Guide

Grok and n8n workflows, and open-source ways to build them

People searching for "Grok Bot n8n workflows" usually want one of two things. Some want a ready workflow for a job, such as a Telegram assistant or a support bot. Others want to know how to get Grok into n8n in the first place.

The short version is that n8n talks to the Grok API, not to Grok Bot. You add an xAI API key to n8n's xAI Grok Chat Model node and pay xAI per token. Grok Bot is a separate app that runs its own skills and routines. Below are free Grok templates for each job, the official setup docs, and step-by-step builds that do the same jobs with open-source tools and a model you choose.

Quick answer

Facts checked 21 Oct 2026

We track 6 open-source workflow automation tools, each checked for licence, commercial use, hardware, paid services and setup. Huginn, Activepieces and Langflow run on your own machine, allow commercial use and need no paid service (you still choose a model: a paid API key or a free local one). Easiest to set up: Langflow.

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Step-by-step builds

Each build names the repos, shows how they connect and walks through the steps. Every one has its own "Give this to your agent" prompt.

Build a personal AI assistant for email, calendar and Telegram with open-source software Message an assistant on Telegram, by text or voice, and it checks your email, books calendar slots and remembers what you tell it. Intermediate · A weekend Build an AI customer support bot that answers from your own documents An AI agent answers customers on your website, email or Telegram from your own help docs, and hands hard questions to a person. Intermediate · A weekend Build a social media content automation that turns links into posts and images Paste a link or an idea and get platform-ready captions and an image, scheduled to all your social accounts. Intermediate · A weekend Build a daily AI news brief from the sources you choose Every morning, the sites, blogs and feeds you follow are read, summarised and sent to you as one short digest. Beginner · An afternoon Build a brand, topic and sentiment monitor with alerts using open-source software Track what's being said about your brand, competitors or a topic, score the mood, and get an alert when something spikes. Intermediate · A weekend Build an AI agent that wakes up on a webhook, email or chat message When an email arrives, a form is filled or someone posts in chat, an AI agent starts, does the task and reports back. Advanced · A weekend

Compared

Best ranked first (stars, recent activity and how many facts we could source). Unknown means we found no source, never a yes.

Project	Runs locally	Commercial use	Paid services	Setup	Stars
n8nFair-code workflow automation and AI agent platform with a visual canvas, custom code and 1500+ integrations; self-hostable.	Confirmed: Yes	Partial: Conditions · Custom licence	Partial: Optional only	Confirmed: Medium	★ 208k
HuginnSelf-hosted Ruby on Rails system of agents that watch the web, feeds, mailboxes and webhooks and act on events, like IFTTT or Zapier.	Confirmed: Yes	Confirmed: Yes · MIT	Confirmed: None required	Confirmed: Medium	★ 50k
ActivepiecesSelf-hostable no-code automation builder with 280+ TypeScript integrations ("pieces") that are also exposed as MCP servers.	Confirmed: Yes	Confirmed: Yes · MIT	Partial: Optional only	Confirmed: Medium	★ 25k
WindmillSelf-hostable developer platform that turns Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash and SQL scripts into workflows, scheduled jobs, webhooks and UIs.	Confirmed: Yes	Partial: Conditions · AGPL-3.0	Partial: Optional only	Confirmed: Medium	★ 18k
DifySelf-hostable platform for AI workflows, agents and document chat (RAG), with schedule and webhook triggers; Apache-based licence with extra conditions.	Confirmed: Yes	Partial: Conditions · Custom licence	Partial: Optional only	Confirmed: Medium	★ —
LangflowMIT-licensed visual builder for AI agents and workflows, with webhooks, an API and MCP server for every flow; runs on your machine or server.	Confirmed: Yes	Confirmed: Yes · MIT	Partial: Optional only	Confirmed: Easy	★ —

Common questions

Can Grok Bot connect to n8n?

Not directly, as far as xAI's docs show. They describe two ways to start a Grok Bot routine, on a schedule or after an event from a Cursor account integration such as a Slack message or a GitHub notification. We found no documented Grok Bot API or webhook on 21 October 2026. To use Grok inside n8n, use the Grok API through n8n's xAI Grok Chat Model node. Source: docs.x.ai · skills-routines-and-automations

Grok Bot or the Grok API, which do I need for n8n?

The Grok API. n8n's xAI credential takes one thing, an API key created on the xAI Console API Keys page, and works with the Chat xAI Grok node. Grok Bot is the app-based teammate included with Premium, Super and Ultra on The X Subscription. It needs no n8n, but it runs on xAI's computers rather than yours. Source: docs.n8n.io · xai

How do I get a Grok chat model API key for n8n?

Create an xAI account, make a key on the API Keys page of the xAI Console, then add it in n8n as an xAI credential and pick it in the xAI Grok Chat Model node. The model list in the node is loaded from the API. Source: docs.n8n.io · xai

How much does Grok cost in an n8n workflow?

