They're often confused, but they don't do the same job. Lindy is a ready-to-use AI assistant, designed first for your emails and your day-to-day assistance. n8n is a workshop: you build your chosen automations there, brick by brick.
So the right choice comes down to one simple question: do you want to delegate a specific job, or build your own system?
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| Criterion | Lindy | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| The idea | Ready-to-use assistant templates: you describe your rules in plain language, and the assistant gets to work. | Visual node-based workflows that you assemble yourself between your applications. |
| Starting point | A template ("email sorting," for example) that you can set up in a few minutes. | An almost blank page: total freedom, but you're the one doing the building. |
| Price | $50 in free credits for 7 days, then from $49.99/user/month (5,000 credits). Price checked on October 30, 2026. | €0 to €50/month: free when self-hosted, around €20/month in the cloud to get started. |
| Difficulty | Easy. | Medium. |
| Customization | Within the framework of the assistants on offer: rules in natural language, common connectors. | Almost unlimited: your apps, your steps, your AI models, your hosting. |
| Guardrails to know | Start in read-only mode: the agent prepares drafts, and you click "send." | Test with fake data before you switch it on: a badly configured loop can send 200 emails by mistake. |
No: Lindy is a ready-to-use assistant, focused on emails and assistance; n8n is a platform for building your own automations between applications.
Yes, and it's common: Lindy for your everyday assistant, n8n for custom processes running in the background.
n8n can be free when self-hosted, but it costs you time. Lindy starts at $49.99/month, but it's up and running in a few minutes.
Comparison updated on October 30, 2026 — see what's new in the directory.