n8n vs Portainer
On the evidence we track, n8n leads this comparison with a composite score of 76/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.
Features
The capabilities each product documents. These tools do not share a category taxonomy, so this aligns what each vendor states rather than a normalised feature set.
| Feature | n8n | Portainer |
|---|---|---|
| Ai steps | ✓ | - |
| App builder | ✗ | - |
| Arm support | - | ✓ |
| Branching logic | ✓ | - |
| Bring your own key byok for llm inference | ✓ | - |
| Builder ui architecture | visual_node_canvas | - |
| Code steps | ✓ | - |
| Custom http connector | ✓ | - |
| Custom http webhook catch and triggering | ✓ | - |
| Environments versioning | ✓ | - |
| Error handling | ✓ | - |
| Free tier | ✓ | - |
| Gui dashboard | - | ✓ |
| Hosting | both | self |
| Human in the loop approval steps via slack email | ✓ | - |
| Loops iteration | ✓ | - |
| Managed control plane | - | ✓ |
| Native llm nodes anthropic openai gemini | ✓ | - |
| On premise self hosted deployment option | ✓ | - |
| Orchestration | - | kubernetes |
| Prebuilt connectors | 1500+ integrations | - |
| Pricing metric | operation | - |
| Pricing model | freemium_with_task_credits | - |
| Rbac audit | ✓ | - |
| Soc2 type ii | ✓ | - |
| Stateful workloads | - | ✓ |
| Sub workflow calling and reusable templates | ✓ | - |
| Visual builder | ✓ | - |
| Windows containers | - | ✓ |
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
n8n
Leadern8n is a workflow automation platform that lets you build automations visually or with code to connect and orchestrate applications and services. It supports AI-powered workflows, runs on your infrastructure or n8n's cloud, and charges only for complete workflow executions rather than individual tasks.
Portainer
Portainer provides centralized governance of Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and Podman across multiple clusters and environments. It includes role-based access control, GitOps deployment workflows, centralized authentication, and audit logging from a single management console.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
n8n
LeaderFree Community version. Cloud plans start with Starter; self-hosted Business plan available. Execution-based pricing model.
- Starter-
- Pro-
- BusinessContact sales
- EnterpriseContact sales
- Dedicated support with SLAs
Portainer
From $1,045/year. Free tier: 3 nodes.
- Starter$1,045/year
- Community support
- Online purchase only
- Scale$2,095/year
- 9x5 next business day support
- Vendor onboarding
- Available through resellers
- EnterpriseContact sales
- 9x5 support with 24/7 option
- Assigned support engineer
- Security assessment report
- TAA compliance certificate
- Production and non-production nodes
- +2 more
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
- Slack
n8n
Leader- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Stripe
- Typeform
- Mautic
- Airtable
- Asana
- ServiceNow
- Zoom
- Elevenlabs
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- ClearBit
- Azure
- GitHub
- Webhook
- Custom HTTP API
- AWS Secrets Manager
- Azure Key Vault
- Google Cloud Platform
- HashiCorp Vault
- Infisical
- +22 more
Portainer
- Active Directory
- LDAP
- OAuth
- Helm
- Git repositories
- Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE)
- Docker
- Swarm
- Podman
- Talos
- Omni
- S3-compatible storage
- OPC connectivity
- MQTT
- Argo
- Flux
- Docker Hub
- Matomo Analytics
- Kubernetes
- Docker Swarm
- Git
- OPA Gatekeeper
- Matomo
- OIDC
- +5 more
n8n or Portainer: which one depends on you
A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.