# I built a free, open-source AI B2B outreach system on N8N — here's how it works

> Source: <https://dev.to/hitb1099/i-built-a-free-open-source-ai-b2b-outreach-system-on-n8n-heres-how-it-works-2385>
> Published: 2026-07-16 20:24:44+00:00

B2B cold outreach is broken for indie builders and small teams.

Most SaaS tools (Apollo, Instantly, Lemlist) charge $100–$400/month. And even then, you're stitching together:

I wanted one system that does all of this — free, self-hosted, and open source.

So I built **outreach-os**.

outreach-os is an open-source B2B outreach automation pipeline built entirely on N8N (no backend required). It automates the full cycle:

**Find leads → Score them → Send AI cold emails → Track replies → Auto follow-up**

GitHub: [https://github.com/hitb1099/outreach-os](https://github.com/hitb1099/outreach-os)

npm: `npm i outreach-os`

The first workflow connects to the **Google Places API** and searches for businesses by city + industry keyword (e.g., "restaurants in Bangalore").

Each lead gets scored 0–100 using a custom algorithm:

Leads are automatically split into two Google Sheets tabs:

For each HOT lead, the second workflow:

The email isn't a template — it's fully dynamic based on the business type, name, and context.

A daily scheduled workflow runs at 9AM and:

Full status tracking: `Pending → Emailed → Replied`

or `Emailed → FollowedUp`

| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| N8N | Workflow engine (self-hosted) |
| Google Places API | Lead discovery |
| Google Sheets | Lead database |
| GLM-4 / GPT-4o-mini | Email generation |
| Pollinations.ai | AI banner image generation (free) |
| Gmail | Email sending & reply tracking |

```
npm i outreach-os
```

Or just clone the GitHub repo and import the JSON workflow files directly into your N8N instance. Add your API keys (Google Places, OpenAI/GLM-4, Gmail) and you're live.

Full setup guide is in the `/docs`

folder.

I built this because I needed it myself for a restaurant marketing side project. After getting it working, I figured others would benefit from it too — especially indie hackers and small agencies who can't justify $300/month SaaS tools.

The entire project is MIT licensed. Contributions are welcome via GitHub.

**GitHub: https://github.com/hitb1099/outreach-os**

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