I’ve been testing n8n on my own server for workflow automation and honestly it’s not what I expected. So many useful features are locked behind the premium subscription which makes the free version pretty limited for serious use cases. I’m planning to go back to Node-RED since it has everything available without paywalls. Also looking into Windmill as another option to explore in the coming weeks. Has anyone else run into similar issues with n8n’s feature restrictions? Would love to hear about your experiences with these automation tools and what you ended up choosing for your projects.
node-red’s been my go-to for over 2 years - rock solid compared to n8n. the community nodes are fantastic. yeah, setup feels clunky initially, but once you’re comfortable with it, your workflows actually stay stable between updates.
I switched from n8n about six months ago for the same reasons. The self-hosted version’s limitations were killing me - I needed advanced features for client work. Moved to Windmill and it’s been way better. Yeah, there’s a learning curve, but the flexibility is worth it. No feature restrictions, plus you get Python and TypeScript support, which makes complex automations way easier. My VPS runs faster and uses less resources than it did with n8n. If you know scripting at all, seriously look at Windmill - don’t just browse their site for five minutes.
Been there with n8n’s paywall frustration. Hit those execution limits and lost error handling right when I needed them most.
Skipped the self-hosted route since it eats server resources. Went with Latenode instead - no feature restrictions or premium tiers blocking basic stuff. Visual workflow building like n8n minus the headaches.
What sold me? API integrations just work. Automated our entire client onboarding in 30 minutes. Would’ve taken hours in Node-RED with all those custom function nodes.
No server maintenance, broken updates, or resource headaches. Build and deploy, done.
Check it out: https://latenode.com
Been running n8n self-hosted for 8 months now and the premium walls are brutal once you scale past basic stuff. Locking execution history and advanced scheduling behind a paywall really sucks for production use. The breaking point for me was trying to debug complex workflows without proper error tracking - total nightmare. I kept n8n for simple tasks but moved the important automations to a hybrid setup with custom Python scripts doing the heavy work. Not as clean as one platform, but I’m not paying monthly for features that should be free. My VPS runs way better now that n8n isn’t handling everything too.