Short answer
Business automation is software that does repetitive steps when something happens: a new order, an invoice email, the end of the day. If the steps are fixed and the systems involved have APIs, a workflow tool such as n8n or Power Automate usually does the job without building anything new. If a step needs to read free text or documents, an AI agent can help, as long as a person confirms anything involving money or customers. Work that needs screens for staff, several permission levels and an audit trail is usually cheaper to run as a proper system.
What n8n and Power Automate cost
n8n is a visual workflow builder with built-in AI steps. Its Community edition can be self-hosted with no licence fee; you pay for the server and for someone to keep it updated and backed up. On n8n's pricing page (checked 27 September 2026), cloud Starter is €20 a month for 2,500 executions and Pro is €50 a month for 10,000, billed annually, with unlimited users and workflows. n8n uses its own licence, so read it before offering n8n-based services to your own customers.
Power Automate fits companies already on Microsoft 365. On Microsoft's pricing page (same date), Premium is US$15 per user per month, paid yearly, including cloud flows and attended desktop flows (RPA). Unattended bots are US$150 per bot per month on the Process plan. Per-user pricing means cost grows with headcount.
AI agents versus ordinary automation
Ordinary automation follows the same steps every time. An AI agent uses a language model to decide the next step, for example reading a customer email and choosing whether to reply, route it to sales or open a complaint. That handles messy input, but the result is not guaranteed and every run has a model cost.
The pattern that works: let the model do the interpreting (classify, extract, draft), let fixed steps do the rest, and have a person confirm anything involving money, prices or messages to customers.
Four ways to automate, compared
Many companies use more than one: Power Automate for internal paperwork, a custom system for the sales process the business runs on. Tool prices are from the vendors' pages on 27 September 2026 and can change.
| n8n | Power Automate | AI agent | Custom build | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Connecting many API-based services | Microsoft 365 shops and desktop apps | Reading free text and documents | Core work that needs screens, roles and history |
| Cost model | Cloud from €20/month by executions, or self-host | US$15 per user/month; unattended bot US$150 | Model cost per run plus the runner | One-off build plus hosting and support |
| Where it stops | Too many workflows nobody understands | Per-user cost and work outside Microsoft | Results must be right every time | Small jobs a tool already does |
Signs a workflow has outgrown the tool
Workflow tools are good at moving data between systems. They are not designed to be where staff do their work.
- Staff still open a spreadsheet mid-flow to fix data, because there is no screen for that step
- Business rules are spread across dozens of workflows that one person understands
- Workflows fail silently and you find out when a customer chases
- You need per-role permissions and a record of who changed what
- Per-user or per-execution fees now rival the cost of building the system
Before you automate a process
- Can you write down every step, including what happens when data is missing or wrong?
- Do the source and destination systems have an API or an export?
- Do you know how often the task happens and how long it takes a person?
- Who maintains the workflow if the person who built it leaves?
- Does a person confirm steps involving money or customer messages?
- Do you know which services personal data passes through?
Frequently asked questions
Is n8n free?
The self-hosted Community edition has no licence fee, but you pay for hosting and maintenance. Cloud plans start at €20 a month billed annually, per n8n's pricing page on 27 September 2026.
n8n or Power Automate?
Power Automate if most of your work lives in Microsoft 365 or you need to drive desktop software; it is priced per user. n8n if you connect many services through APIs; it is priced per execution or can be self-hosted, but it needs someone technical to look after it.