DevelopersHangout

The N8N and ActivePieces License Conversation

Episode Summary

This a topic I keep thinking about in my day to day choices between these two great tools N8N or ActivePieces. This is Notebook LLM taking the Research output from Gemini talk about how the license can impact our choice.

Episode Notes

Here is a summary of the comparison between n8n and ActivePieces, emphasizing the key points for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and SaaS product development:

• n8n utilizes a "Sustainable Use License" which is free for internal business and non-commercial use, including node creation, consulting, and support. However, it restricts commercial hosting, white-labeling, and building products where users connect their own credentials to external services without an enterprise license. The core version is free, but enterprise licenses for broader commercial use start at $25,000 per year.
• ActivePieces, on the other hand, uses an open-core model with the core functionalities under the MIT license. This allows for greater freedom, including commercial use and self-hosting without limitations. A free community edition is available with essential features. However, certain enterprise features and cloud usage have limitations unless you pay for a commercial license.
• Target audience: n8n is more developer-centric, while ActivePieces caters to non-technical users and offers more flexible pricing for non-technical teams.
• SaaS Product Development: ActivePieces allows you to freely use, build, and sell SaaS products. n8n restricts exposing the n8n editor to users or allowing them to use their own credentials to connect to external services without an enterprise license.
• Cost: n8n's core is free, but enterprise licenses begin at $25,000/year, while ActivePieces has a free community edition, and its cloud plans start with a free tier.
• Flexibility: For maximum flexibility and the ability to build commercial SaaS products, ActivePieces’s MIT license offers an advantage. If needs are primarily internal, n8n is a robust, cost-effective solution.

Detailed Chat here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f2fgrofX620Wt9rbVO0Xax0gmYTkfNHAblY50QmzcY0/edit?tab=t.0

And a YouTube Video
https://youtu.be/uOwscCxU5H4