N8n raises $180M

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Product Experience and Capabilities

  • Seen as a solid, relatively debuggable low/no‑code workflow tool: persistent execution history, detailed error messages, good self‑hosting story, many integrations.
  • Some users run millions of workflows yearly on modest hardware; others use it for rapid prototyping before rewriting “real” backends.
  • Complaints: steep-ish learning curve, weak or missing docs for some nodes (e.g., custom nodes, certain triggers), limited Python (WASM, no native libs), lack of some connectors (e.g., Kinesis, Slack nuances), and removal of the desktop/standalone option.

Affiliate Marketing, Community, and Brand

  • Strong criticism that aggressive affiliate marketing and “get rich quick” content (especially on YouTube/Reddit/TikTok) has polluted search results and damaged the brand.
  • Subreddit is described as dominated by low‑effort “one‑feature business” schemes rather than interesting automation.

Positioning: Automation vs AI Agents

  • Long-time users see it mainly as a general automation / integration tool (Zapier-like, “visual programming”) with some AI nodes.
  • Recent pivot to AI/agents messaging is viewed as partly riding hype; some say the AI integration is superficial compared to serious ML workflows.

Alternatives and Comparisons

  • Frequently compared to Zapier, IFTTT, Node‑RED/FlowFuse, NiFi, Windmill, Activepieces, custom Python + cron/docker.
  • Node‑RED/FlowFuse praised for better real‑time/IoT support, less “black box” feel, and more explicit control; n8n praised for prebuilt connectors and ease for non‑devs.

Licensing and “Open Source” Debate

  • Long thread debating its “sustainable use” / “fair source” license: code is visible and self‑hostable but with commercial/use limitations and paid enterprise features.
  • Many argue it is “source available,” not open source; others say this model is a pragmatic middle ground versus fully proprietary SaaS.

Business Model, Pricing, and Valuation

  • Execution‑based licensing on self‑hosted plans is heavily criticized (artificial limits even when you run your own infra; services can stop when quotas are hit).
  • Some report dropping n8n for custom code or other tools once usage grew.
  • $40M ARR and $2.5B valuation (~60× revenue) spark skepticism but also recognition that AI‑adjacent SaaS is currently rewarded with high multiples and large rounds.

No/Low‑Code vs “Just Write Code”

  • Split views: non‑ or semi‑technical users love being able to ship internal automations quickly; several engineers find complex flows harder to debug/maintain than code.
  • Common pattern: great for small/medium internal workflows and MVPs; for large, logic‑heavy, or mission‑critical systems, many eventually migrate back to conventional code.