n8n vs Temporal: pricing, quotas & features (2026)
Source-available workflow automation — fair-code, self-host or cloud
vs. Durable execution platform for mission-critical workflows
Data sourced from vendor documentation · Last updated June 2026
Summary
n8n and Temporal are both workflow-automation platforms, addressing the same core use case with different implementation philosophies and trade-offs. Both offer a free tier, making it easy to prototype without a credit card. n8n offers paid plans from $22/month; Temporal does not publish standard pricing. n8n has a broader documented feature set (19 vs 16 features). The right choice depends on your existing stack, team experience, and feature requirements. All pricing and quota data below is sourced from n8n and Temporal's official documentation — not generated by AI or estimated.
n8n vs Temporal: Comparativa de precios, cuotas y características (2026)
En esta comparativa analizamos n8n y Temporal lado a lado — incluyendo precios mensuales, límites del tier gratuito, características técnicas, cuotas de uso (almacenamiento, transferencia, usuarios activos mensuales) y los interfaces de desarrollo disponibles. Todos los datos proceden de la documentación oficial de cada proveedor, no de respuestas generadas por IA.
n8n es una plataforma de la categoría workflow-automation — Source-available workflow automation — fair-code, self-host or cloud. Ofrece 5 tiers de precio: Community (self-host) gratuito, Cloud Starter desde $22/mes, Cloud Pro desde $55/mes, Cloud Business desde $735/mes. Su catálogo en Staxly documenta 19 características y 5 interfazes para desarrolladores.
Temporal pertenece a la categoría workflow-automation — Durable execution platform for mission-critical workflows. Ofrece 4 tiers de precio: Self-Hosted (OSS) gratuito, Cloud (usage-based) gratuito, Business Plan (personalizado), Enterprise (personalizado). Su catálogo documenta 16 características y 9 interfazes para desarrolladores.
A continuación encontrarás los tiers de precio completos de ambas plataformas, una matriz de cuotas del tier gratuito (transferencia, almacenamiento, MAU, llamadas a la API y otros límites), el listado completo de características y los interfaces (CLI, SDKs, REST, GraphQL, MCP) disponibles para integrar cada servicio.
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Pricing tiers
n8n
Temporal
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing starter on n8n vs oss on Temporal.
| Metric | n8n | Temporal |
|---|---|---|
| No overlapping quota metrics for these tiers. | ||
Features
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.
- SSO + SAML + LDAP — Business+ authentication.
- Schedule Triggers — Cron-based triggers down to the minute.
- 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.
Temporal · 16 features
- Activities — Retryable units of work.
- Activity Retries — Declarative retry policies.
- Child Workflows — Nested workflow composition.
- Continue-As-New — Close + restart workflow to prune history.
- Nexus (cross-namespace) — Call workflows across namespaces/teams.
- Queries — Synchronous read of workflow state.
- Saga / Compensations — Rollback pattern via compensating activities.
- Schedules — Cron-like recurring workflows.
- Self-Host — Deploy cluster on your infra.
- Signals — Async messages into a running workflow.
- Timers — Durable sleeps — hours, days, months.
- Update — Synchronous RPC into workflow with validation.
- Visibility + Search Attrs — Query workflow state via Elasticsearch/native store.
- Web UI — Inspect workflow history, events, stack.
- Workflow Versioning — Patch workflow code without breaking in-flight runs.
- Workflows — Durable, replayable, long-running functions.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | n8n | Temporal |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | n8n CLI | temporal CLI |
| SDK | — | @temporalio (TypeScript), Temporal .NET SDK, Temporal Go SDK, Temporal Java SDK, Temporal PHP SDK, temporalio (Python) |
| REST | n8n REST API | — |
| MCP | n8n MCP | — |
| OTHER | Webhook Triggers, n8n Editor UI | Temporal Web UI, Temporal gRPC API |
Key takeaways
- Both n8n and Temporal offer a free tier — n8n ("Community (self-host)") and Temporal ("Self-Hosted (OSS)") — with no credit card required to start.
- n8n's entry paid tier (Cloud Starter) costs $22/month; Temporal does not list public pricing.
- n8n has a broader documented feature set (19 features) vs. Temporal (16 features) in Staxly's catalog.
- Developer integrations differ: only n8n offers MCP/REST; only Temporal offers SDK.
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