n8n Introduces Gateway Credits to Run AI Models and Services Without External Account Setup

n8n Introduces Gateway Credits to Run AI Models and Services Without External Account Setup n8n has launched Gateway credits on its Cloud Starter and Pro plans, enabling users to run supported AI models and tool services through a single shared prepaid balance without creating separate third-party accounts or managing individual API keys. Gateway credits let users run supported nodes directly using a shared prepaid balance rather than configuring separate third-party credentials. Launch coverage includes six model providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Kimi.ai, Alibaba Cloud, MiniMax) and five tool services (Brave Search, Browserbase, LlamaParse, Firecrawl, PDF.co). Pricing mirrors providers' published list prices with balances tracked in real currency and zero markup. Available on n8n Cloud Starter and Pro plans with initial allowances for trials and existing customers, while self-hosted support is planned for the future. Unified Balance and Transparent Pricing Instead of setting up external vendor accounts, entering payment details, and generating API keys, n8n Cloud users can select Gateway credits directly within supported nodes or via n8n Assistant. Usage draws from a shared prepaid balance displayed in real currency, eliminating separate vendor invoicing. Pricing matches each provider's published list prices without added surcharges, and usage can be monitored by workflow or service through the Cloud Admin Panel. Initial Integrations and Use Cases At launch, the system supports six model providers—OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Kimi.ai, Alibaba Cloud, and MiniMax—alongside five tool services: Brave Search, Browserbase, LlamaParse, Firecrawl, and PDF.co. Users can combine these tools directly on the canvas for complex workflows like competitive research and document parsing without leaving the editor, while still retaining the option to bring their own API keys if preferred. Availability and Future Support Gateway credits are currently live on self-service n8n Cloud Starter and Pro tiers. Eligible new accounts, trials, and existing paying Starter and Pro customers receive a starting credit allowance. Expansion plans include additional provider integrations, more instance-level management controls, and eventual support for self-hosted instances once required infrastructure is implemented.

n8n Cloud推出Gateway Credits：免注册第三方账户即可直接调用AI模型与工具 n8n Cloud面向Starter和Pro方案上线Gateway credits功能，允许用户通过实例内的共享预付费余额直接运行受支持的AI模型和工具服务，省去向各第三方服务商单独注册账户、绑定支付方式及管理API密钥的繁琐流程。 首发上线即支持OpenAI、Anthropic、Google Gemini等6家模型提供商以及Brave Search、Browserbase等5项工具服务。 采用透明定价机制，遵循各服务商公开标价且不加收便利溢价，支持在云端管理面板按工作流和服务追踪余额消耗。 该功能目前适用于n8n Cloud的Starter和Pro方案并附带初始额度，自托管环境需后续基础设施支持，暂未包含在本次发布中。 统一余额降低集成与管理门槛 以往在工作流中尝试陌生节点往往需要跳转到服务商网站完成注册、绑卡并生成API密钥。Gateway credits通过n8n内的共享预付费余额解决这一问题，无论是手动搭建工作流还是通过n8n Assistant自然语言生成，均可直接运行受支持的节点。此举不仅简化了个人的探索流程，也减少了团队管理多家供应商账户、发票与报销的运维成本。用户后续若需要直接对接服务商，仍可随时切回自带API密钥（BYOK）模式。 首发支持11项模型与工具生态 该功能在发布时涵盖6家模型提供商与5种工具服务。模型方面包括OpenAI、Anthropic、Google Gemini等主流厂商，以及Kimi.ai、阿里云和MiniMax等模型；工具方面则集成了Brave Search网络搜索、Browserbase云端交互浏览器、LlamaParse复杂文档解析、Firecrawl全站抓取以及PDF.co文档处理。官方表示首发阵容仅为起点，后续将继续扩充用户最常用的一批API与能力。 透明计费与版本支持 Gateway credits的服务单价与各服务商公开标价一致，并在公开页面汇总，不加收额外溢价。余额以实际法定货币显示，用户可在云管理面板中监控细分使用情况、充值或配置自动充值。该功能现已在n8n Cloud Starter和Pro计划上线，合规新试用账户与存量付费用户均可获得体验额度。对于自托管用户，官方表示由于需要额外基础设施，未来会逐步推进支持。

