Describe it, don’t draw it · MIT everything · The backend included

The n8n Alternative Where You Describe the Workflow Instead of Drawing It

Q: How do I debug an endpoint or workflow in Magic?

Run any file with Debug instead of Invoke. Rewind records the whole execution: every operation in order, how long each took, and the program's entire state at each step, with the statement that threw marked in red. Recording happens only when you ask and lives in memory.

Dragging boxes was never the easy part. Say what you want in plain English and the generator writes it as verified code — branching, loops, HTTP, database work — live in seconds, as one file you can diff, schedule, or put behind a URL. Around it: databases, auth, roles, frontends. The comparison is below.

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Integrations without a number — a language, not a catalog

MIT-licensed — no fair-code restrictions, resell what you build

Real backends: APIs, auth, RBAC, frontend hosting, MCP server

The comparison

Magic Cloud vs n8n

Capabilities, side by side. The long-form matrix has the detail; the 2026 roundup puts n8n against the rest of the field.

Feature	n8n	Magic Cloud
How you build it	Drag nodes onto a canvas and wire them	Describe it in English; the generator writes and verifies it
What it actually is	A JSON document describing a node graph	Real code. An executable tree — readable, composable, diffable
Connector catalog	400+ nodes	A plugin bazaar — Stripe, HubSpot, Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Slack, NetSuite, SERP API
Integrations in total	The catalog, plus hand-wired HTTP nodes	Infinite. A language has no catalog to exhaust. The only ceiling is disk, and on 2 GB that ceiling is a number with 4,196,703,834 digits
Service with no connector	HTTP node, or a custom TypeScript node	One sentence — generated, typed, role-gated, live in seconds
API with a specification	An HTTP node per operation, by hand	Import the OpenAPI document — every operation at once, as MCP tools
Database table to API	Query nodes, rebuilt per workflow	CRUD generated per table in milliseconds, role-gated per verb
Escaping the DSL	A Code node running JavaScript	Python, shell or compiled C# wrapped in an endpoint with validation and RBAC
Database	Bring your own	Native — SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server
APIs	Webhook-triggered workflows	Real REST endpoints with OpenAPI specs and role gating
Frontend hosting	None	Static sites, or React, Angular and Vue from CI — SPA routing or real 404s
Version control	JSON inside n8n; Git is enterprise-tier	Git and GitHub built in — clone, branch, commit, push, each an MCP tool
Scheduling	Schedule Trigger node	Any file becomes a task — a date, or “5.minutes”, or “saturday\|sunday.22.00.00”
Where it can run	Inside n8n	Endpoint, scheduled task, or called remotely — one file, no rebuild
AI-generated code safety	The Code node runs whatever it is given	Cannot exceed its permissions. Functions verified before dispatch; vocabulary fixed in advance
Hallucinated calls	Fail at runtime, cost a retry	Unrepresentable — an invented name has nothing to dispatch to
Debugging one run	Input and output per node	Rewind — every step, the program’s entire state, the throwing line in red
Retained run history	Yes — re-runnable from the UI	Logs; Rewind records on demand, in memory
Performance	A graph walked node by node	2,000–2,823 req/s secured, debug build — benchmark
License	Fair-code; enterprise features separate	MIT, all of it

The method

A sentence, not a canvas

Ask in plain language. The generator writes the whole sequence as one verified file, live in about three seconds.

One file, three triggers

Why the node count is the wrong measure

A catalog is a finite list someone else chose to build. Hyperlambda is a language, so there is nothing to exhaust. Describe the integration, import an OpenAPI document, or generate CRUD over a table. When the DSL is the wrong tool, wrap Python, a shell command or compiled C# — validation and RBAC still around it.

So how many integrations is that?

n8n

400

connector nodes, plus community ones. A list — and lists end.

Magic Cloud

90^{2,147,483,648}

distinct programs on a 2 GB disk — a number 4,196,703,834 digits long. Printing it in decimal would take 3.91 GB: nearly twice the disk holding the programs it counts. The observable universe holds about 10⁸⁰ atoms — 81 digits.

