Compare n8n
Standard Procedure and n8n
n8n runs on your own servers or on n8n Cloud. Cloud pricing counts executions of a whole workflow, regardless of its number of steps. The AI Workflow Builder drafts workflows from descriptions.
Standard Procedure drafts a procedure from the team’s instructions, with assigned steps for agents and teammates. Work that needs approval arrives in Now. We operate your deployment on Google Cloud.
When you edit or correct an agent’s work, the procedure learns automatically and uses the lesson on future jobs. Your data, procedures and the knowledge built from those corrections remain yours.
Facts about n8n come from its own pages, checked . Sources
At a glance
| Standard Procedure | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| How a process gets built | Describe the job or upload a checklist. An agent drafts the procedure for review. You assign steps to people and agents and choose where work needs approval. | A visual canvas. The AI Workflow Builder creates and refines workflows from a description. |
| Improving future runs | Edits and corrections automatically become lessons for future jobs. Agents apply what your team has taught the procedure, with no separate training task. | Ask AI Workflow Builder to revise the workflow. Memory nodes can retain an AI agent’s conversation history when configured. |
| Where work waits for a person | At the review steps you choose. Connection calls also require approval by default; only a person can change that setting. | “Send and Wait for Response” on Slack or Microsoft Teams, and human review before an AI agent uses a tool you’ve flagged. |
| Connecting other systems | An agent builds connections to the systems your team uses from API docs. Each call starts switched off for you to review. Email, files, calendars, chat and payment tools are also built in. | Hundreds of built-in nodes, community nodes, and an HTTP Request node for any REST API. |
| Pricing | Not published yet. We’re setting up the first businesses one at a time. | Per execution, one run of a whole workflow. Cloud Starter from €20 a month, billed annually. The self-hosted Community edition is free. |
What Standard Procedure offers
- Learning from everyday corrections
- Every edit or correction to an agent’s work becomes a lesson automatically. Agents use relevant lessons on future jobs, so the procedure improves as your team reviews work. You don’t have to save the lesson or update the instructions yourself.
- People hold steps
- A teammate’s Standard Procedure steps appear in their work list, while approval requests arrive in Now. n8n can pause for a response through Slack or Teams and request review before an AI agent uses a selected tool.
- Asking first is the default
- n8n lets you select which AI tools need approval. Standard Procedure connection calls require approval by default. Only a person can change that setting.
- Hosting operated by our team
- Each Standard Procedure customer gets a deployment on Google Cloud in the US that we operate. n8n offers a Cloud service too; if you choose to self-host it, installation and maintenance are your responsibility.
- You keep your data and procedures
- Your business keeps its data, procedures and learned knowledge. The details of how your team handles a job stay in your workspace, including the lessons built from corrections.
- Agents never see your keys
- An agent knows a connection by its name. The key is encrypted and added on the server as each call goes out.
What to consider with n8n
- Self-hosting
- The Community edition is free on your own infrastructure, with most of the features, under n8n’s Sustainable Use License (internal business use).
- Workflow-execution pricing
- An execution counts a run of the whole workflow, regardless of the number of steps. Cloud Starter is €20 a month, billed annually.
- Community-built nodes
- The integration library includes community nodes you can install alongside built-in nodes.
- Self-service signup
- n8n offers Cloud signup from its pricing page. Standard Procedure is in early access; we set up businesses individually.
How to choose
Pick n8n if
- You have people who can run and patch servers, and you want the automation on them.
- Your builders are comfortable on a node canvas and like to see every branch.
- You want a free option you can keep using.
Pick Standard Procedure if
- You want procedures to learn automatically from the edits and corrections made during normal work.
- The people who know the job should be able to set it up by describing it.
- Teammates need assigned steps in their own work lists.
- You want us to operate your deployment.
Sources
n8n’s pricing and documentation, checked . Send a correction if a detail has changed.