Trying a template or building a workflow in n8n can sometimes lead you on an unexpected detour to a service provider’s signup page. Before you can find out what an unfamiliar node adds to your automation, you may need to create an account, add a payment method, generate an API key, and set up the credential in n8n. When you’re short on time or simply exploring, that pause can be enough to keep a promising idea from getting its first run. That new account creation no longer has to come before the satisfying sight of green checkmarks. Now, when you add a node for a supported AI model or service on self-service **n8n Cloud** plans, everything you need to run it is already available in n8n. Just select [**Gateway credits**](https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/use-n8n-cloud/gateway-credits#how-gateway-credits-work) instead of adding your own provider credentials. Usage comes from a shared prepaid balance in n8n, so you can get to work without creating another account or managing another API key. For teams that allow it, one shared balance can also mean fewer vendor accounts, invoices, and expense reports to manage. We also wanted the cost side to be boring in a good way. Our aim is to follow each provider’s published list price wherever one exists and put every rate on a [single public page](https://app.n8n.cloud/service-pricing) you can check before you run anything. Your balance is shown in real currency, and the Cloud Admin Panel lets you see how it is being used by workflow or by service. We didn’t build this to add a premium for the convenience. It's the shortest path we could find between you and a tool that does something useful today. If you later decide you’d like a direct relationship with the provider, bringing your own key works exactly like it always has. You can also use Gateway credits for supported nodes using [n8n Assistant](https://blog.n8n.io/introducing-n8n-assistant/) to move from a natural-language prompt to a working automation. Whether you start with a template, a blank canvas, or a prompt, there are now fewer steps between your idea and its first successful run. Getting to a first run is only part of it. Gateway credits also make it easier to experiment with workflows you already use, whether that means trying a different model or adding a tool you’ve been curious about. Six model providers and five tool services are available with Gateway credits today. Reach for some of the most recognized providers like [Anthropic](https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/builtin/app-nodes/n8n-nodes-langchain.anthropic), [Google Gemini](https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/builtin/app-nodes/n8n-nodes-langchain.googlegemini), and [OpenAI](https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/builtin/app-nodes/n8n-nodes-langchain.openai), or try one of these open models you might not have had a chance to use yet. These eleven providers and services are where we’re starting, not where we’re stopping. Expect the list to keep growing. Take something ordinary: a competitive intelligence workflow that delivers a useful update each week. Start by building on the canvas directly or describing the workflow to n8n Assistant in natural language. When using n8n Assistant, it will apply Gateway credits if you name a supported service and don’t already have a credential for it. For this workflow, that might begin with [Brave Search](https://brave.com/search/api/), which finds recent product announcements, news coverage, and other changes across the live web. Results come from Brave’s own independent index, giving the workflow current sources it can pass directly into the rest of the research and analysis. Search gets you most of the way, but some useful details may sit on an interactive pricing page or a changelog that only reveals its content after the page loads or someone clicks through it. [Browserbase](https://www.browserbase.com/) can open those pages in a managed cloud browser, navigate, click, type, and extract the information your workflow needs. This complex and time-consuming task that is often required for in-depth research, is handled quickly by adding the node. Then there are the product briefs, analyst reports, and PDFs that the search turns up. A basic extractor can flatten a carefully structured table into something unrecognizable, leaving the model downstream with guesswork. [LlamaParse](https://www.llamaindex.ai/) combines layout-aware computer-vision, OCR, and vision-language models to parse these complex documents into structured content that preserves more of the tables, headings, and layouts that give the information meaning. Finally, choose any of the supported models to bring the findings together, compare them with last week’s report, identify what changed, and draft the update. Add your unique parameters and you’ve got comprehensive competitive intelligence from real expert providers without ever leaving your n8n editor to set up a new account. That is only one way to combine the services available at launch. For knowledge bases and research agents, [Firecrawl](https://www.firecrawl.dev/) can crawl an entire site and return LLM-ready markdown or structured data. For document workflows, [PDF.co](http://pdf.co/) can turn generated content into polished PDFs, extract structured data, or merge, split, and fill files in one node. Once you’re running more than a handful of workflows, or even one complex one, provider sprawl can become its own maintenance job. Setting up accounts, tracking multiple dashboards, and managing expense reports all add work. Gateway credits come from one balance shared across your n8n instance, giving you one number to watch and one place to top up. From the Cloud Admin Panel, you can track usage by service and workflow, add funds, or set up automatic top-ups. A shared balance across services also gives you and your team more freedom to choose the model or tool that fits each part of a workflow best, instead of defaulting to one because its credentials are already in place. Try a model you’ve been curious about, or add a new service to a workflow you already run. You’ll be able to find out how it affects your workflow before committing to another provider account. Six model providers and five tool services are only the starting point. We’re already working on the next curated batch, focusing on the APIs and capabilities people use most. Beyond that, we’re exploring how Gateway credits can support many more providers and give teams more control over how credits are managed across an instance. Gateway credits are available on n8n Cloud Starter and Pro today. We also want to bring the same experience to self-hosted instances over time, though that requires additional infrastructure and is not part of this release. Eligible new Cloud accounts, including [trials](https://app.n8n.cloud/login?utm_campaign=2026_in_the_loop&utm_content=node-partner&utm_instance=test-workflow-builder.stage-app.n8n.cloud/&utm_n8n_version=1.80.0&utm_medium=referral&utm_user_role=sales-and-marketing&utm_awc=0&utm_source=slack&_gl=1*si9z7g*_gcl_au*ODQ3NTI5NTc0LjE3ODYzNzY2OTk.*_ga*NTkwNzQ5Ny4xNzYzNDgxNjEy*_ga_0SC4FF2FH9*czE3ODk1OTI4MzIkbzg2MCRnMCR0MTc4OTU5MjgzMiRqNjAkbDAkaDA.&ajs_aid=0f0eabae-1f3f-42d1-b459-80d8aa3f2aa8&ajs_uid=105983), start with a small balance of Gateway credits. Existing paying Starter and Pro Cloud customers also received a one-time allowance during the rollout. Spend it on something you’ve wanted to try. Put a frontier model from [OpenAI](https://openai.com/), [Anthropic](https://www.anthropic.com/), or [Google Gemini](https://gemini.google.com/) to work on a new idea. If you’ve been curious about open models, see what [Kimi.ai](https://www.kimi.ai/), [Alibaba Cloud](https://www.alibabacloud.com/en?_p_lc=7), or [MiniMax](https://www.minimax.io/) can do in a workflow you already run. If you want to give an agent better access to the web, try [Brave Search](https://brave.com/search/api/), [Firecrawl](https://www.firecrawl.dev/), or [Browserbase](https://www.browserbase.com/). If documents are where your workflow gets stuck, try [LlamaParse](https://www.llamaindex.ai/) or [PDF.co](http://pdf.co/). Whatever you choose, Gateway credits make it easier to put a new model or service to work without leaving the canvas.