Directory / Agents & Automation
CrewAI vs n8n
Someone building an AI agent workflow is deciding whether to write it in Python or build it visually with nodes, usually after outgrowing a single-prompt chatbot and needing multiple steps or agents to coordinate.
The difference that matters
CrewAI is a Python library first, Crews for agents that delegate to each other, Flows for deterministic event-driven control, and it ships MIT licensed so you can self-host the whole thing for free with no execution cap. n8n is a visual node canvas that runs anywhere you point it, self-hosted with no cap or on n8n's managed cloud, and drops into raw JavaScript inside any node when the drag-and-drop builder runs out of road. CrewAI's hosted layer is a thin visual editor bolted on top of the framework with only a free tier (50 executions/month) and enterprise beyond that, n8n has a full self-serve pricing ladder from Starter through Business.
Side by side
| CrewAI | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Basic, $0/month: 50 workflow executions/month, visual editor and AI copilot, GitHub integration. Separately, the underlying CrewAI framework is MIT-licensed and free to self-host with no execution cap, at the cost of only your own LLM API spend. | Community Edition: free, self-hosted (Sustainable Use fair-code license, not OSI open source). Unlimited workflows, executions, steps and users, limited only by your own server hardware. |
| Entry paid plan | No self-serve paid tier currently exists; the only path beyond free Basic is Enterprise, custom-quoted and sales-gated with no published price | Cloud Starter plan, €24/mo (~€20/mo billed annually), unlocks managed cloud hosting with no self-hosting/maintenance burden. Monthly execution cap is unresolved between sources: n8n's own pricing markup showed 300/mo in one fetch, third-party trackers cite 2,500/mo. |
| Bills in | Workflow executions/month on the hosted Basic tier (not credits, not per-node); Enterprise execution volume is custom-scoped; self-hosted OSS use has no CrewAI billing unit at all | Cloud tiers billed by monthly workflow-execution count, not per-seat; self-hosted has no execution cap at all |
Choose CrewAI if
Pick CrewAI when your agents belong in a repo and CI pipeline, you want Crews and Flows as first-class code, and you are comfortable that anything beyond the free 50-execution hosted tier means an enterprise sales conversation.
Choose n8n if
Pick n8n when you want a visual canvas you can actually own, a self-serve upgrade path from Starter to Business as usage grows, and the option to self-host for unlimited executions without touching a sales team.
Our verdict
If you want agents that live in version control and are fine writing Python, take CrewAI. If you want a workflow you can build by dragging nodes and still self-host or scale through a normal pricing page, take n8n.
What to watch out for
n8n's Starter cloud plan is confirmed at 20 euro/month billed annually (24 euro/month billed monthly) with a 2,500 executions/month cap; an earlier check showed 300/month, but that figure did not reproduce on this check and is treated as stale. CrewAI's Basic tier is confirmed free with a 50 executions/month cap and no published self-serve paid tier, everything past free is custom-quoted Enterprise. CrewAI briefly had a $25/month Professional plan around October 2025 to spring 2026 that has since been discontinued.
Compare against the rest
Both of these sit in the full Agents & Automation directory, which covers 5 tools.
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