A self-hosted n8n alternative built around AI agents
n8n is an excellent workflow tool: you connect nodes and data flows between them. AIK starts from the other end. You describe the job in plain words, and an AI agent does it, with the brakes a business needs before software acts on its own.
When AIK is the better fit
- The input is messy. Scanned invoices, phone photos, e-mails that say the same thing ten ways. An agent reads them; a fixed chain of nodes breaks on the first unexpected layout.
- Nobody on the team wires nodes. You write "read the invoices in this folder and put them in Excel" and AIK builds the agent or the workflow. The Process Audit module can even read a description of your process and say what can be automated.
- Actions must wait for a person. Sending, posting, paying and deleting wait for an OK by default, and an allow-list limits who an agent may write to and which sites it may open. A hidden order in a document cannot make it act on its own.
- You need proof. Every action goes into a tamper-evident log, and everything AIK produces is marked as AI-generated for people and machines (EU AI Act, Articles 12 and 50).
- Documents are the work. Invoice reading with VAT arithmetic, company-ID checks and register look-ups is built in, not assembled from parts.
When n8n is the better fit
To be fair: n8n has hundreds of ready integrations, AIK has a few dozen plus a general API agent and webhooks. If your job is moving clean data between many SaaS tools on fixed rules, n8n does that very well, and you may not need an AI agent at all.
Side by side
| AIK | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| How you build | Plain words; agents and workflows | Visual node editor |
| Runs on your server | Yes, installed for you | Yes, you install it |
| Approval before actions | On by default for every new agent | A step you add yourself |
| Local models | Yes (Ollama), or any cloud model | Yes, through AI nodes |
| Ready integrations | Dozens | Hundreds |
Who installs it
AIK is set up on your infrastructure by the person who built it, an automation developer with years of RPA work on bank projects, and you get a hosted cloud version to try first.