I guess the bigger question is why use two tools when you can use one? Full disclosure I work at Node-RED/FlowFuse, so take that into consideration, but the point remains - if you need to use both an orchestration tool and a flow management/backend management tool, why not use one solution that does both excellently?

I think that's a critical argument that n8n and others will have to overcome - why should users decide to over-specialise one aspect of their stack when they can do so much more and have so much more control elsewhere?

I use both.. And yes, both handle calls between different APIs.

One for the many, and maybe one for a different audience.

Node-red didn't have a login at the time, and was well geared towards direct IoT type flowing. I loved how I can just jump into the logic and flows.

N8N has a lot of pre-configured connectors.

If Node-red had the pre-configured connectors to different systems as easy as n8n, I think the point here would be even stronger.

It's why I use both. I start with the low level, and if orchestration beyond it is needed, I can tie in another tool if needed.