Year: 2025

n8n alternatives

I recently discovered that there are a few solid, self-hosted alternatives to n8n. Here’s a quick comparison of their GitHub stars and key features (as of Nov. 26, 2025):

Platform GitHub Stars Self-hosted Focus / Best Use Case
n8n 159k ✅ Yes General-purpose workflow automation with powerful code node. Ideal for complex multi-service automations and ETL tasks.
Activepieces 19.3k ✅ Yes Low-code/no-code automation with occasional custom JS support. Good for lighter, simpler workflows.
Windmill 15.2k ✅ Yes Developer-centric automation using scripts (Python/TypeScript/Go). Great for internal tools and backend workflows.
Automatisch 13.4k ✅ Yes Simplified Zapier-style automation. Best for small, straightforward tasks when ease and self-hosting matter.

Summary: n8n remains the most powerful and versatile, while Activepieces and Windmill offer lighter or more code-centric alternatives. Automatisch is best if you just need simple self-hosted automations.

WordPress Lost Its Soul

What happened to WordPress?

The whole ecosystem—themes, plugins, and even the support culture—has turned into a marketplace. Everywhere you go, there’s an upsell. Basic features sit behind paywalls. And if you just want to build a straightforward blog, the experience is frustrating.

Finding a minimalist theme with a clean two-column layout, no widget blocks, no theme blocks, no Gutenberg clutter, and no upgrade prompts used to be easy. Now it feels like searching for something that shouldn’t be rare. Most themes are bloated with builders, bundled features, and aggressive pro-version hooks.

The open-source spirit that made WordPress welcoming has given way to commercial noise. WordPress is still free at its core, but the culture around it has shifted. For someone who simply wants a clean, honest blogging theme, it’s hard not to feel like WordPress has lost its soul.