor | Lindy AI | n8n GmbH |
| Autonomy | Semi-autonomous | Semi-autonomous |
| Deployment | Cloud | Self-hosted, Cloud, On-prem, API |
| Starting price | From $49.99/month | Free tier |
| Pricing model | Per-seat subscription tiers with usage limits | Free self-hosted (fair-code); cloud priced per workflow execution |
| Free tier | None | Yes — unlimited self-hosted community edition |
| Integrations | 8 native | 11 native |
| Best for | Founders and executives with meeting-heavy calendars | Technical ops and automation engineers |
Decision
Which one should you pick?
Choose Lindy if…
- Founders and executives with meeting-heavy calendars. The clearest fit. Pre-meeting research plus post-meeting follow-up recovers real hours every week.
- Sales teams wanting CRM hygiene. Automatic note capture and CRM updates solve a problem reps genuinely never do well themselves.
- Small ops teams without engineers. Good fit for email and scheduling automation, though complex branching logic hits the ceiling quickly.
Skip it if: Credit costs add up quickly in real use is a dealbreaker for you.
Choose n8n if…
- Technical ops and automation engineers. The ideal user. Comfortable with APIs, JSON and a bit of JavaScript, and rewarded with almost unlimited flexibility.
- Teams with data residency requirements. Self-hosting means customer data never leaves your infrastructure except for model calls — and you can point those at a local model too.
- High-volume automation on a budget. Self-hosted execution is effectively free at the margin, which beats every per-task competitor at scale.
Skip it if: Steeper learning curve than no-code competitors is a dealbreaker for you.
Trade-offs
Strengths and weaknesses
Lindy
- Fastest setup of any assistant here
- Meeting workflow is a genuinely strong product
- Voice calling included at consumer pricing
- Credit costs add up quickly in real use
- Reliability degrades on long workflows
- Narrower integration catalogue than competitors
n8n
- Genuinely free at unlimited volume if you self-host
- Enormous integration library
- Mix deterministic steps with agent decision points
- Steeper learning curve than no-code competitors
- Self-hosting is real operational work
- Cloud pricing is less compelling than the free tier suggests
FAQ
Lindy vs n8n FAQ
Is Lindy better than n8n?
On our scoring n8n edges it at 4.5/5 against 4.0/5, but the gap is smaller than the difference in who they suit. Lindy is the better choice for founders and executives with meeting-heavy calendars; n8n is stronger for technical ops and automation engineers.
Which is cheaper, Lindy or n8n?
Lindy: From $49.99/month — per-seat subscription tiers with usage limits. n8n: Free tier — free self-hosted (fair-code); cloud priced per workflow execution. Compare the pricing models rather than the headline numbers; consumption-based plans can overtake a higher flat fee quickly once usage is real.
Can I use Lindy and n8n together?
Yes, and plenty of teams do. They share 7 integrations, so both can sit on the same data without duplicated plumbing. The usual pattern is to run each on the work it is strongest at rather than forcing one to cover everything.
What are the main differences between Lindy and n8n?
Three things matter most. Autonomy: Lindy is semi-autonomous while n8n is semi-autonomous. Deployment: Lindy runs cloud, n8n runs self-hosted/cloud/on-prem/api. Pricing model: per-seat subscription tiers with usage limits versus free self-hosted (fair-code); cloud priced per workflow execution.