The word “automation” sounds abstract until you see a concrete example: a new order in your shop automatically triggers the invoice, the stock update and a confirmation email — without anyone in the company touching a keyboard. That is what n8n does, the tool behind most of the automations we build for small companies.
What n8n is, briefly
n8n is a workflow automation platform: it connects applications to each other (online shop, invoicing, CRM, email, WhatsApp, spreadsheets) and moves data between them automatically, following rules you define once. It is not an off-the-shelf product you buy as-is — it is the engine on which the automation is built, tailored to your company’s exact process.
The difference from Zapier or Make (other well-known platforms) is that n8n can run self-hosted — on a server you or your provider control, not necessarily in a third party’s cloud. For a company in Europe, that means better control over your data and, at high automation volumes, a far more predictable monthly cost than Zapier’s “per task” billing.
Automations that are genuinely worth implementing
- Order → invoice → stock → email. With every new order the invoice is issued automatically (including submission to the e-invoicing system), stock is decremented and the customer gets a confirmation — with no manual step.
- New lead → CRM → notification. A form filled in on your site lands automatically in the CRM, with all fields populated, and triggers a WhatsApp or Slack notification to the person responsible — instead of sitting “lost” in an inbox.
- Automatic daily report. Every morning a summary of yesterday’s sales, near-empty stock and unprocessed orders arrives automatically by email or WhatsApp, without anyone opening three different applications by hand.
- Marketplace synchronisation. Stock and prices update automatically between your own shop and the marketplaces you sell on, removing the risk of overselling when a product runs out on one channel.
- Automatic follow-up for unanswered quotes or dormant customers. An automatic email or message sent X days after a quote with no reply, without depending on anyone’s memory.
n8n vs. Zapier/Make — what matters in practice
| n8n (self-hosted, what we offer) | Zapier / Make | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost model | Fixed monthly, regardless of volume | Per task/execution, grows with volume |
| Where the data sits | A server you control, GDPR easier to guarantee | International clouds, often outside the EU |
| Customisation | Unlimited, custom code where needed | Limited to the available connectors |
| Integrations with local tools (invoicing, couriers) | Built to measure | Rarely available natively |
| Initial setup | Requires technical expertise | Easier to start alone, for simple flows |
For a company with 2–3 simple automations and low volume, Zapier can be enough and cheaper to start on your own. The threshold where custom n8n clearly wins is when you have several workflows, integrations with local systems, or an execution volume high enough that “per task” costs quickly overtake a fixed subscription.
When a complex AI automation does NOT make sense
Not every process should be automated with artificial intelligence. If a task happens once a week and takes five minutes, the cost of building and maintaining an automation exceeds the time saved. Automation makes sense where the process is repetitive, predictable in its rules and frequent — daily orders, invoices, notifications, data synchronisation. The “AI” part proper (interpreting free text, nuanced decisions) is added only where fixed rules are no longer enough, for example classifying an incoming email automatically or a chatbot that understands freely worded questions.
What it costs
A simple automation (one workflow, two or three applications connected) starts at €390, usually delivered in 3–7 days. More complex flows, with several applications and conditional rules, are priced after a short conversation about the process — with a fixed price stated before we start, not “we’ll see as we go”.
How to start
The simplest starting point is not “I want n8n”, it is “process X takes too much of my time every week”. Request the free automation audit — in a 15-minute call we identify 2–3 processes in your company that lend themselves to automation, with a price and delivery estimate for each. See also the AI automation page for all the details.