Gumloop vs n8n Pricing and Which One Costs Less for AI Agents

The short answer: n8n is cheaper and more predictable when someone technical builds the automations, because it bills whole workflow runs (20 EUR a month for 2,500 of them) and can be self-hosted. Gumloop is easier for non-technical teams, at $37 a month for 20,000 credits, but its bill moves with the model and tools each task uses, and agents stop when the credits run out. If nobody on your team wants to build either, a ready-made agent on a flat plan costs $288 a year.

We read gumloop.com/pricing and n8n.io/pricing on October 28, 2026. The two tools get compared because both let you wire an AI agent to your apps. They are sold in very different ways, and that difference is the whole buying decision.

Gumloop vs n8n pricing side by side

n8n prices in euros, so the dollar cost shifts with the exchange rate. Our n8n pricing page converts every plan to US dollars.

How Gumloop bills, and where the bill moves

Gumloop Pro is $37 a month and includes 20,000 credits, which Gumloop splits into 7,400 paid credits and 12,600 bonus credits. A credit is indexed at $0.005. Every task bills at the list cost of the model tokens, compute and paid API calls it used, plus an 8% orchestration fee. The fee rises to 16% if you bring your own model keys.

That model is honest, but it is a usage meter. A short classification job and a long research run with a large model cost very different amounts, and you only learn the average after a few weeks. When the monthly credits are gone, agents stop until you switch on pay as you go. Unused credits do not roll over. Seats are unlimited, so adding a sixth or twentieth teammate costs nothing extra.

How n8n bills, and why it is easier to forecast

n8n sells bundles of executions. Starter gives you 2,500 executions for 20 EUR a month, Pro 10,000 for 50 EUR, and Business 40,000 for 667 EUR on a self-hosted plan. An execution is one complete run of a workflow, and n8n states that you only pay when a workflow runs start to finish, so a run with forty steps costs the same as one with four.

That makes budgeting simple arithmetic. A workflow that fires every 15 minutes runs 96 times a day, about 2,880 times in a 30 day month. That is already past Starter's 2,500, so it needs Pro at 50 EUR. A workflow that fires hourly runs about 720 times and fits Starter with room for several more. The model tokens your AI nodes use are billed by the model provider unless you use n8n's included AI models, which Starter and Pro list under assistant credits.

What n8n does not give you is hand holding. Starter and Business support is the community forum, and the person who builds the workflows needs to be comfortable with data mapping, error handling and credentials. If nobody on your team is, the cheaper price becomes an expensive hire.

Which one fits your team

• A developer or technical operator owns automation: n8n. Predictable run pricing, self-hosting for sensitive data, and no seat charge.
• Marketing, sales or support staff want to build agents themselves: Gumloop. Less setup, more models and shared credentials, at a usage meter you will have to watch.
• You run a few high volume data flows: n8n. Per run pricing beats per token pricing when runs are cheap and frequent.
• You run a few expensive AI tasks: either works, but price a week of real runs on Gumloop before you commit to a plan.
• You handle regulated or private data: n8n self-hosted, or Gumloop Enterprise with the optional virtual private cloud.

Whichever you pick, an agent that reads email, tickets or web pages can be steered by text it was never meant to obey. Before you connect one to customer data, look at how teams block prompt injection and limit what an agent can do.

When neither is the right purchase

Both tools hand you a builder. The result depends on how well someone designs, tests and maintains the workflow, and that time is the real cost. For common jobs like inbox triage, ops handoffs and data questions, a prebuilt agent skips the build. Our Workflow Runner automates repetitive operations steps across Slack, Notion and Zapier, the Inbox Triage agent sorts a shared inbox and drafts replies, and the Data Digger answers questions from your data. The Starter plan is $49 a month or $288 a year for up to 3 agents, with no seat charge.

If you are still weighing builders, our Gumloop alternatives comparison prices Tasklet, Activepieces, Zapier and Lindy for a five person team, and the AI agent platforms page puts fourteen vendors on one list price table.

Gumloop vs n8n FAQ

Is Gumloop cheaper than n8n?

On the entry price, no. Gumloop Pro starts at $37 a month, while n8n Cloud Starter is 20 EUR a month on annual billing. But the two meter different things. n8n counts workflow executions, Gumloop counts credits that rise with the model, tokens and tools each task uses, so heavy AI work can move the Gumloop bill faster.

Is n8n better than Gumloop for AI agents?

n8n is better if someone technical will own the build and you want fixed pricing per run or your own servers. Gumloop is better if business users build agents themselves and you want 35 or more models, shared team credentials and email support without running infrastructure.

Can I self-host Gumloop or n8n?

n8n yes, through the Community Edition published on GitHub and the self-hosted Business and Enterprise plans. Gumloop is a hosted product, with a virtual private cloud listed only as an optional Enterprise feature.

What does n8n charge per execution?

n8n does not publish a per execution rate. It sells monthly bundles: 2,500 executions on Starter, 10,000 on Pro and 40,000 on Business. A run counts as one execution however many steps it contains, so a 40 step workflow costs the same as a 4 step one.