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Compare · Atelier vs n8n
n8n is the open-source darling for engineering teams that want to own their automation stack — self-hostable, code-friendly, with a deep node library and a permissive fair-code license. It's the right call when your team has the appetite to operate the runtime and the work is mostly integration plumbing across a long tail of systems. Atelier is a different shape of tool — managed multi-tenant runtime, deep PC Studio integration, agent-native step kinds, and a trace timeline that survives across products. We don't compete on "self-host or don't"; we compete on whether your team's playbooks should live inside the PC Studio identity layer.
When to use Atelier
Your team runs on PC Studio products and you want managed orchestration with agent steps + cross-product events + human approvals + multi-tenant tenancy out of the box. You're happy not operating the runtime.
See Atelier pricing →When to use n8n
Your team has the operational capacity to self-host (or is using n8n Cloud) and the work is integration-heavy across a long tail of systems with no shared identity layer. You want the open-source escape hatch and the very wide node library.
Open-source workflow automation
Side by side
Feature
Atelier
n8n
Native to Perpetual Core Studio (Sage, Sentinel, RFP, Janice)
First-class step kinds + shared identity
Generic HTTP / DB nodes only; no PC Studio integration
Agent-augmented steps (LLM with shared org memory)
sage_skill step kind, Sage Mnemosyne writes
LangChain / OpenAI nodes; you bring the memory layer
Self-hosting / source-available license
Managed runtime; on-prem on the Enterprise roadmap
n8n's differentiator — fair-code license + Docker deploy
Multi-tenant by org (RLS-enforced isolation)
Every row carries org_id; pc_runtime role enforced
Multi-instance is the n8n pattern; not row-level
Visual workflow canvas
JSON / form editor today; visual canvas on v1.1 roadmap
Mature node-based visual editor
Conditional gates on accumulated context
gate step kind evaluates expressions on run.context
IF / Switch nodes
Human approval steps with checkpoint timeline
human_task step kind with assignment + checkpoint
Wait node + manual approval workarounds
Cross-product event subscriptions with HMAC signing
Shared PC Event Bus with idempotency keys
Webhook node + signature verification (bring your own)
Append-only trace timeline across products
atelier_traces queryable via SQL
Execution history per workflow with retention
Public API + extensible node SDK
Server-to-server today; first-party API in v1.1
Custom node SDK + REST API; ecosystem of community nodes
Per-run cost predictability (managed)
Fixed run cap per tier; $0.05/run overage
Self-host = your infra cost; Cloud = execution-based pricing
Cross-Supabase / cross-product tenancy bridge
pc_external_org_map handles Sentinel (separate DB) + external sources
N/A — n8n is its own data plane per instance
On pricing
n8n pricing (2026): self-host free under fair-code license; n8n Cloud Starter €20/mo (2.5K executions), Pro €50/mo (10K), Enterprise contact. Atelier's value isn't "cheaper per run" — it's that runs sit inside the PC Studio identity + tenancy layer with agent-native steps. If your team's instinct is to self-host the workflow engine, n8n is a great choice; if you want the orchestration to be native to PC Studio products, Atelier is the right move.
Honest take
n8n is excellent at being the open-source workflow engine you operate yourself across a long tail of systems. Atelier is excellent at being the managed orchestration layer for teams whose work centers on PC Studio products. Some teams use both — Atelier for the PC-native playbooks, n8n for the long tail of self-hosted plumbing.
Open a workspace
Atelier opens in fifteen minutes with five starter Flows and every Perpetual Core product already connected. Evaluate for fourteen days; bring your team when you're ready.