The smarter alternative to n8n

You don't need middleware anymore. AI replaces connectors - Tallyfy tracks the human work that n8n can't.

  • No DevOps - Zero infrastructure to manage. Ever.
  • Human work - Track tasks between people, not just data between apps
Track all your workflows beautifully - on Tallyfy

People ❤️ Tallyfy

Simple for everyone. Robust for champs.

"

We can finally delegate work with confidence and focus on growing the business.

Andrew Hurrell
Andrew Hurrell
Director · Get Customers Fast
"

A paper-based approval for critical purchases could take a couple of days before if someone was waiting for a director to be available for a signature. Now approvals are often completed in minutes.

ED
Evan Davis
Director of Finance · Alexandria Transit System
"

Tallyfy has been transformative for us. It's reduced manual errors, sped up processes like onboarding, and helped us document workflows that are critical as we grow. The ability to track tasks and aggregate them in one place saves us so much time and ensures that nothing falls through the cracks.

Gwen Tormey
Gwen Tormey
CEO · Corestream
"

Tallyfy is intuitive, fun and visually appealing. We can quickly gather every detail we need from our client in order to finish it on time. All the documents, specific details and comments are in one place.

Hanka Hanga
Hanka Hanga
Co-founder · The Mindset Institute
"

It has become a regular thing that people say 'put that in Tallyfy'. They know it by name. It has become the executive approval tool for our company. We have bi-weekly Tallyfy calls where we review what needs approval and what is pending - it keeps everyone aligned.

Joe Meadors
Joe Meadors
VP of IT · Gaylor Electric
"

It used to take us two days to run monthly client campaigns, now, with the help of Tallyfy, we complete them in just a few hours!

Julie Trelstad
Julie Trelstad
Book Publisher · Julie Ink
"

Tallyfy is a very reliable way to delegate and track tasks with confidence. It has taken the guesswork out of the equation and has helped our team focus on delivering a service within deadlines. Thank you for making my life much easier!

Karen Finnin
Karen Finnin
Physiotherapist & Director · Online Physio
"

Our clients and team sail through the Tallyfy process - there is no need for clients to log in, there is one link for everything they need to do, everything saves in real-time - it all works incredibly well! I can't imagine scaling our agency without Tallyfy.

Kasim Aslam
Kasim Aslam
CEO · Sol8 - A Google Ads Agency
"

Tallyfy has revolutionized how we manage our marketing projects at West Community Credit Union. It allows us to quickly launch tailored campaigns and track every moving part, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. The ease of creating flexible, repeatable processes has saved us significant time and improved team collaboration.

Kim Berzack
Kim Berzack
Marketing · West Community Credit Union
"

Tallyfy transformed how we manage client onboarding and policy renewals. It eliminated inefficiencies, reduced meeting times from hours to minutes, and helped us avoid costly penalties by automating key processes. We now have full visibility over tasks, and I no longer need to chase down updates - it's all right there.

Lewis Marty
Lewis Marty
Business Development Director · Simploy
"

With Tallyfy, we have seen clarity in our processes as well as any bottlenecks. Tallyfy would be a good fit for any company that has a design, approval and implementation process that needs to have a quick turn around and that is growing fast.

Macklin Andrick
Macklin Andrick
Operations Manager · Greetabl
"

Tallyfy has helped our team streamline the efficiency of our processes. We now have smooth processes from beginning to end - without any steps being forgotten or skipped.

MZ
Monica Zuluaga
PhD. QA Director · A Bridge to Achievement
"

If you want to be efficient and scale your business then Tallyfy is the way go. There is no question about it.

Rommel C. Caibal
Rommel C. Caibal
Owner · RC Graphic Designs
"

Routing multiple documents is far quicker and there's immediate accountability and oversight. After switching to Tallyfy, routing documents and layouts went from taking over a week to taking just 2-3 days.

TO
Timothy O'Leary
General Director · Opera Theatre of Saint Louis / Opera America
"

We can finally delegate work with confidence and focus on growing the business.

