N8n vs. Windmill vs. Temporal
10 hours ago
- #orchestration
- #self-hosting
- #workflow-automation
- Comparison of n8n, Windmill, and Temporal for self-hosting workflow automation.
- n8n uses Node.js with a Vue.js frontend, storing workflows as JSON graphs in PostgreSQL/SQLite/MySQL.
- Windmill is a script-centric polyglot runtime with Rust core and isolated OS process workers.
- Temporal implements the Virtual Actor pattern with event sourcing for deterministic state machines.
- Memory consumption varies: n8n (~516MB idle), Windmill (~287MB idle), Temporal (~832MB idle).
- Database pressure differs: n8n has chatty updates, Windmill batch-optimized, Temporal high write amplification.
- Failure recovery: n8n manual restart, Windmill auto-retry, Temporal deterministic replay.
- Security considerations: n8n uses vm2 sandboxing, Windmill full process isolation, Temporal relies on network isolation.
- Best fit: n8n for API glue, Windmill for script-centric tools, Temporal for business-critical processes.