n8n for Beginners: Build Your First Automation in 15 Minutes (No Coding Required) (opens in new tab)

I built my first n8n workflow in 2023 because I was tired of paying $49/month for Zapier to send a single email when a form was submitted. Three years later, n8n runs 40+ automations across my business — invoicing, lead capture, daily reports, AI customer support — all for $0/month on a self-hosted server. If you're just getting started with n8n, this guide gets you from "what is n8n" to your first running workflow in under 15 minutes. What Is n8n? n8n is an open-source workflow automatio...