ChatGPT Agent vs. AI Workflow Tools: Is this the beginning of the end for n8n, Make and Zapier?
OpenAI just launched ChatGPT Agent … is this the beginning of the end for AI workflow and automation tools like n8n, Make and Zapier?
After ChatGPT launched in late 2022, I felt 2023 was characterised by prompts, 'prompt engineering', and learning how to best interact with LLMs. Then 2024, the 'year of wrappers' as companies launched AI-powered products, and workflow automation tools both old (Zapier) and new (n8n, Make) created value 'beyond the wrapper' with their visual builders and integrations into other products.
I believe 2025 is the year that frontier model companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic take this ground back with updates such as ChatGPT Agent and the Model Context Protocol .
My view on the MCP from a product perspective is that it’s the new app store, and much like in the early days of the smartphone, will create significant opportunities. Yes I expect comments to the effect that MCP is just JSON and not an app, but there are marketplaces of MCP servers just waiting to be connected to in much the same way as you can download and use apps on your iPhone or Android. It doesn't take long browsing these marketplaces to see similarities to the early days of the app stores.
MCP.so is one such marketplace hosting 15K+ MCP servers and clients that effectively extends the capability of your chat client beyond the LLM in much the same way downloading an app to your smartphone does.
Along with this opportunity will come risk, much like the challenges faced by Google Play's Apps, which ones are safe to use?! I could, for example, create and publish my ‘unofficial’ [insert big brand name] MCP server to catch unsuspecting users...
AI workflow and automation tools such as n8n provide integrations that similarly extend capability like MCP servers, but as proprietary platforms provide that ‘oversight and governance’ as part of their product, however they will never compete with the volume and variety in the growing MCP server marketplaces space.
As we’ve seen recently too with AI workflow and automation tools, visual builder interfaces and drag and drop interactions are being bypassed by using LLMs to create code that then creates the workflow on the fly, speeding up the process but reducing the value those interfaces provide.
Now we have ChatGPT Agent where you won’t even need AI workflow and automation tools, or Claude, whose growing list of connectors and access to MCP servers will make you consider whether you really need to sign up for and work with another tool …
ChatGPT Agent announcement:
https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-agent/
