TutorialPractitioner6 min read

n8n for Marketers: Free Course (2026)

A free n8n course for marketers: automations for leads, AI content, AI visibility monitoring, GA4 and Ads reporting, MCP and self-hosting.

Dipuck Jones
Written by Founder of MentionX · 13+ years in B2B SaaS growth and SEO
Reviewed
Short answer

n8n for Marketers is a free, practical 20-lesson track on building marketing automations with n8n: lead enrichment and routing, AI content pipelines with human review, AI visibility and competitor monitoring, GA4 and Google Ads reporting, MCP connections to Claude and ChatGPT, and running it all reliably.

Key takeaways
  • 20 lessons, from first workflow to self-hosted operations.
  • Real workflows marketers can build, each with a walkthrough.
  • AI steps always keep a person in the loop for customer-facing output.
  • Plans, limits and features checked against n8n docs in November 2026.

Checked 4 November 2026 (CET) against n8n documentation and the n8n pricing page. n8n ships updates often and node options, plan limits and prices change, so confirm in your own instance and on the pricing page. "Our view" marks MentionX opinion. Ledgerline is a fictional company used for illustration.

01What will you learn?

LessonTitle
1How n8n works for marketers
2n8n Cloud vs self-hosted: plans, editions and licence
3Your first workflow: triggers, items and publishing
4Data, expressions and the Code node
5Google Sheets and Slack workflows
6CRM workflows with HubSpot
7A lead enrichment and routing workflow
8AI nodes, models and structured output
9The AI Agent node, tools and memory
10An AI content pipeline with human review
11Content repurposing and social drafts
12AI visibility monitoring with n8n
13Competitor and market monitoring
14Reporting automations for GA4 and Google Ads
15MCP: connecting n8n to Claude and ChatGPT
16Error handling, retries and rate limits
17Testing, debugging and AI evaluations
18Security, credentials and governance
19Costs: executions, AI usage and storage
20Self-hosting and running n8n in production

02Which lesson answers my question?

QuestionGo to
How much does n8n cost, and should we self-host?Lesson 2, Lesson 19, Lesson 20
How do I build my first workflow?Lesson 3, Lesson 4
How do I connect Sheets, Slack and HubSpot?Lesson 5, Lesson 6
How do I enrich and route leads?Lesson 7
How do I add AI to a workflow safely?Lesson 8, Lesson 9, Lesson 10
How do I repurpose content automatically?Lesson 11
How do I track brand mentions in AI answers?Lesson 12
How do I watch competitors?Lesson 13
How do I automate weekly reports?Lesson 14
How do I use my workflows from Claude or ChatGPT?Lesson 15
How do I stop workflows failing silently?Lesson 16, Lesson 17
How do I keep data and credentials safe?Lesson 18

03How is the track organised?

Foundations (lessons 1-4). How n8n works, Cloud versus self-hosted and the licence, building and publishing a first workflow, and working with data and expressions.

Everyday marketing workflows (lessons 5-7). Google Sheets and Slack, HubSpot CRM workflows, and a lead enrichment and routing build with Slack approvals.

AI workflows (lessons 8-12). AI nodes and structured output, the AI Agent node with tools, memory and human review, a content pipeline, repurposing and an AI visibility monitor.

Monitoring and reporting (lessons 13-15). Competitor monitoring with dedupe and data tables, GA4 and Google Ads reporting, and connecting workflows to Claude and ChatGPT through MCP.

Running it well (lessons 16-20). Error handling, testing and evaluations, governance, costs, and self-hosting operations.

04Who is this track for?

Marketers and marketing ops people who want to automate repeatable work without waiting on engineering. You don't need to code. A few lessons use small Code node snippets, explained line by line, and you can skip them.

Each lesson has a Ledgerline worked example (a fictional accounts-payable software company), a walkthrough, an exercise and a short quiz.

05What do you need?

  • An n8n account: the Cloud trial or a self-hosted Community Edition instance. Lesson 2 helps you choose.
  • Access to the tools you want to connect, such as Google Sheets, Slack, HubSpot and GA4.
  • For AI lessons, an API key for a model provider, or Gateway credits on eligible Cloud plans.

Our view: build one workflow that removes a weekly chore, give it an owner and an error alert, and only then build the next one. A few reliable automations beat many fragile ones.

07Five workflows to build first

If you only have time for a few, these give most marketing teams the quickest return:

WorkflowLessonTriggerRough monthly executions
Form lead to CRM with Slack alertA lead enrichment and routing workflowWebhookOne per lead
Weekly KPI post to SlackReporting automations for GA4 and Google AdsWeekly schedule4 to 5
Blog post to social draftsContent repurposing and social draftsRSSOne per post
Weekly AI visibility checkAI visibility monitoring with n8nWeekly schedule4 to 5
Shared error alertsError handling, retries and rate limitsError TriggerOne per failure

That set typically fits inside the 2,500 monthly executions on the n8n Cloud Starter plan, according to the pricing page checked 4 November 2026, as long as your lead volume is modest. Lesson 19 shows how to estimate your own numbers.

08How each lesson is built

Every lesson follows the same pattern so you can skim or build:

  1. Key takeaways at the top.
  2. Concepts explained with tables you can scan.
  3. A Ledgerline worked example. Ledgerline is a fictional accounts-payable software company; details are illustrative.
  4. A walkthrough with node-by-node settings.
  5. An exercise, a quiz and a checklist.
  6. Sources from the n8n docs and pricing page, with the date checked.

09How this track connects to the others

n8n is the plumbing that joins the other tracks. The Claude and ChatGPT tracks cover prompting and assistant features; here you put those prompts into scheduled, reviewed workflows. The GA4, Google Ads and Search Console tracks cover what the numbers mean; here you move those numbers into weekly reports automatically. The measurement guides cover AI visibility methods; lesson 12 turns them into a monitor you run yourself.

Start with lesson 1: How n8n works for marketers.

10Common questions

Is this n8n course free? Yes. All lessons are free to read, with no sign-up.

Do I need to code? No. A few optional Code node snippets are explained step by step.

Cloud or self-hosted? Lesson 2 compares them; lesson 20 covers running self-hosted n8n.

Is n8n open source? It is fair-code under the Sustainable Use License. Lesson 2 explains what that allows.

Questions people ask

4 answers

Is this n8n course free?

Yes. All lessons are free to read, with no sign-up.

Do I need to code?

No. A few optional Code node snippets are explained step by step.

Cloud or self-hosted?

Lesson 2 compares them; lesson 20 covers running self-hosted n8n.

Is n8n open source?

It is fair-code under the Sustainable Use License. Lesson 2 explains what that allows.

Sources

  1. n8n, Plans and pricingn8n.io
  2. n8n Docs, Choose how to use n8ndocs.n8n.io
  3. n8n Docs, Community licensedocs.n8n.io
  4. n8n Docs, Work with nodesdocs.n8n.io
  5. n8n Docs, AI Agent nodedocs.n8n.io
  6. n8n Docs, MCP Server Triggerdocs.n8n.io
  7. All accessed 4 Nov 2026.
Written and reviewed by Dipuck JonesHow we research and testReport an error

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