In short
The short answer
Vocabulary
Three labels, no official definition
Looking at how French providers describe themselves, you see three usages with no clear line between them.
| Label | Most common usage | What is often included |
|---|---|---|
| Agence n8n (n8n agency) | The dominant term in France, heavily targeted for SEO | Audit, development, hosting, maintenance, AI agents |
| Intégrateur n8n (n8n integrator) | Less common, used by IT services firms | Connection to an ERP, a CRM or the existing system |
| n8n freelancer or consultant | One person, often through Malt or hired directly | Anything from a one-off workflow to a full project |
In practice, a freelancer can offer audit, development and hosting, and an agency may deliver a single workflow. n8n itself describes its partners as systems integrators. So the label tells you almost nothing. The company's structure, its status with n8n and its hosting model tell you far more.
The difference in structure has a concrete consequence. A workflow that follows up with your clients or sorts patient files has to be fixed on the day a connected application changes its API. With a single person, you depend on their availability that day.
Check
The only external signal: the n8n experts directory
n8n maintains a public partner directory at experts.n8n.io. Each listing shows one of three tier badges: Enterprise, Premium and Select, with a description and sometimes a rating based on client reviews.
n8n does not publish the criteria for each tier. Its programme page only lists entry requirements, including at least three clients actively using n8n and a core business focused on automation and AI. The same page still describes the programme as a closed pilot, even though the directory already has three tiers and partners in France, so it seems out of date.
Three checks to run before trusting a partnership claim:
- Search for the company's exact name in the directory. A “certified n8n partner” claim that does not appear in the directory proves nothing.
- Tell individual certifications (n8n Level 1 and Level 2, which are training badges) apart from a company partner status.
- Check the company itself in the French government business register (annuaire des entreprises): legal form, creation date, directors.
Not being in the directory is not a dealbreaker: the programme is selective and many capable providers are not listed. What to watch is the gap between what a provider claims and what the directory shows. Our comparison of AI automation agencies in France records exactly these gaps, agency by agency.
The overlooked point
Hosting and licensing: the first question to ask
n8n is released under the Sustainable Use License, which the vendor calls “fair-code”. It allows use for your internal needs and restricts reselling n8n as a service. The n8n Help Center spells out what this means for a provider.
| Situation | License required |
|---|---|
| The provider installs and maintains n8n on your infrastructure, for your internal use | No commercial license for the provider |
| The provider builds workflows for you (consulting, development) | No separate license |
| Your workflows and credentials run on the provider’s n8n instance | Enterprise license |
| n8n is embedded in a product the provider offers to its clients | Embed license |
One common setup is not clearly covered by these texts: a separate instance per client, on cloud servers managed by the provider and billed as hosting. Several French providers offer hosting without saying whose account the server belongs to. If that applies to you, ask in writing who owns the infrastructure and under which license n8n runs on it. n8n answers licensing questions at license@n8n.io.
Hosting on your side has another benefit: workflows, credentials and execution history stay under your control if you change providers. For health, legal or candidate data, it also makes GDPR compliance simpler to document.
Budget
What n8n and providers cost
The software. The self-hosted version is free for internal use. n8n Cloud is paid, with these prices on annual billing:
| Plan | Price | Hosting | Executions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | €20/month | By n8n | 2,500 |
| Pro | €50/month | By n8n | 10,000 |
| Business | €667/month | Self-hosted | 40,000 |
| Enterprise | On quote | By n8n or self-hosted | Custom |
The Business plan is offered at half price to companies with fewer than 20 employees. It adds SSO and Git version control, among other features missing from the free version.
Freelancers. Malt Tech Trends 2026, reported by Programmez on 5 May 2026, puts the average day rate for n8n freelancers at €450. The Malt report also notes demand for n8n projects up 1,191% in one year, against a 317% rise in the number of n8n freelancers. Demand is growing much faster than supply, which pushes rates up.
Agencies. Few publish their prices. Genee, in Lyon, lists €4,000 to €15,000 excl. VAT for setup, then a fee of €300 to €900 per month. At Lumyniq, a first use case is priced after a free audit.
If your workflows call an AI model, add its usage cost: our guide to Claude API pricing covers this line item.
Decision
Which to choose for your situation
| Your situation | The right profile |
|---|---|
| One or two simple workflows, someone in-house to take over | Freelancer |
| Connecting n8n to an ERP or an existing business system | Integrator or IT services firm familiar with that ERP |
| Several processes, AI agents, long-term maintenance | Agency with a team |
| Health, legal or candidate data | Any profile willing to host n8n on your side and document data flows |
| Large organisation that requires a vendor-recognised partner | Partner listed in the n8n directory |
If you are still unsure about the tool itself, start with our n8n, Make and Zapier comparison, or with n8n alternatives ranked by license.
Checklist
Seven questions to ask before you sign
- Are you listed in the n8n experts directory, and at which tier?
- Where will n8n run: on our infrastructure, on n8n Cloud, or on your servers?
- If it runs on your servers, under which n8n license?
- Who owns the workflows and credentials when the contract ends, and how do we get them back?
- Who steps in if a workflow breaks while you are away?
- Which business applications have you already connected to n8n, and can you show an example?
- What personal data passes through the workflows, and where is it stored?
A serious provider answers these seven questions in a written quote. For an overview of what we do with n8n, see our n8n agency page.
FAQ