Bee Flow vs n8n: a workspace around your workflows

Both are self-hostable and source-available. n8n is the more focused engine; Bee Flow adds assistants and a privacy layer, and integrates with n8n.

The comparison in one table

Based on public sources; check the vendor's own documentation.

A workflow engine, or a workspace with one inside

Which side you want depends on what you are trying to build.

What n8n does better

The node catalogue. n8n has spent years building integrations and has a community that builds more. It is also more focused: if a workflow engine is all you want, the rest of Bee Flow is weight you carry for nothing.

AI beside the automations

Assistants and cited answers from your documents live in the same workspace as the automations, with the same people and permissions, already in Free. Meeting notes join from Pro.

A privacy layer in front of the model

With the guard service installed, 21 categories of personal data are detected and blocked on your own hardware before a prompt reaches a model provider, in Free too. From Pro, placeholders replace the data and are restored in the reply.

Built to work with n8n

n8n is a built-in integration, so you keep your flows and add assistants beside them. MCP servers plug in too, over stdio or Streamable HTTP; the MCP server marketplace is in Enterprise.

How they work together

n8n has AI nodes of its own. Connect the two when you want assistants, your documents and a privacy layer beside the flows you already run.

Your n8n workflow

Keep the workflow in n8n, where it runs today. Nothing is imported or rebuilt.

Its webhook

The workflow is active and starts on a webhook. Your admin connects n8n once for the organisation, with its URL and an API key.

A Bee Flow assistant

An assistant or automation runs the workflow as a tool, so a colleague can start it from chat. The n8n integration is in Free.

Which one to choose

Choose n8n when

The workflows are the product and your team is comfortable in a node editor. n8n is a focused, mature answer, and it is the better pick when you need a connector to something specific.

Choose Bee Flow when

The workflows serve people who mostly want to ask questions of their own documents and get work done in chat. It also fits when personal data passes through flows that involve a language model. And you can run both: the builder, routines and forms are in Free.

Questions from teams that run n8n

Can we import our n8n workflows?

No, there is no importer. Leave the flows where they are and connect them as shown above. An n8n export can also be read into a knowledge base as documentation.

Does Bee Flow have as many connectors?

Not as a node catalogue. Bee Flow ships 50 built-in integrations, including Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Nextcloud, all in Free. It also speaks the Model Context Protocol, so an MCP server becomes a set of tools; the MCP server marketplace is in Enterprise. Check the apps you depend on before you switch.

Is the automation builder as capable?

It covers the usual control flow: 36 step types, with conditions, switches, loops, parallel branches, waits, HTTP calls, code and dry runs in Free. Approval steps, privacy steps and sharing routines with your team come from Pro. What Bee Flow adds is the workspace around the flows: assistants, your documents and the privacy layer. n8n is ahead on breadth of nodes.

Can we build apps on top of the flows?

Yes, in Enterprise: App Studio builds your own apps, and Solutions and Blueprints package a complete setup so you can roll it out again. Forms and web pages for personal use are already in Free.

See how the two fit together

Tell us what you run today and what you want to add. We will say plainly whether Bee Flow, n8n, or both is the right answer.