Automate Competitor Research with AI Agents and n8n Workflows

Ever feel like competitor research drains your time and delivers patchy results? In this guide, you’ll learn how to set up an AI workflow automation that leverages Competitor Research with AI.

If you’re building automation-first workflows with n8n, you already know the power of systemized intelligence. But what if you could take it further — and automate your entire competitor analysis process, from data gathering to report creation?

• Exa.ai for competitor discovery
  
• GPT-powered agents for web scraping and analysis
  
• Notion as a visual dashboard and reporting destination
  
• And of course, n8n as the intelligent glue that holds it all together

Let’s dive into how this smart automation works — and how to build it in your own no-code/low-code stack.

What Exactly Competitor Research with AI Workflow Does

This AI-powered competitor analysis workflow kicks off manually (via a “Test workflow” button) and then automatically:

1. Sets a source company you want to analyze
   
2. Finds competitors using Exa.ai’s semantic search
   
3. Loops through each competitor and performs:
   
   • Company overview extraction (e.g., founders, funding, team size)
     
   • Product offering scan (features, pricing, custom plans)
     
4. Saves the result into a Notion database with rich formatting

You get a repeatable, scalable system for deep research — with zero copy-pasting or tab-hopping.

Why Automate Competitor Research?

Manual competitor research:

• Leaves knowledge trapped in silos
  
• Often lacks consistency in structure and insight

With AI workflow automation, you gain:

• Consistent structure across reports
  
• Speed and scale (analyze 10+ competitors in minutes)
  
• Live, shareable documentation via Notion
  
• Smarter decisions powered by real data, not assumptions

How AI Agents Automate Competitive Intelligence

Step 1: Kick Off the Workflow

You initiate the flow via the Manual Trigger in n8n. This allows ad hoc research when needed, without requiring a scheduled job or external event.

Step 2: Set Your Source Company

You input your target company’s URL (e.g., https://notion.so). This becomes the baseline for the rest of the Competitor Research with AI.

Step 3: Discover Competitors with Exa.ai

Using Exa.ai’s findSimilar endpoint, the system finds 10–15 semantically similar companies — aka your competitors.

Bonus: It excludes GitHub and LinkedIn results by default to keep the results relevant.

Step 4: Research Each Competitor (Loop)

Each competitor is processed inside a loop to avoid errors breaking the chain. Three AI agents are deployed in series:

1. Company Overview Agent

Powered by GPT-4 and web scraping tools like Firecrawl + SERP API, this agent pulls:

• Founders, CEO, employees, funding, revenue
  
• Office locations, open roles, investors
  
• Latest news articles from Google News

It pulls data from Crunchbase, WellFound, and LinkedIn — in that order — with fallback logic if one fails.

2. Product Offering Agent

This agent:

• Locates pricing and feature pages using SERP API
  
• Scrapes the content
  
• Extracts tiered pricing, features, free trial info, freemium offerings, and discount campaigns

It even returns a tech stack and complementary tools.

3. Product Reviews Agent

This agent searches for reviews using SERP API (ProductHunt, TrustPilot, etc.), then:

• Summarizes sentiment (positive/negative)
  
• Lists top pros/cons
  
• Highlights countries and social platforms where the product is discussed

Step 5: Compile the Final Report

Using a Set node, the results from all three agents are combined into a structured object, ready for export.

Step 6: Push to Notion

The structured report is saved as a new row in your Notion database. Each section includes:

• Company overview
  
• Funding info
  
• Product feature set and pricing
  
• Reviews summary with percentages and quotes

Notion becomes your living competitor database, shareable with teammates and updated in real time.

*Note: For the JSON template, please contact us and provide the blog URL.

Behind the Scenes: Tech Stack Overview

N8n

The backbone of the Competitor Research with AI workflow. n8n handles all orchestration — triggering flows, managing loops, passing data between nodes, and coordinating the entire process from input to output.

Exa.ai

This smart AI search engine kicks things off by identifying similar companies to your source. Its semantic matching goes beyond keywords to find real competitors based on meaning and context.

GPT-4 via LangChain

Once raw data is scraped, GPT-4 (through LangChain) transforms it into structured, readable content. It acts like a virtual analyst, summarizing findings, organizing sections, and formatting for Markdown or Notion.

Firecrawl API

Firecrawl powers the web scraping layer. It fetches content from sites like Crunchbase, LinkedIn, and WellFound — cleaning the data so it’s ready for AI to process.

SERP API

Used to discover key web pages such as product pricing, features, or reviews. It scrapes Google Search and News results to uncover relevant URLs the workflow can act on.

Notion API

The final destination for your insights. Once data is compiled and formatted, it’s pushed into Notion as a dynamic, easily shareable database entry — turning your research into a living document.

Benefits of This Competitor Research with AI Workflow Automation

Eliminates manual research
Delivers deep insights fast
Improves internal transparency and sharing
Works on demand — kick it off when you need fresh data
Modular — easy to expand to new data sources

Sample Output (Preview)

Here’s what one report in Notion might include:

• Company: ClickUp
• Founded: 2017
• Funding: $400M, Series C
• CEO: Zeb Evans
• Top Pros: Fast UI, integrations
• Top Cons: Steep learning curve
• Pricing: Free, Unlimited ($7), Business ($12)
• Review Sentiment: 78% Positive
• Tech Used: React, Node.js, Redis

How to Set This Up

1. Download or clone the full n8n workflow template.
   
2. Set your environment variables (company_url, Notion API key, Exa.ai token, etc.)
   
3. Plug in your OpenAI and Firecrawl credentials
   
4. Test with a known brand like “Notion” or “ClickUp”
   
5. Iterate and expand — the system is modular!
   

Security Tips

• Add authentication to webhook endpoints
  
• Limit API usage with quotas and rate limits
  
• Obfuscate sensitive tokens with environment variables
  

Bottom Line

Competitor research with AI doesn’t have to be tedious. With AI agents and workflow automation, you can uncover deep insights at scale, store them beautifully in Notion, and move faster than your competitors.

Ready to try it? Deploy the full workflow on TheAISurf

Related Reads:

• AI Workflow Automation and Its Business Impact
• Automate Blog Creation in Brand Voice with AI Workflows

FAQs

Can I use this with other source companies?

Yes — just replace the company_url value in the first step of the workflow.

Can I customize the fields in the final report?

Absolutely. The final Set and Insert Into Notion nodes are easy to customize or expand.

Does this work without Notion?

Yes, you can route the output to Google Sheets, Airtable, Slack, or any other tool via n8n.