n8n vs Power Automate in 2026 — which one for an Australian SMB?
Short version: Power Automate is the obvious pick if you live inside Microsoft 365 and want low-code flows your staff can maintain. n8n wins on cost at scale, self-hosting, source-availability, AI/agent nodes, and no per-user/per-flow licensing — which is why most NexFlow builds run on n8n. The deciding factor is usually whether your data and team are already inside the Microsoft tenant.
The honest one-line answer
If you are deep in Microsoft 365 and your flows are simple approvals and SharePoint/Teams glue, Power Automate is hard to beat — it is right there in the licence you already pay for. If you need complex branching, want to self-host, care about per-execution cost at volume, or are building AI agents, n8n is the stronger long-term home. NexFlow builds on n8n for those reasons, but we will tell you honestly when Power Automate is the right call.
Cost (Australian dollars)
Power Automate is licensed per user or per flow on top of Microsoft 365. Premium connectors and the per-flow plans add up quickly once you move past office productivity flows. n8n is source-available: self-host it on a small VPS and your marginal cost per execution trends to near zero.
- Power Automate: per-user / per-flow plans, premium-connector surcharges, billed in your Microsoft agreement.
- n8n self-hosted: roughly A$5–A$50/month of infrastructure regardless of execution count.
- Lock-in: Power Automate flows live in the Microsoft tenant; n8n workflows are JSON you own and can move.
Where each tool wins
There is no universal winner — it depends on where your data and team already live.
- Choose Power Automate when: you are Microsoft-first, flows are approvals/notifications, and non-engineers maintain them.
- Choose n8n when: you need branching logic, AI/agent nodes, self-hosting, data residency, or predictable cost at scale.
- Either works for simple inbox-to-spreadsheet glue — pick what your team will actually maintain.
Common questions
Is n8n cheaper than Power Automate?
At low volume they are comparable, and Power Automate may already be bundled in your Microsoft 365 licence. At scale n8n is dramatically cheaper because self-hosting removes per-user and per-execution fees — 100,000 operations cost roughly A$50/month of infrastructure on n8n versus premium per-flow licensing on Power Automate.
Can n8n do everything Power Automate does?
For business automation, yes, and more — n8n has richer branching, native AI/LLM and agent nodes, and HTTP/webhook flexibility. Power Automate has tighter native hooks into Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Teams, Dataverse), so deep Microsoft-tenant scenarios can be quicker to build there.
We are a Microsoft 365 business — should we still consider n8n?
Yes, especially for anything involving AI agents, external SaaS, complex logic, or cost-sensitive high-volume workflows. Many Australian SMBs run a hybrid: Power Automate for internal Microsoft glue, n8n for customer-facing and AI-driven automations. NexFlow can map which jobs belong where in a 15-minute call.
The 15-minute map tells you yes, no, or “you don’t need us.”
Paid, focused, no deck. A single production workflow starts at A$2,400 (Spark) and ships in about two weeks; ongoing partnerships are A$1,800/month (Flow).