head to head · open source
n8n vs cadence
n8n has 205,401 GitHub stars, 60,791 forks, 1,143 open issues and last shipped today. cadence has 9,446 stars, 915 forks, 205 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. n8n leads on adoption by 2,074% (205,401 vs 9,446 stars). n8n is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; cadence is written in Go under Apache-2.0. n8n has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, cadence 10%. n8n was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| n8n | cadence | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 205K | ★ 9.4K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 61K | ⑂ 915 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick n8n if
- You weight community size — 205K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cadence if
- You want the cadence feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and cadence fits your workflow better
About n8n
n8n is a visual workflow automation platform built in TypeScript that combines a drag and drop editor with custom code execution. It lives in the integration and automation ecosystem, positioned as an open alternative to proprietary services like Zapier. Users design multi step workflows—called “n8n flows”—that connect apps, services, and custom logic to automate repetitive tasks.
About cadence
Cadence is an open source orchestration engine for running asynchronous, long running business logic in a fault tolerant way. Written in Go under the Apache 2.0 license, it lives in the distributed systems and workflow automation space, and the project has been open source since 2017. This repository holds the core engine plus supporting tools: the CLI, schema management, a benchmark suite, and a canary. Client libraries for Go and Java are official, while Python and Ruby SDKs come from the community, and iWF can be layered on top as a DSL framework.
read the full cadence overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Automation projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Automation field.
Frequently asked questions
Is n8n or cadence more popular?
n8n has 205,401 GitHub stars and cadence has 9,446. n8n has the larger community by that measure.
Are n8n and cadence free?
Both are open source. n8n has no licence declared in this registry, and cadence is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between n8n and cadence?
n8n is written in TypeScript and cadence in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, n8n or cadence?
Choose n8n if you want the larger community (205,401 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose cadence if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.