Andrew Hurrell
Andrew Hurrell
Director · Get Customers Fast
"

A paper-based approval for critical purchases could take a couple of days before if someone was waiting for a director to be available for a signature. Now approvals are often completed in minutes.

ED
Evan Davis
Director of Finance · Alexandria Transit System
"

Tallyfy has been transformative for us. It's reduced manual errors, sped up processes like onboarding, and helped us document workflows that are critical as we grow. The ability to track tasks and aggregate them in one place saves us so much time and ensures that nothing falls through the cracks.

Gwen Tormey
Gwen Tormey
CEO · Corestream
"

Tallyfy is intuitive, fun and visually appealing. We can quickly gather every detail we need from our client in order to finish it on time. All the documents, specific details and comments are in one place.

Hanka Hanga
Hanka Hanga
Co-founder · The Mindset Institute
"

It has become a regular thing that people say 'put that in Tallyfy'. They know it by name. It has become the executive approval tool for our company. We have bi-weekly Tallyfy calls where we review what needs approval and what is pending - it keeps everyone aligned.

Joe Meadors
Joe Meadors
VP of IT · Gaylor Electric
"

It used to take us two days to run monthly client campaigns, now, with the help of Tallyfy, we complete them in just a few hours!

Julie Trelstad
Julie Trelstad
Book Publisher · Julie Ink
"

Tallyfy is a very reliable way to delegate and track tasks with confidence. It has taken the guesswork out of the equation and has helped our team focus on delivering a service within deadlines. Thank you for making my life much easier!

Karen Finnin
Karen Finnin
Physiotherapist & Director · Online Physio
"

Our clients and team sail through the Tallyfy process - there is no need for clients to log in, there is one link for everything they need to do, everything saves in real-time - it all works incredibly well! I can't imagine scaling our agency without Tallyfy.

Kasim Aslam
Kasim Aslam
CEO · Sol8 - A Google Ads Agency
"

Tallyfy has revolutionized how we manage our marketing projects at West Community Credit Union. It allows us to quickly launch tailored campaigns and track every moving part, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. The ease of creating flexible, repeatable processes has saved us significant time and improved team collaboration.

Kim Berzack
Kim Berzack
Marketing · West Community Credit Union
"

Tallyfy transformed how we manage client onboarding and policy renewals. It eliminated inefficiencies, reduced meeting times from hours to minutes, and helped us avoid costly penalties by automating key processes. We now have full visibility over tasks, and I no longer need to chase down updates - it's all right there.

Lewis Marty
Lewis Marty
Business Development Director · Simploy
"

With Tallyfy, we have seen clarity in our processes as well as any bottlenecks. Tallyfy would be a good fit for any company that has a design, approval and implementation process that needs to have a quick turn around and that is growing fast.

Macklin Andrick
Macklin Andrick
Operations Manager · Greetabl
"

Tallyfy has helped our team streamline the efficiency of our processes. We now have smooth processes from beginning to end - without any steps being forgotten or skipped.

MZ
Monica Zuluaga
PhD. QA Director · A Bridge to Achievement
"

If you want to be efficient and scale your business then Tallyfy is the way go. There is no question about it.

Rommel C. Caibal
Rommel C. Caibal
Owner · RC Graphic Designs
"

Routing multiple documents is far quicker and there's immediate accountability and oversight. After switching to Tallyfy, routing documents and layouts went from taking over a week to taking just 2-3 days.

TO
Timothy O'Leary
General Director · Opera Theatre of Saint Louis / Opera America

Tallyfy vs. n8n

n8n
1 Tracks human tasks and approvals - not just data flows
n8n
Tallyfy
2 Zero infrastructure or DevOps required
n8n
Tallyfy
3 Non-technical users can build workflows in minutes
n8n
Tallyfy
4 Guest users can participate without accounts
n8n
Tallyfy
5 Real-time visibility into who's doing what
n8n
Tallyfy
6 Process documentation built into every workflow
n8n
Tallyfy

Which tool is right for you?

