AgentWorks vs n8n: Agents, Not Just Nodes

Both n8n and AgentWorks let you automate work, but they start from opposite ends. n8n gives developers a flexible node-based canvas to wire APIs together. AgentWorks gives you AI agents that reason, act, and stay auditable — without building the plumbing yourself.

Two different starting points

n8n is a workflow engine. You drag nodes onto a canvas, connect triggers to actions, and map data between steps. It is powerful, self-hostable, and popular with developers who want fine-grained control over every API call. The mental model is deterministic: node A runs, passes output to node B, and so on. When you need an LLM, you add an AI node and configure it yourself — the prompt, the model, the parsing, the retries.

AgentWorks starts from the agent, not the node. Instead of designing each step, you describe the outcome and let an agent plan, call tools, and produce results. You get 50+ pre-built AI agents from the Free plan onward, and you can build your own on Pro. The difference matters most when the task is fuzzy — summarising a contract, researching a market, drafting a report — where a rigid node graph struggles but an agent with the right tools and knowledge does not.

Building: nodes vs a visual agent builder

In n8n, complex logic means more nodes: branches, merges, function nodes with custom JavaScript, and error-handling paths you wire by hand. That control is a strength when you know exactly what should happen, and a burden when requirements shift.

AgentWorks gives you a visual workflow builder on the Pro plan where the unit of work is an agent, not an API endpoint. You can chain agents into pipelines — research, draft, review, publish — and each step is a capable AI worker rather than a single function call. Pipelines run on demand, on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule, or from an inbound webhook. Every step is logged with its own risk classification, so a multi-agent run stays transparent instead of becoming a black box.

You still get real tools inside a conversation, too. AgentWorks multi-LLM chat lets you switch models mid-conversation and use web search, cited Deep Research, image generation, code execution, and your own company knowledge. You can create and export Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDF files in a live canvas and open them in Google Drive or OneDrive.

Models and the AUTO router

n8n is model-agnostic by design: you pick a provider node, bring your own API keys, and manage billing with each vendor separately. Flexible, but you own the cost accounting.

AgentWorks runs multiple frontier models behind one platform — GPT-5 and GPT-5 mini, Claude Opus, Sonnet and Haiku, Gemini Pro and Flash with up to 1M-token context, and Mistral Large, plus image models like Gemini image (Nano Banana) and OpenAI image. Enterprise adds local and small language models. The AUTO router sends each message to the cheapest model that can handle it, so you are not overpaying a premium model for a simple task or manually routing traffic yourself.

Billing: API keys vs one transparent wallet

This is where the platforms feel most different. With n8n you assemble the cost picture from every API bill your workflows touch, plus your own hosting if self-managed. Predicting spend across many providers is on you.

AgentWorks bills from a single euro wallet. Tokens are charged at provider cost plus 10%, and you see live per-run spend as agents work. You set budgets at the org, team, and user level, so a runaway loop cannot quietly drain the account. The Free plan is €0 with a €5 one-time credit; Pro is €39/month including €10/month of balance; Team is €49/seat/month with shared chat, knowledge, and admin plus €10/month per seat; Enterprise is custom. One wallet, one invoice, cost visible in real time.

Knowledge and governance built in

n8n can move data into a vector store if you build that pipeline, but retrieval, citation, and compliance are yours to assemble.

AgentWorks ships knowledge and RAG as a first-class feature. Upload PDF, DOCX, TXT, or CSV files, or connect URLs, Notion, and Confluence. Content is embedded with pgvector, answers come with citations, and an agent says "I don't know" when the answer is not in your knowledge base rather than inventing one. PII is masked at the gateway before any prompt reaches a model.

Governance is the clearest dividing line. AgentWorks is EU AI Act-ready: each agent carries a risk classification, state-changing actions require human-in-the-loop approval, and every action lands in an immutable, append-only audit trail you can export as CSV or JSON. Data residency uses EU model endpoints where offered, and models run under no-training, zero-retention contracts. Readiness is not a blanket compliance claim — your actual risk depends on how you use it — but the controls that a regulated team needs are in the product, not something you bolt on. You can read more on the compliance and trust pages, and a DPA is available on request.

Integrations and extensibility

Both platforms connect widely. n8n's strength is its large catalogue of nodes and the freedom to script anything. AgentWorks offers native integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, Google Workspace, Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Notion, Confluence, Jira, Asana, Monday, Calendly, GitHub, GitLab, and Exact Online, plus MCP servers and a REST API with inbound webhooks. So you keep the automation reach while the agent, governance, and billing layers are handled for you.

Summary: n8n is an excellent node-based workflow engine for developers who want to build and self-host every step. AgentWorks is an EU-native AI workforce platform where the unit of work is an AI agent — with a visual builder, an AUTO model router, a single transparent wallet, built-in RAG, and EU AI Act-ready governance. Choose n8n for hand-built API workflows; choose AgentWorks when you want agents that reason, act, and stay auditable.

Frequently asked questions

Is AgentWorks a replacement for n8n?

Not exactly — they solve different problems. n8n excels at deterministic, developer-built API workflows. AgentWorks is for AI agents that handle fuzzier, reasoning-heavy tasks with governance and billing built in. Many teams could use both: n8n for rigid integrations, AgentWorks for agent-driven work.

Do I need to bring my own model API keys?

No. AgentWorks includes access to GPT-5, Claude, Gemini, and Mistral models through one euro wallet, billed at cost plus 10%. The AUTO router picks the cheapest capable model per message, so you do not manage separate provider accounts or keys.

Can I schedule and trigger agents like n8n workflows?

Yes. On the Pro plan and above you can run multi-agent pipelines on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule, or trigger them from inbound webhooks. Every step is logged with its own risk classification for a full audit trail.