An n8n alternative where self-hosted doesn't call home.
Self-hosted n8n still needs a license key that pings their servers every day just to stay active, once you're on a paid tier. And that paid tier jumps from €50 a month to €667 a month in one step, with forum support still the only option until you reach Enterprise.
Unmeshed self-hosts without phoning home, and email support starts on a $20 a month plan.
Trusted by teams at leading organisations
Overview
About Unmeshed
Unmeshed is a workflow orchestration platform built by the team behind Netflix Conductor. You define workflows in JSON or YAML, with code-based workers in Java, Go, TypeScript, or Python. Retries, waits, and durable state come built in, and self-hosting or upgrading for support never requires a license server check-in.
About n8n
n8n is a visual workflow automation platform combining a node-based canvas with embedded JavaScript or Python code steps. It's available as a free, self-hosted Community Edition, or through paid cloud and self-hosted plans. Paid self-hosted tiers require a license key that checks in with n8n's servers daily, and dedicated support isn't available until the Enterprise plan.
Comparison
| Unmeshed | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | ||
| Built for | Code-first orchestration for developers and technical teams | Visual, node-based automation with code steps where needed |
| Workflow definitions | JSON, YAML, or code | Visual canvas, with JavaScript or Python embeddable per step |
| Native integrations | 100+ | 500+ |
| Visual designer | Included | Included |
| Resiliency and operations | ||
| Automatic retries | Included | Included |
| Hold, skip, rollback, restart as direct commands | Included | |
| Self-host without a daily license check-in | Included | Not included |
| Self-hosted deployment | Included | Included |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Flat, predictable plans | Flat per execution too, with support and scaling gated behind a steep tier jump |
| Price to reach dedicated support | Included from $20/month | Enterprise only, a custom sales conversation |
| Overage handling | Upgrade your plan when you outgrow it | €4,000 per extra 300,000 executions on Business, auto-invoiced after 45 days |
| Free tier usable in production | Included | |
| Security, compliance, and governance | ||
| Role-based access control | Included | Included |
| SSO / SAML | Included | |
| Audit logs | Included | |
| Self-hosted / on-premise deployment | Included | Included |
Self-hosted, without the daily check-in.
Start building workflows that self-host without checking in anywhere, on a free tier you sign up for yourself.
Pricing
A steep jump. Still just forum support.
n8n charges one flat number per workflow execution too, the same philosophy Unmeshed uses. Where the two diverge is everything around that number. n8n's Business plan jumps to €667 a month and still caps you at forum support, with SSO, scaling options, and Git version control bundled into that same jump. Unmeshed spreads support and governance across a shorter, cheaper ladder; email support starts at $20 a month, and self-hosting never requires checking in with a license server.
Free forever
For solo builders exploring workflow orchestration.
$0/month
No credit card required
Get Started Free- 2,000 workflow executions / month
- Unlimited steps per workflow
- Community support
Premium
For individuals and small teams ready to orchestrate at scale.
$20/month
Billed monthly, annual saves 2 months
Get Started- 10,000 workflow executions / month
- Batch job scheduling
- Email support
Enterprise
For organizations with scale, compliance, and infrastructure requirements.
Custom pricing
Tailored to your scale and compliance requirements
Contact Sales- Unlimited executions, workflows & seats
- SSO / SAML and RBAC
- Dedicated support with SLAs
n8n pricing, for reference
See n8n's pricing pageStarter
€20/mo
Billed annually, 2,500 executions, forum support only
Pro
€50/mo
Billed annually, 10,000 executions, still forum support only
Business
€667/mo
Billed annually, 40,000 executions, self-hosted, SSO/SAML/LDAP, still no dedicated support, just the forum
Enterprise
Custom
Contact sales, the only tier with dedicated support backed by an SLA
Pricing details change often; treat this as a quick reference and confirm current numbers on n8n's site.
Agentic AI
Know the cost before the agent finishes
n8n
n8n's agent building tools are genuinely mature, with human-in-the-loop steps, guardrails, and built-in evaluations that are part of the Enterprise plan. What isn't tracked is the dollar cost of each model call inside a workflow that runs on whatever API key you connect, priced entirely outside the platform.
Unmeshed
Unmeshed treats AI calls as workflow steps like any other, code steps at no charge, model calls priced and shown live as the workflow runs, so you see the cost of one execution before it scales to a million.
Cost and infrastructure
Scaling self-hosted n8n takes more than n8n
n8n
Scaling self-hosted n8n past a single instance means turning on queue mode with Redis, running multiple worker processes, and often moving saved execution data to external S3 storage. Multi-main setup for high availability sits behind the same wall, and all of it requires an Enterprise license key, even though you're still running the infrastructure yourself.
Unmeshed
Unmeshed scales on a disk log architecture, so growing usage is a question of compute and storage, not a set of scaling features locked behind a separate license tier.
Feature comparison
n8n makes you plan for this. Unmeshed already did.
The stuff you won't have to build yourself.
Support ladder
No forum-only plateau at six hundred a month.
Unmeshed
Email support starts on the $20 a month Premium plan, well before Enterprise pricing.
n8n
The Business plan jumps to €667 a month and still only includes forum support. Dedicated, SLA backed support starts at Enterprise, a custom sales conversation.
Self-hosting
Actually independent, not checking in daily.
Unmeshed
Self-host on your own VM or Kubernetes cluster, or use Unmeshed Cloud. On-premises deployment is included on the Enterprise plan, no license server to ping.
n8n
Self-hosted instances on paid tiers need a license key that pings n8n's servers daily to stay active, plus telemetry collected by default.
AI assistant credits
A second meter you can't top up on its own.
Unmeshed
AI steps run alongside regular code steps, with usage tracked to enforce a limit you set, not billed by a separate credit balance.
n8n
AI Assistant credits are capped monthly, 2,300 to 13,700 depending on plan, don't roll over, and can't be purchased separately, only unlocked by upgrading tiers.
Workflow definitions
Define it your way, not just visually.
Unmeshed
Workflows are defined in JSON, YAML, or code, whichever fits the team building it.
n8n
Workflows are built on a visual node canvas, with JavaScript or Python droppable into individual steps, but no JSON- or YAML-based definition path.
Code sample
Just functions. No license key to babysit.
Workers are plain functions. Register them, start a process, and the platform takes care of the durable execution machinery, no license server to check in with along the way.
Retries, state, and scheduling come built in, so there's no extra worker choreography to hand roll.
from unmeshed.sdk.configs.client_config import ClientConfig
from unmeshed.sdk.unmeshed_client import UnmeshedClient
from unmeshed.sdk.decorators.worker_function import worker_function
client_config = ClientConfig()
client_config.set_client_id("your-client-id")
client_config.set_auth_token("your-auth-token")
client = UnmeshedClient(client_config)
@worker_function(name="charge-order", namespace="default", max_in_progress=100)
def charge_order(input: OrderInput) -> ChargeResult:
# your business logic — the engine handles
# state, retries, and observability
return charge_card(input)
client.start()Frequently asked questions
Still have questions? Talk to us.