A Lego table.
Snap triggers, apps and an AI agent together on a canvas, then watch it run. Ideal for automating your own team's work, no code needed.
- theloop vs n8n
- 2-minute read
n8n builds automations.
theloop powers products.
n8n lets you drag boxes onto a canvas to automate work, and its AI Agent node puts a model in the middle. theloop has no canvas at all. It's the engine you plug into your own product, so your customers get an assistant.
In plain words.
A motor in a sealed box.
No table, no bricks, no screen. You bolt it into your product and drive it with HTTP calls.
Side by side.
| Question | n8n | theloop |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | Visual workflow automation with AI nodes, in the cloud or self-hosted | A headless HTTP service with no UI |
| Who builds the agent? | Anyone, by dragging nodes onto a canvas n8n wins | Developers, by sending JSON |
| Integrations | Hundreds of ready-made app nodes | None built in. A tool is any HTTPS endpoint |
| Memory | Memory nodes: simple, Postgres, Redis and others | None. Your database holds the history |
| Risky actions | Human review on chosen tools, approved in Chat, Slack, Telegram and more | Write tools answer deferred, and approval happens in your system |
| License | Sustainable Use License: free for your own internal business use. Check the terms before building it into a product you sell | Apache 2.0: embed it, sell it, fork it |
Which one is yours?
Pick n8n if…
- You're automating your own company's processes
- People who don't code should be able to build and change it
- You need lots of app integrations fast
- You want tool approvals in Slack or Telegram out of the box
Pick theloop if…
- The assistant is part of a product you sell
- You need a permissive license with no strings
- Your product already has a backend or a low-code platform to drive it
- You bill customers per run
They can meet. An n8n workflow behind a webhook is just an HTTPS endpoint, so it can serve as a tool for theloop.