n8n Pricing: Cloud or Self-Hosted, What Fits You?

Self-hosting n8n costs no license fee: the Community edition is free, you only pay for a server and its upkeep. n8n Cloud starts at € 20 per month on yearly billing in 2026. Cloud fits if you do not want to run a server. Self-hosting fits if you want control over your data or run many workflows.

What does n8n Cloud cost?

n8n (a program that connects apps and services, such as a webshop to your accounting) offers a hosted version: n8n Cloud. There n8n runs on n8n's own servers and you install nothing.

This is what n8n's pricing page showed in October 2026. Prices can change, so always check the site itself.

| Plan | Price per month (yearly billing) | Executions per month | Where it runs | |---|---|---|---| | Starter | € 20 | 2,500 | At n8n | | Pro | € 50 | 10,000 | At n8n | | Business | € 667 | 40,000 | Self-hosted, with a license key | | Enterprise | On request | Custom | At n8n or self-hosted |

An "execution" is one complete run of a workflow (the chain of steps n8n works through). n8n does not count per step. A workflow with two steps and a workflow with two hundred steps both count as one execution. That makes budgeting easier than with services that count per step.

What does self-hosting n8n with Docker cost?

The Community edition of n8n is free to use on your own server. You run it with n8n Docker: Docker is a way to put a program, with everything it needs, into one package on a server. n8n supplies a ready-made package for this, the image n8nio/n8n.

The money then goes not to n8n but to two other things:

• A server. A small virtual server is enough for many small-business automations. What it costs depends on where you rent it.
• Upkeep. Updates, backups, security and someone who looks when something breaks. The n8n documentation itself says you need experience with servers, containers and security, because mistakes can lead to data loss, security problems or downtime.

That second point is often underestimated. The software is free, the responsibility is not. If your ordering flow depends on a workflow, someone has to know what to do when the server goes down at midnight.

A few technical points worth knowing. By default n8n stores everything in SQLite, a simple database in a single file. For serious use you choose PostgreSQL. Even then you must keep the settings folder, because it holds, among other things, the keys that encrypt your stored passwords.

Can you use n8n for free in your business? The n8n license

This is the question people most often get wrong. n8n is under the Sustainable Use License, which is not a standard open-source license. The license text on GitHub says you may use or modify the software for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial use. Passing it on to others is only allowed free of charge and non-commercially.

What that means in practice:

• You use n8n for your own business, for example to process your own orders, invoices or leads: that counts as internal business use.
• You resell n8n as a service to others or build a product on it that you distribute commercially: that is not covered, and you need a separate agreement with n8n.
• An agency that builds and hosts automations for you: the line is harder to draw here. I advise you to discuss this with your provider and, if in doubt, to check the license terms or ask n8n. This is not legal advice.

Some features are deliberately missing from the free edition. According to n8n's documentation, single sign-on (SSO), projects and sharing of workflows, external secrets management and Git version control, among others, are only in the paid plans. For a small team that is usually not a problem, for a larger organisation it is.

Cloud or self-hosted: which fits you?

I use three questions to choose.

How many runs do you expect? A few hundred per month fit easily in Starter. If you process something hundreds or thousands of times a day, you hit the limit and self-hosting gets more interesting. A bot I built for a logistics company, for example, processes files automatically every day, and that kind of volume is exactly what you would rather not count per execution.

Where may your data live? If it concerns customer data, you want to know where it sits and who can reach it. With self-hosting you decide. If personal data is involved, the GDPR applies too, and with Cloud you also need agreements with the provider.

Who runs it? If you have nobody who can manage a server, Cloud is the sensible choice, even if it costs more per month. If you want someone else to do it for you, I can: I host automations on my own servers.

An honest caveat: for a couple of simple connections, n8n is sometimes too much. If you need one workflow that sends a form to your email, a simpler tool or a small piece of custom work is enough.

n8n or Zapier: which is cheaper?

Zapier works with tasks and counts differently. On Zapier's pricing page (October 2026, in US dollars) the free plan is limited to 100 tasks per month. Professional starts at 19.99 dollars per month on yearly billing for 750 tasks, Team at 69 dollars for 2,000 tasks. Zapier counts tasks (actions that a workflow performs) and not complete runs, so you calculate differently than with n8n.

That difference in counting often decides which is cheapest. With long workflows and many runs, n8n will probably come out better. With a handful of simple connections, Zapier can be easier because you manage nothing. More about the trade-off is on the page about a Zapier alternative.

What does it cost if I set up n8n for you?

An n8n setup with me is a project on request with a fixed price up front. Extra work afterwards is billed at € 95 per hour in blocks of 15 minutes. How that works is on the pricing page. What I build and host is explained on the page about n8n implementation. If you first want to know whether it pays off in your situation, you can get in touch.

Frequently asked questions

Is n8n free?

The Community edition is free and you run it on your own server. You do pay for that server and its upkeep. n8n Cloud and the Business and Enterprise plans are paid.

What does n8n Cloud cost per month?

In 2026, Starter cost € 20 per month on yearly billing for 2,500 executions, and Pro € 50 per month for 10,000. Prices can change, so check n8n.io/pricing for the current amounts.

Can I use n8n for free for my business?

For internal business use, such as automating your own processes, the Sustainable Use License allows it. Reselling or distributing it commercially is not covered. If you are unsure about your situation, ask n8n.

Is self-hosting n8n difficult?

Getting started is not hard: with Docker, n8n is up quickly. The upkeep is the work: updates, backups, security and monitoring. If you have nobody for that, Cloud or a managed setup is wiser.