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n8n vs Node-RED: catalog facts
n8n	Node-RED
Freemium Free self-hosted community edition, with paid cloud and enterprise plans.	Free Free and open source.
Web, Self-hosted	Web, Self-hosted
Self-hostable community edition gives full control over data and workflows Combines no-code nodes with the flexibility to drop into custom code when needed	Visual drag-and-drop flows make complex if/else automation logic easier to follow than YAML Built-in debugging tools help trace what a flow is actually doing
Source-available license is not a standard OSI open-source license Self-hosting requires managing your own infrastructure and updates	Adds another interface to learn on top of Home Assistant's own automation editor Complex flows can become hard to maintain without good node naming and organization
Self-hosted, Web application	Self-hosted, Web application
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: Apache-2.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.