Relay closes to free users on August 15, 2026 and to paying customers on September 14, 2026 (the full timeline). n8n is the replacement for teams that want ownership: self-hostable, source-available, node-based, with real code steps and fast-moving AI agent features. For a technical team, that control is the whole appeal.
The distance from Relay is equally real. Relay was approachable enough for non-developers and made human approval the default. In n8n, approvals are something you wire yourself with wait nodes and forms, and the learning curve assumes comfort with data structures, expressions, and occasionally JavaScript.
Side by side
| Relay.app | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Shutting down: free ends Aug 15, paid Sep 14, 2026 | Established, actively developed |
| Human approval before actions execute | Built in, first class | Possible via wait/approval nodes you configure yourself |
| How you build | Visual workflow builder, approachable | Node-based editor; expressions and code steps |
| Hosting | Cloud only | Self-host free, or n8n Cloud |
| App coverage | ~100+ apps | Hundreds of nodes, plus HTTP and code for anything else |
| AI steps | AI drafting and reasoning steps | AI nodes and agent workflows; bring your own model |
| Pricing model | Was per-workspace with credits | Self-hosted community edition free; cloud from about $24/mo |
Who n8n is for
Pick n8n if you have technical capacity in-house and care about control: your data on your infrastructure, no per-task metering on the self-hosted edition, and the freedom to write code when a node does not exist. Teams with privacy or compliance constraints often end up here, and n8n's AI agent tooling is genuinely strong.
What you give up from Relay
Approachability first: the person on your ops team who built Relay workflows in an afternoon will need real ramp-up time in n8n, and someone has to operate the instance if you self-host. And as with Zapier and Make, the human approval step stops being the product's default and becomes configuration you build, test, and maintain yourself.
Where flo.space fits in this decision
flo.space sits at the opposite end of the control-versus-simplicity axis: no infrastructure, no nodes, no building. It connects to 14 business tools, AI prepares the next invoice, reply, or order update with its reasoning shown, and a person approves every send. Technical teams sometimes run both: n8n for internal pipelines they want to own, flo.space for the customer-facing actions where approval is non-negotiable. The alternative comparison has the complete picture.
Common questions
The self-hosted community edition is free to run on your own infrastructure under n8n’s sustainable-use license. n8n Cloud, the hosted version, starts around $24 per month. Factor in the operational cost of hosting when comparing.
Yes, with configuration: wait nodes, approval forms, or chat-based confirmations can pause a workflow for a person. It works, but it is something you design and maintain per workflow rather than a default the product enforces.
Not directly; no tool reads Relay’s workflow JSON natively. The practical route is Relay’s exported prompt.md files plus n8n’s AI workflow builder, or rebuilding by hand. Budget time per workflow rather than expecting a bulk import.
Be honest about capacity. n8n rewards technical teams; without one, Zapier is the easier general builder, and for approval-gated business communications an approval-first product will feel much closer to what Relay was.
Approval without the infrastructure
If wiring approval nodes is not how your team should spend its time, flo.space prepares the work from your tools and holds every action for a human yes.