LangChain vs n8n

LangChain

n8n

LangChain · 18 features

• Agents — Tool-using agents with reasoning loops.
• Chains (LCEL) — LangChain Expression Language — pipe primitives into chains.
• Checkpointers (LangGraph) — Persist agent state to SQL, Mongo, Redis, Postgres.
• Document Loaders — 150+ loaders for PDF, HTML, Notion, Google Drive, S3, GitHub, etc.
• Human-in-the-loop — Pause agent for approval, then resume.
• LangGraph — Stateful graph-based agent runtime. Durable, replayable, human-in-the-loop.
• LangGraph Platform — Managed hosting for LangGraph agents with state persistence.
• LangGraph Studio — Desktop IDE for debugging agent graphs.
• LangServe — Deploy chains as FastAPI endpoints.
• Memory — Buffer, summary, entity, vector memory stores.
• Output Parsers — Structured JSON, Pydantic schemas, function calling.
• Prompt Templates — Templating + partial filling + output parsers.
• RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) — Standard patterns + 50+ retrievers.
• Streaming — First-class streaming at every layer.
• Subgraphs — Compose agent graphs hierarchically.
• Text Splitters — Recursive, token, semantic splitters for chunking.
• Tools — 400+ pre-built tools (web search, code, databases, APIs).
• Vector Store Integrations — 60+ vector DBs (Pinecone, Chroma, Weaviate, PGVector, Qdrant, Milvus).

n8n · 19 features

• 500+ Integration Nodes — Apps, SaaS, DBs, cloud services, AI models.
• AI / LangChain Nodes — AI Agent, Chain, Memory, Vector Store nodes out of box.
• Audit Logs — Enterprise compliance logging.
• Code Nodes (JS + Python) — Drop-in custom code nodes with full data access.
• Credentials Vault — Encrypted credentials per service.
• Environments — dev/staging/prod environments.
• Error Workflows — Global + per-workflow error handlers.
• Execution History — Full run log with inputs/outputs per node.
• Expression Editor — JavaScript expressions for data mapping.
• External Secrets — HashiCorp Vault + AWS Secrets + Azure Key Vault integrations.
• Git Version Control — Version workflows in Git (Business+).
• HTTP Request Node — Full-featured HTTP client node (any REST API).
• Queue Mode — Redis-backed execution queue for scaling.
• Schedule Triggers — Cron-based triggers down to the minute.
• SSO + SAML + LDAP — Business+ authentication.
• Sub-Workflows — Reusable child workflows.
• Variables — Global variables + per-workflow variables.
• Visual Editor — Drag-and-drop flow builder. Node-based canvas.
• Webhooks — Webhook triggers + responses.