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AgenticOS vs n8n

n8n is a workflow automation tool. You connect triggers, integrations and code steps on a canvas, and AI Agent nodes add models and tools to a workflow. AgenticOS starts from the agent instead: instructions, a model, capabilities, knowledge and a budget, published as a version and governed on the server.

They fit together well. n8n moves data between systems on a schedule. AgenticOS runs the agents that need an owner, an approver and a spending limit.

Maintained by the AgenticOS team. Sources checked 25 September 2026. AgenticOS baseline: v0.0.504. n8n scope: its pricing page, documentation and licence at n8n@2.40.7, not a tested cloud plan or self-hosted Enterprise licence.

At a glance

Area n8n AgenticOS
Unit of work A workflow of nodes An agent, published as a versioned spec
Licence Sustainable Use License, with .ee files under the n8n Enterprise License Apache-2.0
Where it runs Self-hosted or n8n Cloud in Frankfurt Your infrastructure
Sign-in SSO on self-hosted Business and Enterprise, and Cloud Enterprise OIDC SSO, LDAP and Kerberos in every deployment
Roles Projects and roles on paid plans; not in the Community Edition Six roles and per-resource grants in every deployment
Environments and version control Business and above Environments and YAML export in every deployment
Spend control Execution quotas per plan A budget per agent and per organization, checked before each model request
Audit Log streaming on Enterprise Tamper-evident audit log in every deployment
Human approval Per tool, through nine review channels Per capability and per tool for capability tools, through a shared queue; MCP tools are not gated per tool
Pricing Community free; Cloud from €20 a month for 2,500 executions, billed annually; Business €667 a month, self-hosted No licence fee; model usage and infrastructure

Where AgenticOS goes further

A licence without the fine print

n8n's Sustainable Use License allows use "only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use". Features in .ee files need a paid licence key. n8n's pricing page says a self-hosted licence key pings its licence server daily.

AgenticOS is Apache-2.0. You may run it for clients, change it and build a product on it; check the bundled component licences for the image you ship. A fresh install sends nothing anywhere.

Enterprise controls without a plan upgrade

In n8n, SSO, projects, environments, Git version control and log streaming come with paid plans. The Community Edition keeps workflows and credentials with their owner. In AgenticOS they ship in the open-source product:

Money, not executions

n8n counts executions, and one agent turn is one execution, whatever the model spent. Its documentation describes no budget on model tokens or cost. AgenticOS meters model cost, priced from a bundled snapshot. Each agent's budget is checked before each model request, delegated work counts against the parent, and the cost screen shows spend per agent.

An agent a business owner can change

Changing an n8n workflow means editing nodes on a canvas. An AgenticOS agent changes when its owner edits the instructions and publishes. Configuration can only reach the capabilities engineers registered, and every version stays readable.

Knowledge as a managed collection

n8n builds retrieval from nodes: loaders, embeddings and a vector store you choose. Its preview Agents feature adds a managed knowledge base that needs a Daytona sandbox when self-hosted. AgenticOS keeps collections in your Postgres with parser choice, OCR, image description, and sync connectors that remove what the source deleted.

When n8n is the better fit

  • The job is moving data between many systems, with branches, retries and schedules.
  • You want its large integration library and visual canvas. AgenticOS has no workflow canvas.
  • You need its review channels such as Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp or Gmail, or its evaluation metrics. AgenticOS has neither yet.

Use them together

An n8n workflow can call an AgenticOS agent over the HTTP API and get the answer back. The agent's budget is checked, its capability approvals apply, and the run is recorded in run history. An AgenticOS webhook trigger can start an agent when n8n posts to it.

Try it on one task

Build the shared document agent in both. Give each a spending limit of a few cents and run it past the limit. Then give a second team its own copy, and check what the first team can see. Record the result with the comparison method.

Frequently asked questions

Is AgenticOS an open-source alternative to n8n?

For AI agents, yes. AgenticOS is Apache-2.0, while n8n uses the Sustainable Use License. For moving data between many systems on a visual canvas, n8n fits better, and the two work well together.

Is n8n open source?

Not in the OSI sense. Its Sustainable Use License allows internal business, non-commercial and personal use, and features in .ee files need an n8n Enterprise licence.

Can n8n call an AgenticOS agent?

Yes. An n8n workflow can call the AgenticOS HTTP API and get the answer back. The agent's budget is checked and the run is recorded in run history.

How does n8n pricing compare with AgenticOS?

n8n Cloud starts at €20 a month for 2,500 executions, billed annually, and counts each agent turn as one execution. AgenticOS has no licence fee and meters model cost against each agent's budget.

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Sources