I work at a company where we do tons of manual work with big Excel spreadsheets and AI analysis. My boss wants me to look into using N8N with AI agents to make things faster. The problem is I don’t really know what N8N can actually do. I tried learning it but got stuck when it wanted me to pay extra money to link it with ChatGPT. Now I’m wondering if I should even bother with N8N or just use ChatGPT directly for our 40+ Excel files. I also want to set up something personal where my bank statements get downloaded automatically each month, then an AI breaks down my spending and puts everything in a nice Excel report. But I have no clue if N8N can handle stuff like this. How do other people figure out what’s realistic to build with N8N when you’re just starting out?
Been there with Excel hell at work. N8N works fine for basic stuff, but you’ll hit walls fast when scaling beyond a few workflows.
I switched to Latenode after getting frustrated with N8N’s pricing and weird limitations. Your bank statement automation? Built that exact thing in Latenode in about an hour. It pulls statements, sends them to OpenAI for categorization, and dumps everything into a clean Excel report monthly.
Latenode handles AI integrations way smoother. No weird paywalls or confusing node setups. I process 50+ spreadsheets weekly without thinking twice.
For your boss’s project with 40 Excel files, you want something that won’t break when you scale up. Start with the right tool instead of learning N8N just to migrate later.
Check it out: https://latenode.com
Documentation’s your best friend here - yeah, I know it sounds boring. N8N’s community templates saved me tons of time when I was figuring out what’s actually possible. Instead of starting from scratch, I’d browse their template library and reverse-engineer workflows that seemed close to what I needed.
For your 40 Excel files thing, N8N handles batch processing pretty well once you get it. I’ve automated similar data workflows where files get processed through various APIs including OpenAI.
Here’s what I wish someone told me earlier: N8N shines when you chain multiple services together, not for simple one-off tasks.
For the bank automation - most people miss that many banks offer OFX or QFX file exports which work way better than scraping PDFs. N8N can definitely handle the file processing and AI analysis. The real challenge is usually getting reliable data sources, not the automation itself.
Trial and error worked for me. I downloaded the desktop version and just messed around until I got it. N8n’s great for file processing - I run similar workflows every day. ChatGPT integration won’t break the bank unless you’re hitting thousands of API calls. Start small with one workflow like auto bank statement downloads, then scale up to all 40 files.
Honestly, start with N8N’s self-hosted version first. Run it locally and experiment without hitting payment walls. I spent weeks testing workflows on my machine before moving to cloud. Most people miss this: N8N’s real value isn’t processing individual files - it’s connecting different systems. Your Excel automation is perfect because you’ll pull data from multiple sources, process through AI, then output to various formats. I built something similar where customer data flows through three APIs before hitting our reporting system. The bank statement project? Totally doable. I’ve seen workflows that auto-categorize transactions and generate monthly summaries. Focus on understanding data transformations between nodes instead of building everything at once. Once that clicks, you’ll know what’s realistic for your use cases.
The learning curve gets way easier once you understand how N8N’s nodes work. I jumped straight into complex stuff when I started - big mistake. What actually helped was digging into their docs to learn how data moves between nodes. For Excel automation, N8N’s perfect. I’ve built workflows that grab data from different sources, run it through AI APIs, and spit out clean reports. Here’s what most beginners don’t get: N8N isn’t replacing ChatGPT - it’s the conductor orchestrating all your tools, with ChatGPT as just one piece. Map out your manual process first, step by step. Then figure out what you can automate. Your bank statement project? Totally doable. Most banks let you export CSV files that N8N can handle automatically.
Yeah, N8N can be confusing at first - I went through the same thing wondering if it was worth learning. Start with their free tier and pick one simple workflow, like connecting a form to Google Sheets. That’s what I did and it built my confidence before jumping into harder stuff. For bank statements, N8N can definitely automate downloads and process the data, but you’ll need to check if your bank has API access or find workarounds. About ChatGPT costs - that’s OpenAI charging you, not N8N. You’d pay the same fees using ChatGPT’s API anywhere else for heavy processing. I’d build a quick test with one Excel file first to see if the time savings are worth the setup work.