n8n vs Temporal: what their users struggle with

Not a verdict and not a star rating: the problems users of n8n and Temporal describe in public, side by side, each one linked to its source (as of 2026-10-15).

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Every count in this table is of open reports in the recent window (n8n since 2023-10, Temporal since 2022-10); older and fixed reports are not counted. The counts measure how much public discussion exists for each product, not which is better: a popular tool collects more reports.

Problems mostly raised about n8n

• MCP Client Tool errors with any Gemini model but works with GPT-4o · Integrations · Annoyance
• Editor websocket fails behind nginx reverse proxy after upgrade · Self-hosting & upgrades · Blocks work
• MCP client cannot connect to an n8n MCP server over SSE · Integrations · Blocks work
• Partial executions lose data or run-index accuracy · Reliability & bugs · Annoyance
• Custom nodes cannot be managed from the UI, only injected into the Docker container · API & developer experience · Blocks work

Problems mostly raised about Temporal

• Stale internode gRPC connections to terminated pods on Kubernetes · Reliability & bugs · Annoyance
• Workflows poorly suited to request-response because of execution latency · Performance · Annoyance
• Workflow interceptors cannot tell replay from first execution · API & developer experience · Annoyance
• Matching service Prometheus metric cardinality grows without bound · Reporting & analytics · Annoyance

Go further

Open n8n and Temporal in the compare tool to filter by area and severity, n8n alternatives, Temporal alternatives, or the state of workflow automation.

How the data is built. A theme is a group of reports about the same problem; unique means not matched to a theme on the other product.