Using a simple case study shows that if an automation tool feels difficult, look for an alternative before spending too much time on it.

When I recently automated my month-end tasks, I experimented with both Microsoft Power Automate and n8n.

The experiment was swift and decisive, ending with a win for n8n, even though we use Microsoft 365 at Yonder, the B2B SaaS company I co-founded. Nevertheless, it was right to test both tools in real-life, as the suitability of a tool depends heavily on your use case, your tech literacy, and on your personal style and preference.

Let’s look at some of my learnings.

Power Automate

I started my investigations with Microsoft Power Automate. The reason for this is that it comes with Microsoft 365, and it is tightly integrated into Microsoft 365.

Using Power Automate is great for simple workflows, for example sending an email with an attachment to a recipient list when I drop a new file in a certain folder. I built this workflow to send out credit card statements or investor reports automatically. Already for those simple workflows, the Power Automate UI felt cumbersome and somewhat Microsoft-y.

So far, so good. When I started building more advanced workflows, the cumbersomeness of the Power Automate UI became a limiting factor. Try copying the newest file in a OneDrive folder and rename it in Power Automate. It’s cumbersome because some file operations are handled by OneDrive, while others are handled by SharePoint.

n8n

I’m not the most patient person on Earth, and I’m an engineer. So when something as simple as copying the newest file in a folder is cumbersome with one tool, I quickly look for another tool. I often say, “It can’t be that difficult”, and surprisingly, many things aren’t difficult if you’re using the right tool to get them done.

True to my entrepreneurial DNA of doing more with less, I started using n8n’s community edition running in a Docker container on my local machine. Besides being free, the local version offers the advantage of reducing your dependency on the cloud.

More generally speaking, what I like better in n8n than in Power Automate is the powerful scripting engine for JavaScript and Python code, plus the fact that n8n has preconfigured nodes for many SaaS tools beyond the Microsoft 365 universe. And it has a much cleaner, more intuitive UI than Power Automate, making both building and testing easier and faster.

The price you pay for using n8n is that it’s a more technical tool than Power Automate. And if you’re using it locally, you will have to create API keys and shared secrets to use many cloud tools, including Microsoft 365.

Conclusion

This simple example shows that if an automation tool feels difficult, you should look for an alternative before spending too much time on it.

To be efficient and effective with the myriad of tools out there, I suggest you test widely, iterate quickly, but focus after an initial test phase.

As a final thought, there is no right or wrong choice of tools to focus on. Which tools you choose depends on your use case, your tech savviness, and finally your personal style.