n8n vs Windmill
| Tagline | Fair-code workflow automation with 400+ integrations and native AI nodes | Developer platform to turn scripts into workflows and internal apps |
| Category | Automation & iPaaS | Automation & iPaaS |
| Replaces | Zapier, Make, Workato | Zapier, Make, Retool |
| GitHub stars | 204k | 18k |
| Language | TypeScript | Rust |
| License | Sustainable Use License | AGPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 2/5 Easy | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | One-Click Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes Manual | Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | yesterday | yesterday |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
n8n
- Source-available (Sustainable Use License), not true OSI open source; some enterprise features (SSO, log streaming, external secrets) are gated behind paid tiers.
- Self-hosted instances require you to manage your own queue/Redis and Postgres for scaling and reliability.
- Far fewer pre-built app connectors than Zapier's 6,000+ catalog.
- Concurrency and execution throughput on the free self-hosted tier require manual queue-mode tuning.
Windmill
- Code-first approach is more developer-oriented than Zapier's pure no-code experience.
- AGPL plus a separate enterprise edition; some features (distributed workers at scale, SSO, audit) are gated.
- Fewer turnkey SaaS connectors; you often write the integration glue yourself.
- Self-hosting requires Postgres and worker configuration for real workloads.
Bottom line
Choose n8n if you want the lower-effort setup; choose n8n for the larger community and ecosystem. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.