Honest comparison to help you make the right choice

Tallyfy is best for

  • Tracking repeatable business processes with human tasks
  • Non-technical teams who need workflow visibility
  • Processes involving external guests and vendors
  • Approval workflows and accountability tracking
  • Teams without DevOps resources or coding skills

n8n may be better for

  • Developer teams building data pipelines
  • Technical users comfortable with JavaScript
  • Organizations with dedicated DevOps capacity
  • Complex data transformations between APIs
  • Teams who enjoy self-hosting and open source

Here's what people really say about n8n

This is third party content sourced from the public web. You can verify this content if you wish. See our disclaimer and citations section below.

" You'll need someone who can manage servers and write JavaScript in their sleep. Self-hosting requires technical knowledge and can be time-consuming compared to cloud-based alternatives.[1] "
- n8n comparison analysis
" Running N8N in a production environment involves regular maintenance, updates, and troubleshooting. This operational overhead can demand 10-20 hours of DevOps work each month, translating to costs of $500-$1,000.[2] "
- Latenode self-hosting analysis
" Tracing data as it moves through numerous nodes is not always straightforward, and the error messages provided are often too generic to be truly helpful. Debugging large workflows can get tricky.[3] "
- TrustRadius n8n review
" n8n was able to handle more and was super reliable before the recent updates with folders, evaluations, etc. Even after upgrading RAM to 2GB and adding swap (2-4GB), issues persist.[4] "
- n8n Community Forum
" After 48 hours of long-running HTTP workflows, the node crashes with FATAL ERROR: JavaScript heap out of memory - memory grows about 50MB per hour until crash.[5] "
- n8n Community Forum
" I felt tricked into buying a higher tier subscription. Even upgrading to the Pro plan didn't resolve the issue with processing files.[6] "
n8n Cloud User
- n8n Community Forum
" Specific features, like SSO and folder structure for workflow organization, are locked behind enterprise licenses, which frustrates self-hosters.[7] "
- TrustRadius n8n review
" n8n has a fairly limited number of integrations compared to services like Zapier and Make. Oftentimes you'll have to implement custom API logic yourself.[8] "
- Digital Project Manager review
" The support experience leaves a lot to be desired. What's worse is the complete lack of response from their sales team. We've been actively trying to give them more money for weeks.[9] "
- TrustRadius n8n review
" If you add the wrong node or configure something incorrectly - especially in loops or scraping workflows - it can easily trigger a large number of executions without warning.[10] "
G2 User Review
- G2 n8n review
" The 'current date' issue in the workflows is impossibly frustrating. I never could find a way to consistently tell the flow how to stay on the current date.[11] "
- G2 n8n review
" Some users found setup labyrinthine or annoying for self-hosted instances. The initial setup can be challenging for non-developers.[12] "
- Toksta n8n review
" Great tool but terrible customer service. I have 3 accounts with them and 1 of the accounts I completely lost access to and I am paying each month. They are refusing to help me identify my account because of "security reasons."[13] "
- Trustpilot n8n review
" For a simple write to text file action you have to use at least 3 nodes. The documentation is with very basic info, even the inbuilt nodes are not described in an easy and understandable way.[14] "
- n8n Community Forum
" I used a ton of credits inadvertently not realizing the AI switched back to Build from Ask. For a $25 fee, the user should get more than 50 build questions.[15] "
G2 User Review
- G2 n8n review
Community
Free (self-hosted)
  • Self-hosted only
  • No support
  • Infrastructure costs extra
Starter
From EUR 20/month
  • 2,500 executions/month
  • 5 concurrent executions
  • Forum support only
Pro
From EUR 50/month
  • 10,000 executions/month
  • 20 concurrent executions
  • 3 projects
Business
From EUR 667/month
  • 40,000 executions/month
  • SSO/SAML
  • Self-hosted
* Cloud pricing billed annually* Self-hosting requires infrastructure budget* Enterprise pricing is custom
Pricing last verified: January 2026. Prices may have changed.

