I Replaced 4 SaaS Tools With One n8n Instance: Here's the Setup
I replaced 4 SaaS subscriptions with one self-hosted n8n instance. The monthly cost went from $187 to $7.
That $7 is a VPS. n8n itself is free.
This wasn't a weekend experiment. I've been running it in production for about three months, on a real project with real workflows. The setup is not perfect. But it's stable, and the math is hard to argue with.
Here's what I actually did, what broke, and what I'd do differently.
What Is n8n?
n8n is open-source workflow automation. Think Zapier, but you can self-host it, extend it with custom code, and pay nothing in task fees.
The core idea is the same as any automation tool. You connect a trigger (something happens) to one or more actions (do something in response). The difference is the architecture. n8n gives you over 400 integrations, a visual canvas to wire them together, and the option to run it on your own server.
You can also use n8n Cloud if you want managed hosting. The free tier is limited, but it's enough to test.
The AI angle is recent and real. n8n added native nodes for OpenAI, Anthropic, and other LLMs. You can wire an AI model directly into a workflow. That's what turns it from "Zapier clone" into something closer to an agent runtime.
| Tool | Price | Task Limits | Self-host | AI Nodes | Custom Code |
|---|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | $30+/mo | Yes (hard caps) | No | Limited | No |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Make | $9+/mo | Yes (operations) | No | Via HTTP | Limited |
| IFTTT | $3+/mo | Yes | No | No | No |
| n8n Cloud | $20+/mo | No | Optional | Native | Yes |
| n8n Self-hosted | $0 + VPS | No | Yes | Native | Yes |
The self-hosted option is what changes the economics. You're not paying per task. You're paying for compute.
The Four Workflows I Built for saas.pet
I run saas.pet, a directory that tracks and ranks AI tools. A lot of the operational work is repetitive. New listing goes live, do five things. Article publishes, push it to three places. n8n now handles most of that.
Workflow 1: New review auto-posts to Twitter/X
When a new tool review goes live on saas.pet, n8n picks up the webhook, pulls the tool name and description, passes it through an AI node to generate a short tweet, then posts it. The whole thing runs in under 30 seconds. Before this, I was writing tweets manually. I'd skip it if I was busy. Now it happens every time.
Workflow 2: Dev.to articles sync to Substack
I write on Dev.to first. After publishing, n8n detects the new post via RSS, reformats it for Substack's API, and sends it. The reformatting step uses an AI node to strip Dev.to-specific markdown and adjust the intro. This one took two iterations to get right. The first version mangled headers. The second version works.
Workflow 3: Daily SEO keyword scan
Every morning at 6am, n8n pulls a list of 100 keywords I care about, checks ranking position via a connected API, compares to the previous day, and sends me a Slack message only if something moved more than 5 positions. Before this, I was checking manually a few times a week and missing things. Now I get one Slack message per day, and it only pings me when something actually changed.
Workflow 4: Stripe revenue report
On the first of each month, n8n pulls transaction data from Stripe, calculates MRR, refund rate, and new vs. churned customers, then drops a formatted report into a Notion database. I used to do this in a spreadsheet. It took about 45 minutes. Now it takes zero minutes.
Before n8n, that collective work was scattered across manual effort, a couple of Zapier zaps, and one Python script I kept forgetting to run. Now it runs on its own. Setup time was maybe 6 hours total across all four workflows. That investment paid back in the first two weeks.
If you want to see the tools I compared before landing on n8n, I track the full automation tool landscape at saas.pet/find/?q=workflow+automation.
What Actually Went Wrong
Self-hosting sounds easy. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't.
Docker is not optional. If you've never run a Docker container on a VPS, budget time to learn it. The n8n docs are decent, but they assume you're comfortable with basic server setup. I wasn't blocked, but I spent two hours on something a more experienced DevOps person would do in 15 minutes.
Finding the right node version matters. n8n has 400+ integrations. Some are maintained. Some are old. I hit a case where the node I needed had a bug that was fixed in the community forum but not yet in the main release. The workaround existed, but finding it took an hour of searching.
AI nodes need API keys. Claude and OpenAI nodes work well. But they're not free. For my usage level, the API costs are around $3 to $8 per month. Still far below what I was paying before. But budget for it.
Debugging is visual, not textual. When a workflow fails, you get an error on the canvas node that failed. There's no stack trace in the traditional sense. For simple workflows this is fine. For complex ones with 12 steps, hunting the failure point takes longer than it would in a real debugger.
My advice: start with a workflow that has 3 steps or fewer. Get it working end to end. Then extend it. The instinct to build the full 10-step automation first will make debugging miserable.
n8n vs. Zapier vs. Make
I've used all three. Here's my actual take.
Zapier is the easiest to start with. The UI is polished. The integrations are reliable. If you need something running in under an hour and you don't have a technical background, Zapier is the right answer. It's also the most expensive. The free tier is genuinely limited. Paid plans start around $30 per month and task caps become a real constraint if you run high-volume workflows.
Make (formerly Integromat) sits in the middle. It's cheaper than Zapier. The visual editor is more powerful. The learning curve is steeper. It still charges per operation, which matters at scale.
n8n is the right tool if you have a technical background and want to own your infrastructure. No task limits. Native AI nodes. Full custom code support. Self-hosting keeps the ongoing cost flat regardless of volume.
My take: n8n is not a Zapier replacement for everyone. For a non-technical founder who needs automation in an afternoon, Zapier wins on simplicity. For a developer who runs their own stack and cares about costs, n8n wins on economics and flexibility.
The AI node situation specifically tips things toward n8n for me. The native Claude and OpenAI integrations feel like a first-class feature, not an afterthought.
How to Start
The shortest path to a working n8n setup:
Step 1. Don't self-host first. Go to [n8n.cloud](https://n8n.cloud) and create a free account. Build your first workflow there. The free tier is limited but enough to test whether n8n fits your mental model.
Step 2. Find a workflow template in the n8n template library that's close to what you want. Import it. Change the credentials. Run it. Modifying something that works is faster than building from scratch.
Step 3. Once you have one working workflow, move to self-hosting if you want lower costs. Railway and Render both have one-click n8n deploys. I use a $5/month VPS on Hetzner. The n8n docs have a solid self-hosting guide.
Don't try to migrate all your Zapier workflows at once. Pick the one that costs the most or runs the most often. Start there.
Final Thought
Three months in, n8n is running four production workflows with no downtime I've noticed. The cost is $7 per month. The alternative was $187.
That's the headline number, but it's not the whole story. The bigger change is that I can now wire an AI model into any workflow without writing a custom integration. That changes what's possible, not just what's affordable.
If you want to compare n8n against the broader landscape of AI automation tools, I track 25+ of them at saas.pet. The AI automation category has rankings that update as tools ship new features. Worth checking before you commit to any stack.
Alex is the founder of [saas.pet](https://saas.pet), a directory for AI-powered developer and automation tools.
I've been testing AI tools for 2+ years. I run saas.pet as a side project. I buy every subscription I review. No vendor pitches, no free accounts.