Abstract

The rapid convergence of enterprise integration, low-code automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) has created an urgent demand for flexible, vendor-neutral orchestration frameworks. This paper presents a comprehensive study of n8n, an open-source workflow automation platform designed to unify system integration, AI orchestration, and data automation within a single, extensible ecosystem. Unlike proprietary integration platforms or limited task-automation tools, n8n enables self-hosted, API-driven, and event-based workflows that can interconnect enterprise systems such as SAP, Salesforce, and Google Cloud with AI services like OpenAI and Hugging Face. Through detailed architecture analysis and implementation case studies including SAP Ariba to ECC integration and AI-powered invoice processing workflows the paper evaluates n8n’s performance, scalability, and reliability under production-grade workloads. Benchmark results demonstrate linear scalability, >98% reliability, and strong AI orchestration capabilities, confirming its suitability for hybrid cloud and intelligent enterprise scenarios. Comparative benchmarking against Node-RED, Airflow, Boomi Flow, and Zapier further highlights n8n’s balance of openness, extensibility, and cost efficiency. The study concludes that n8n represents a pivotal evolution in intelligent workflow orchestration, offering a bridge between deterministic automation and cognitive AI reasoning. Future directions include agentic AI integration, federated orchestration, and self-optimizing workflow intelligence, positioning n8n as a foundation for the next generation of AI-augmented enterprise automation.

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