n8n connects hundreds of tools and automates workflows at remarkable scale — its AI agent nodes are genuinely good. Kernos answers a different question: what happens after the workflow wants to change something important. Both perspectives, no spin.
| Dimension | n8n | Kernos |
|---|---|---|
| Core question | "How many tools and workflows can we automate?" | "How do agents change systems of record, safely?" |
| License | Fair-code (Sustainable Use License) — source-available with usage restrictions | Open-source core (license finalization in progress — stated honestly, not hidden) |
| Approvals | Human-in-the-loop steps (wait/approval nodes) inside a workflow | Platform-level approval DAG: multi-node, segregation of duties, batch + delegation |
| Audit | Execution logs and history | Append-only bi-temporal trail, causal-ID replay across decisions |
| Data model | Item/JSON passthrough between nodes | Typed ontology — objects, links, actions, bi-temporal |
| ERP/SAP | Generic HTTP/community nodes; success = API response | OData/IDoc/BAPI/events/CDC; success = SAP authoritative event + three-way reconciliation |
| Ecosystem | Very large community, hundreds of integrations, template library | Early access — 18 modules, one-command self-host, air-gapped capable |
Based on publicly documented capabilities as of September 2026. Both products evolve fast — verify against current docs. Last updated: .
Integration breadth first: if your automation needs to talk to forty SaaS tools, n8n probably speaks to all of them already. Its execution model, self-hosting story, and community are battle-tested, and its AI Agent nodes (built on LangChain) bring real reasoning into flows. For IT automation, ETL-ish glue, and internal tooling, it is a strong default.
Approvals are nodes vs approvals are the platform. n8n's wait/approval steps gate a workflow at a point in time. Kernos's approval layer is a standing institution: every write-side action across the platform flows through a multi-node DAG where initiators cannot approve their own proposals, four-eyes constraints are enforced by the engine, and every decision is attributable. One is a step; the other is a system.
The license shapes the business model — and your risk. n8n's Sustainable Use License is source-available but restricts commercial redistribution and hosted offerings. That is a fair trade for their business, but it means "self-hosted n8n" and "commercial freedom" are not the same sentence. Kernos's open-core posture (Apache-2.0 core, license finalization in progress — we say so because pretending otherwise is worse) is designed so your self-hosted deployment is unambiguously yours.
Related reading: Kernos vs Dify · the full landscape, honestly assessed