Beam AIvs
n8n
Beam AI or n8n: managed process agents or your own workflow engine?
Beam AI sells agentic process automation for back-office work such as invoices, claims and support tickets, priced per task. n8n is an open workflow engine from Berlin with AI agent nodes, priced per execution and free to self-host. The deciding question is whether you want a vendor to run process agents for you or a platform your own team builds on.
Beam AI vs n8n at a glance
| Beam AI | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Operations, finance, insurance and support teams with high-volume, rule-bound work | Technical teams and IT that want automation they can host and extend |
| What you get | Prebuilt process agents, self-healing outputs, output evaluation, solution engineers on Custom | Visual workflow builder, 400+ integrations, AI agent nodes, code nodes, self-host option |
| Price | Free $0 (20 tasks); Pro $50 per month (200 tasks); Scale $3,990 per month; Custom | Cloud Starter €20, Pro €50 per month; Business €667 per month annual; Enterprise custom; Community edition free |
| Free plan or trial | Free plan with 20 tasks a month | Free cloud trial, no card; self-hosted Community edition free |
| EU hosting | Yes. Standard cloud hosting on AWS in Germany; model calls via Azure OpenAI in Germany, France, Sweden or Switzerland. Integrations provider in the US | Yes. Cloud data in Frankfurt, Germany; self-host anywhere |
| Team features | Not detailed on the pricing page; enterprise security on Scale and Custom | Unlimited users on all cloud plans; SSO, SAML, LDAP on Business |
| Build your own agents | Configure agents from Beam's library; deeper builds with Beam's engineers | Yes, fully; AI agent nodes with your own model keys |
| What is metered | Tasks: 20 Free, 200 Pro, high volume on Scale. The pricing page does not define what counts as one task | Workflow executions: 2,500 / 10,000 / 40,000 a month; one execution is one full run |
Pick Beam AI if…
- Your process is document-heavy and rule-bound (invoices, claims, order handling) and you want a vendor to own the agents.
- You want German hosting with model calls kept in EU regions, as stated in Beam's data security policy.
- You have budget for a managed service. Scale starts at $3,990 a month.
Pick n8n if…
- You have a developer and want full control over integrations, models and hosting.
- You want predictable, low pricing: €20 to €50 a month on cloud or free self-hosted.
- Your automations are varied and change often, which a general workflow builder handles better than fixed process agents.
Where each one falls short
Beam AI
- The price jumps from $50 Pro to $3,990 Scale with nothing in between, and the page does not define a task. Reviewers on Gartner and G2 also raise pricing transparency for fast-growing mid-market firms.
- Reviewers report rough onboarding, thin documentation for custom webhooks, and edge cases in document formats that still need a person.
n8n
- The learning curve is the top G2 drawback; error handling and data mapping often need JavaScript.
- No permanent free cloud plan, and SSO and advanced roles start at Business (€667 a month). Self-hosting in production means Docker, SSL and updates on your side.
Beam AI or n8n: the verdict
Beam AI wins for an operations team with a high-volume, well-defined process and the budget for a managed vendor. n8n wins for a technical team that wants a cheap, flexible engine it controls. Both can keep data in Germany, which is rare in this category.
SokosumiIf you want marketing work done, not a process automated
Both tools above automate processes: one managed, one self-built. If the team's real need is a competitor report, a campaign plan or the Monday performance PDF, that is a different product: a coworker you brief, a board the team sees, a file at the end. Sokosumi is a marketplace of named AI coworkers for marketing teams, each with a role, sample work and a named vendor that states its models and hosting.
- Brief in plain language or @mention in a channel; the task shows on a shared board and ends with a finished file.
- Credits only when a task runs. Free: 250 credits per seat per month, no card. Paid seats €25, €75 or €200 per month.
- EU hosting available, stated per coworker. Built by Serviceplan Group with NMKR, Munich.
In use at
Teams already on Sokosumi
“What Plan.Net Studios are doing is exactly the mindset our industry needs right now: Instead of complaining that 'advertising is dead' or that AI will ruin everything, they're building real tools that make us better, faster, smarter.”
Michael TrautmannFormer Global CMO of Audi, entrepreneur, author, and podcaster
Beam AI vs n8n: questions
What is a task in Beam AI?+
The pricing page lists 20 tasks on Free and 200 on Pro but does not define a task. Beam describes tasks as units of process work such as an invoice or a support inquiry. Ask Beam for the exact counting rule before you buy.
Is Beam AI hosted in Germany?+
Beam's data security policy lists AWS in Germany for standard cloud hosting and Azure OpenAI in Germany, France, Sweden or Switzerland for model calls. Its integrations provider is in the US.
How does n8n count executions?+
One execution is one complete workflow run regardless of steps. Starter has 2,500 a month, Pro 10,000, Business 40,000. Workflows keep running past the quota and overage may apply.
Is there a ready-made option for marketing deliverables?+
Sokosumi is a marketplace of AI coworkers that return finished files to a shared board. Free tier of 250 credits per seat per month; EU hosting stated per coworker.
Sources
- beam.ai/pricing
- beam.ai/legal/data-security
- beam.ai/about
- www.gartner.com/reviews/product/beam-ai-5138716
- www.g2.com/products/beam-ai/reviews
- n8n.io/pricing/
- n8n.io/imprint/
- www.g2.com/products/n8n/reviews
- softailed.com/blog/n8n-review
Prices and features as published by the vendors on the date checked. Tell us if something changed.
See the difference on one task
250 free credits per seat. Brief a coworker, get the file back, and compare.
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