The API is billed per token. On 21 October 2026 xAI listed grok-4.7 at $2.00 per million input tokens and $6.00 per million output tokens for prompts under 200k tokens, and $4.00 and $12.00 above that. n8n itself is free to self-host under its own licence. Source: docs.x.ai · pricing

Where can I download free Grok n8n workflows?

n8n's template library lists free workflows that use the xAI Grok Chat Model node, and you import them straight into n8n. The links below are the ones we opened for each job. The big GitHub collections of n8n workflow files had no Grok workflows when we searched them, but you can swap any chat model node in those files for the Grok one. Source: n8n.io · xai-grok-chat-model

Is n8n open source?

Not by the usual definition. n8n uses the Sustainable Use License, a fair-code licence. It lets you use or modify n8n for your own internal business, non-commercial or personal use, but not resell it as a service. If you need a fully open-source tool, the comparison table lists Activepieces and others with their licences. Source: github.com · LICENSE.md

Can I run these workflows without paying for Grok?

Yes. Huginn needs no paid service at all. n8n, Activepieces, Windmill, Dify and Langflow are free to run, with paid services (usually a hosted model API) optional. The software is free; the AI model is the usual cost. A local model through Ollama or LM Studio costs nothing per request but needs a capable computer.

Which automation tools can I use commercially?

Confirmed: Huginn (MIT), Activepieces (MIT) and Langflow (MIT). With conditions: n8n, Windmill and Dify. This is not legal advice; read each licence.

Templates, tutorials and docs

Outside pages we opened and checked on the date shown. Templates are written by third parties: read what a workflow does before you import it, and never paste API keys into a shared file.

Official docs xAI Grok Chat Model node n8n's official node for Grok. You pick the model and can set temperature, maximum tokens and JSON output. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · docs.n8n.io · n8n-nodes-langchain.lmchatxaigrok
Official docs xAI credentials in n8n The one field you need is an API key from the xAI Console. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · docs.n8n.io · xai
Official docs Grok Bot skills and routines How Grok Bot saves a task as a skill and runs it on a schedule or after a Slack or GitHub event. Useful if you want Grok Bot itself rather than n8n. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · docs.x.ai · skills-routines-and-automations
Free template Multi-tool personal assistant with Telegram, Grok-4, Gmail, Calendar & Memory A Telegram assistant that reads Gmail, manages Google Calendar, remembers facts in Airtable and accepts voice notes. It uses Grok for chat and OpenAI to transcribe voice. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · n8n.io · 7452-multi-tool-personal-assistant-with-telegram-grok-4-gmail-calendar-and-memory
Free template Build a customer support agent with Grok-4, Google Docs, and Telegram [RAG] Answers customer questions in Telegram from a Google Doc knowledge base, with conversation memory. It uses Grok. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · n8n.io · 6017-build-a-customer-support-agent-with-grok-4-google-docs-and-telegram-rag
Free template Generate viral social media carousels with xAI Grok for Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn & X Turns a theme into carousel slides with Grok and saves them to Google Drive. It overlays text on a fixed background rather than generating images, and it does not post for you. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · n8n.io · 11024-generate-viral-social-media-carousels-with-xai-grok-for-instagram-tiktok-linkedin-and-x
Free template Daily cybersecurity news summarizer with Grok AI for Telegram Every morning it reads an RSS feed, summarises the news and posts the digest to Telegram. It reaches Grok through OpenRouter rather than the xAI node. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · n8n.io · 9137-daily-cybersecurity-news-summarizer-with-grok-ai-for-telegram
Free template Analyze vendor security risk from Jira tickets using Grok, Claude and Slack An event-triggered agent. A Jira webhook wakes it, and it posts a report to Slack. It uses Grok, Claude and Perplexity through OpenRouter. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · n8n.io · 15029-analyze-vendor-security-risk-from-jira-tickets-using-grok-claude-and-slack
Free template X (Twitter) brand sentiment analysis with Gemini AI & Slack alerts Collects posts with the Apify Tweet Scraper and scores sentiment, then alerts Slack. It uses Gemini; the only Grok template we found for X monitoring was paid. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · n8n.io · 9400-x-twitter-brand-sentiment-analysis-with-gemini-ai-and-slack-alerts
Repository Zie619/n8n-workflows A large MIT-licensed collection of downloadable n8n workflow JSON files. We found no Grok workflows in it, but you can swap any model node in the files for the Grok one. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · github.com · n8n-workflows
Repository enescingoz/awesome-n8n-templates A curated list of n8n templates by use case, licensed CC BY 4.0. It had no Grok workflows when we searched it. Checked 21 Oct 2026 · github.com · awesome-n8n-templates

By paid product

Open-source alternatives to Grok Bot Included with Premium ($30/month), Super ($100/month) and Ultra ($200/month) on The X Subscription, not Plus or Free; also with legacy paid Cursor plans or a linked SuperGrok subscription (checked 21 Oct 2026) Open-source alternatives to Zapier Free (100 tasks per month, two-step Zaps); Professional from $19.99/month; Team from $69/month (checked 15 Oct 2026) Open-source alternatives to Make See pricing page (checked 15 Oct 2026)

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