n8n: connect everything, pay nothing
n8n lets you automate anything between your apps — Slack, email, CRM, spreadsheets. It's free, it's visual, and you own the whole thing.
The short version
n8n is a free tool that connects your apps together. When something happens in one place, it automatically does things in other places. You build these connections visually — dragging blocks and drawing lines between them. No coding.
What that looks like in real life
A lead fills in your contact form. Automatically: their info goes into a spreadsheet, your sales person gets a Slack message, a task gets created in your project tool, and two days later they get a friendly follow-up email. All without anyone lifting a finger.
A payment comes through on Stripe. Automatically: the customer record gets updated, a receipt goes out, a celebration pops up in your team chat, and the revenue spreadsheet gets a new row.
Each of those automations would cost $20–50 a month on Zapier. On n8n, they're free.
The Zapier comparison
Zapier charges per action. One workflow that touches three apps counts as three actions. Their $30/month plan gives you 750. A busy contact form can burn through that in a week.
n8n has no limits. You run it, you own it.
Words worth dropping at the next meeting
- Workflow — a chain of automated steps. "When X happens, do Y, then Z."
- Webhook — a URL that triggers something when called. Every modern app can send one.
- Integration — a connection between two apps. n8n has hundreds of them built in.
- No-code — building things by clicking and dragging instead of writing code. That's what n8n is.