Tallyfy might not be right for you if...

Tallyfy isn't for everyone. Here's when it may not fit:

  • Not built for moving data between APIs - that's what n8n does well
  • No self-hosting option - we manage all infrastructure
  • Won't replace n8n for complex data transformation pipelines

Start Your Free Trial

No credit card required. Set up in minutes.

Track human work, not just data flows

n8n moves data. Tallyfy moves work forward.

1. Document

Capture your processes in plain English. No nodes, no JSON, no code.

2. Track

See who needs to do what. Real accountability, not just triggers.

3. Improve

Get feedback and iterate. AI helps optimize over time.

Is "free" self-hosting really free?

Are you hearing this at work? That's busywork

"How do I do this?" "What's the status?" "I forgot" "What's next?" "See my reminder?"
people

Enter between 1 and 150,000

hours

Enter between 0.5 and 40

$

Enter between $10 and $1,000

$

Based on $30/hr x 4 hrs/wk

Your loss and waste is:

$12,800

every week

What you are losing

Cash burned on busywork

$8,000

per week in wasted wages

What you could have gained

160 extra hours could create:

$4,800

per week in real and compounding value

Sell, upsell and cross-sell
Compound efficiencies
Invest in R&D and grow moat

Total cumulative impact over time (real cost + missed opportunities)

1yr
$665,600
2yr
$1,331,200
3yr
$1,996,800
4yr
$2,662,400
5yr
$3,328,000
$0
$1m
$2m
$3m

You are bleeding cash, annoying every employee and killing dreams.

It's a no-brainer

Start Tallyfying today

Tallyfy does not charge for basic services

Need help? Unlike costly "professional services" for n8n - Tallyfy guarantees free 25-minute screen-sharing calls with workflow experts for life.

SCHEDULE A CALL
Tallyfy Team
GDP per capita for the world

Fair Price Guarantee

If your company is based in a country where the GDP per capita is significantly lower than the USA, we offer a discount on our pricing. This ensures fair pricing for companies worldwide.

FAIR PRICE GUARANTEE

Moving from n8n to Tallyfy

Most teams get their first process running in under an hour

1

Identify which n8n workflows involve human tasks (not just data movement)

2

Map those processes to Tallyfy template structure

3

Set up task assignments, deadlines, and notifications

4

Train your team on the much simpler interface

5

Keep n8n running for pure data integration if needed

Our team helps you figure out what belongs in Tallyfy vs. n8n - free of charge

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the real difference between n8n and Tallyfy?

They solve completely different problems. n8n is middleware - it moves data between apps. Tallyfy tracks human work - tasks, approvals, handoffs between people. If your challenge is "who's supposed to do what next?" then n8n won't help you. It doesn't know about people, deadlines, or accountability. Tallyfy does. See how Tallyfy tracks human work.

Is n8n really free?

The software is free. Running it? Not so much. A production n8n setup typically costs $300-800/month when you factor in server costs ($100-300), database hosting ($75-200), backups, monitoring, and the DevOps time to keep it running. That's before you hit memory issues or need to scale. The "free" part is a bit misleading. Compare with Tallyfy's transparent pricing.

Do I need technical skills to use n8n?

Yes, significantly. n8n assumes you can manage servers, write JavaScript, understand webhooks, debug JSON payloads, and troubleshoot memory leaks. That's fine for dev teams, but most operations people aren't JavaScript developers. Tallyfy was built so anyone can create and run workflows in minutes, no coding required. Create your first workflow in under 5 minutes.

Why is AI making middleware like n8n less relevant?

Here's what's happening: AI code generation can write the same integration logic that n8n nodes provide. MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets AI talk directly to apps without building connectors. The 400+ nodes that make n8n valuable? They're becoming commoditized. What AI can't replace is understanding your business processes and the humans who run them. That's where Tallyfy lives. Learn about AI-powered automation.

What about n8n's memory and performance issues?

