Side-by-side comparison · Automation & Workflows
Activepieces vs Dify vs n8n
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Small teams who like how Zapier works but want to own their automations or avoid per-task pricing.
Pick it if: Small businesses and agencies that want a custom AI chatbot or agent trained on their own documents, without hiring a developer to build it from scratch.
Pick it if: Teams that want full control of their data and automations, or anyone building AI agents on a budget who doesn't mind getting a bit technical.
Overview
| Attribute | Activepieces | Dify | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | A Zapier-style automation builder that's open source and charges per run, not per step. | Build AI chatbots, agents and workflows on a visual canvas, hosted or on your own server. | Build automations and AI agents on a visual canvas, then host them yourself for free. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $20/mo flat | $59/mo per workspace | €20/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Activepieces | Dify | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.5Winner |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Activepieces | Dify | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | No | No |
| Desktop app | No | No | No |
| Browser extension | No | No | No |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Understands images | – | Yes | Yes |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | Yes | – | Yes |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | No | – | No |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | – |
| Capabilities score | 10/ 17 | 10/ 17 | 10/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Activepieces | Dify | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Small teams getting started, or anyone who will self-host. | Community Edition Free (self-hosted) Anyone comfortable running it on their own server. | Community Edition Free (self-hosted) Anyone comfortable running software on a server. |
PlusOur pick $20/mo flat A small business running automations every day. | Sandbox Free Trying Dify Cloud before you pay. | StarterOur pick €20/mo billed yearly A small business that wants n8n hosted for them. | |
Team $200/mo flat A larger team that needs SSO and roles. | ProfessionalOur pick $59/mo per workspace, or $590/yr A small business running a few AI apps for real. | Pro €50/mo billed yearly Teams running several business-critical workflows. | |
Ultimate Custom Companies with heavy volume or strict security needs. | Team $159/mo per workspace, or $1,590/yr Bigger teams with lots of apps and users. | Business €667/mo billed yearly Larger teams that need SSO and version control, self-hosted. | |
Enterprise Custom Companies that need a private deployment with support. | Enterprise Custom Companies that need an SLA and dedicated support. | ||
| Which plan to pick | The Free plan is unusually generous, so start there. Move to Plus when you want monthly credits instead of a daily cap and the option to use your own AI keys. Self-host only if someone on the team is happy running a server. | Build your first bot on the free Sandbox. Move to Professional when it goes live, and plug in your own Claude or OpenAI API key so you don't run out of message credits. Self-host only if you or someone on your team is happy looking after a server. Prices exclude tax. | If you have anyone technical on hand, self-host the Community Edition on a small server and pay nothing. Otherwise Starter on the cloud is the right place to begin, and 2,500 executions covers a lot when each run of a long workflow counts as one. |
Key features
| Attribute | Activepieces | Dify | n8n |
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Pros and cons
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Activepieces | Dify | n8n |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Activepieces, Dify or n8n?
n8n scores highest overall in our ratings (Activepieces 4.0/5, Dify 4.1/5 and n8n 4.5/5). Activepieces is best for zapier-style automations on a budget and Giving AI assistants access to your apps. Dify is best for A chatbot that answers from your own documents and Internal AI assistants for staff. n8n is best for AI agents that act on email or chat and self-hosted automation.
Which is cheaper, Activepieces, Dify or n8n?
Activepieces: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo flat. Dify: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $59/mo per workspace. n8n: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at €20/mo.
Which is easier to use, Activepieces, Dify or n8n?
Activepieces rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Small teams who like how Zapier works but want to own their automations or avoid per-task pricing.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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