Generated code that cannot misbehave

The Natural Language API refusing a generated file read: the model wrote io.file.load against /config/appsettings.json, and the runtime declined to dispatch it — The model wrote the file read. The runtime refused to dispatch it.

Every function is checked against the registry of functions that exist, before dispatch. The vocabulary is fixed before your sentence is parsed, and pinned arguments must match exactly. A hallucinated call has nothing to dispatch to. That is why a public page takes sentences from strangers and runs them, with an unclaimed bounty on escaping it.

Debugging

The whole program, at every step

Rewind showing a failed execution, the statement that threw marked in red, with the state the program had built up still visible — A failed run in Rewind — the throwing line in red, the state it had built up still intact.

A node view shows input and output. Rewind replays the finished run with the program’s entire state at each step, the failing line in red, and everything built up before it still there.

The decision rule

Which one

Choose n8n if non-developers own the automations and need a canvas they can read, or if you need retained, re-runnable execution history out of the box.

Choose Magic for everything else — and for the database, APIs, auth, frontend and MCP server n8n leaves to you. Also see the Supabase and Retool comparisons.

Choose both when n8n already earns its keep: its workflows call Magic endpoints like any HTTP API.

Proof, in writing

Read the receipts

The matrix

Magic vs n8n: an honest feature matrix

Every row, at full length.

The provocation

I out-coded 1,100 n8n employees last year

Measured with the yardstick they published themselves.

The demo

A complete CRM in one conversation

Sixty seconds of backend, six cents of tokens.

Frequently asked questions

Is Magic Cloud an n8n alternative?

Yes. Magic builds the same automations — branching, looping, HTTP calls, transforms, schedules — except you describe them in plain English and the generator writes verified code instead of you wiring boxes. It also brings the database, the API layer, auth and a frontend that n8n leaves to you.

Is describing a workflow easier than drawing one?

For anyone who can write a sentence, yes, and the gap widens with size. A canvas is pleasant at five nodes and a maze at fifty. The same logic described in English stays a paragraph, and what comes out is a file that reads top to bottom, diffs like code, and is reviewable by someone who was not there when it was built.

How many integrations does Magic have?

Infinite, for any purpose you will ever have. A 2 GB disk holds 90^{2,147,483,648} distinct programs — a number 4,196,703,834 digits long, which would take 3.91 GB to write out in decimal. A plugin bazaar covers the common services — Stripe, HubSpot, Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Slack, NetSuite, SERP API. Beyond it, describe an integration and the generator writes it, import an OpenAPI document and every operation arrives at once, or generate CRUD over any table. A catalog is a finite list; a language is not.

How do I debug an endpoint or workflow in Magic?

Run any file with Debug instead of Invoke. Rewind records the whole execution: every operation in order, how long each took, and your program’s entire state at each step, with the statement that threw marked in red. Recording happens only when you ask and lives in memory.

Can an AI agent build new capability safely?

Yes. Every function in generated code is checked against the registry of functions that exist before dispatch, and execution happens inside a vocabulary fixed before the sentence was parsed, with pinned arguments that must match exactly. A hallucinated call has nothing to dispatch to. A public page takes sentences from strangers and runs them, with an unclaimed bounty on escaping it.

Can n8n and Magic work together?

Yes. Magic exposes real REST endpoints with OpenAPI specs, and n8n calls HTTP APIs natively. Use n8n for SaaS orchestration and Magic as the backend those workflows talk to, reached over the MCP server when an agent is driving.

Is n8n open source? Is Magic?

n8n is fair-code — source-available under its Sustainable Use License, with commercial-use restrictions and separately licensed enterprise features. Magic is MIT, all of it, with no field-of-use restrictions.

Is there a hosted option, or do I have to self-host?

Either. AINIRO runs hosted cloudlets on the same codebase as the self-hosted version, with nothing gated. Self-hosting is MIT and carries no field-of-use restriction, so whatever you build you can also sell.

Try it

Five minutes to a running cloudlet

Database, generated APIs, auth, frontend hosting and the MCP server, on your own hardware, MIT-licensed.

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terminal

# When it’s up: log in at http://localhost:5555 with root/root.
$ curl -fsSL https://hyperlambda.dev/docker-compose.yaml | docker compose -f - up