This comes up constantly in their community forums. Long-running workflows crash with "JavaScript heap out of memory" errors. Memory grows 50MB per hour until things fall over. Recent updates seem to have made it worse. You'll spend significant time managing garbage collection settings and splitting workflows to avoid crashes. Tallyfy doesn't have these problems because we handle the infrastructure. See our reliability commitments.

Can n8n track approval workflows and human tasks?

Not really. n8n can trigger notifications or update records, but it has no concept of task assignment, deadlines, reminders, or accountability. It doesn't know who's responsible for what, when things are overdue, or where work is stuck. That's workflow execution, not workflow automation. Tallyfy was specifically built for tracking work between people. Explore task tracking features.

What does n8n's self-hosting actually involve?

You'll need to: set up Docker or a VPS, configure PostgreSQL, manage SSL certificates, set up reverse proxies (nginx or Traefik), configure environment variables, handle backups, monitor memory usage, update regularly, and debug when things break. That's 10-20 hours monthly of DevOps work. Most teams underestimate this massively. See how Tallyfy handles all this for you.

How does n8n pricing compare at scale?

n8n Cloud starts at 20 EUR/month for 2,500 executions, then 50 EUR for 10,000 executions, then jumps to 667 EUR/month for Business tier. The jump from Pro to Business is brutal. Self-hosting seems cheaper until you add infrastructure and time costs. Tallyfy offers straightforward per-user pricing with country-based discounts. View our transparent pricing.

Does n8n work for non-technical teams?

Honestly? It's a struggle. The interface assumes familiarity with programming concepts. Documentation is inconsistent. Error messages are vague. Community support is helpful but slow. If your team includes people who aren't developers, they'll hit walls constantly. Tallyfy was built for operations people, not developers. See how easy Tallyfy is to navigate.

What about n8n's integrations and nodes?

n8n has around 400 nodes - fewer than Zapier (8,000+) or Make (2,500+). You'll often need to write custom HTTP requests or code nodes. That's fine if you're comfortable with APIs and JSON. For everyone else, it's a barrier. And remember: AI is making these connectors less valuable. What matters is what you do with the data - like tracking who needs to act on it. See Tallyfy's integration approach.

Can guests participate in n8n workflows?

No. n8n is designed for internal automation between systems. If you need external people - vendors, clients, partners - to participate in workflows, n8n can't help. Tallyfy lets unlimited guests participate in processes without creating accounts or paying extra. Learn about guest participation.

Why would someone choose n8n over Tallyfy?

If you're a developer who needs to move data between systems, loves self-hosting, has DevOps capacity, and doesn't need to track human work - n8n might be the right fit. It's powerful for technical teams building data pipelines. But if your goal is tracking repeatable business processes with real people involved, Tallyfy is purpose-built for that. Talk to us about your use case.

What happens when n8n workflows break?

Debugging is painful. Error messages are generic. Tracing data through nodes is tedious. Memory issues require infrastructure changes. Version mismatches cause unexpected behavior. You'll spend hours in community forums and GitHub issues. This is just part of the self-hosted life. Tallyfy handles the technical complexity so you can focus on your actual work. Get expert support included.

Does Tallyfy offer a free trial?

Yes. We'll set up a trial environment during a quick demo call. You get to see exactly how Tallyfy would work for your specific processes before committing. No credit card required, no pressure. Schedule your demo.

Other alternatives to n8n

Explore more options in the same category

Tallyfy is a far better alternative to n8n

Ready to switch from n8n?

See how Tallyfy can transform your workflow management

Schedule a Demo

Ready to switch to a better workflow solution?

See why teams choose Tallyfy over the competition

DISCLAIMER OF AFFILIATION, ACCURACY & LIABILITY

This page is an independent, good-faith comparative review prepared by Tallyfy, Inc. ("Tallyfy") and is based on publicly available information, third-party reviews, and vendor materials current as of January 2026. The content is offered "AS IS" for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional, technical, or legal advice.

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