What n8n is and what it does for a small business.
What it actually does
n8n works with “workflows”: recipes that say when this happens, do that. For example: when an email arrives with a PDF invoice, extract the data, create it in the ERP and notify the accounts team. Each workflow is built once and then runs on its own, as often as needed.
Why we use it at AUREA
- It is open source: it installs on your server and charges no licence fee per user or per task executed.
- Your data stays home: workflows run on your infrastructure, not in somebody else's cloud — which matters for GDPR compliance.
- It connects to almost anything: email, Odoo, spreadsheets, folders, WhatsApp Business, databases… and anything with an API.
What it really costs
The tool has no licence fee, but setting it up properly is work: installing it on the server, designing the workflows, testing with your real data, and maintenance. That is the part we do — and even so it works out cheaper than SaaS with per-seat fees.
When it makes sense
If your office has tasks that repeat under the same rules — filing invoices, pushing orders through, moving files, alerting someone when something happens — n8n has room to work. The free audit identifies which ones, and in what order.
Quick questions
The software itself is open source and charges no licence fee when self-hosted. The real cost is installing it, designing the workflows and maintaining them: that is what you are hiring.
Zapier and Make are cloud services that charge a monthly fee plus task volume, and your data passes through their servers. Self-hosted n8n runs on your server: no per-task cost, and nothing leaves your company.
