n8n Pricing Explained: Self-Hosted Cost vs Cloud Plans

n8n itself is free and open source, so if you self-host it there's no licence fee. What you actually pay for is a server to run it on, a database to back it, and your own time keeping it alive. n8n Cloud charges per workflow execution on tiered plans instead, and the point where self-hosting becomes cheaper than Cloud is a number you can calculate, not a matter of taste.

Is n8n actually free?

The software, yes. n8n is open source under a fair-code licence, you can download it, run it on your own infrastructure, and never send them a penny for the core product. I've set this up for clients who assumed "free" meant "no cost anywhere," then were surprised when the invoice for their VPS turned up. Free software still needs somewhere to live. Same story as WordPress: the CMS costs nothing, hosting it doesn't.

Where it stops being free is n8n Cloud, the hosted version n8n themselves run and charge for. That's a genuinely different product with a genuinely different cost model, and mixing the two up is where most of the confusion in "n8n pricing" searches comes from.

What does self-hosting n8n actually cost?

Three things, and people usually only budget for one.

Infrastructure. n8n's own documentation is upfront that the platform isn't CPU intensive for typical workflow volumes, so a modest VPS handles it fine. You're often looking at a few pounds a month for a box that runs n8n comfortably, and I regularly see clients over-provision here out of caution rather than need. If you're choosing where to put it, our n8n hosting comparison ranks providers specifically for this workload rather than for generic web hosting.

Database. n8n recommends Postgres for anything beyond a toy setup. You've got two options: run it as a container on the same box, which is cheap but means you're the one dealing with it when it corrupts at 2am, or use a managed Postgres instance, which costs a bit more and turns that problem into someone else's job. I watched a client lose a weekend to a corrupted SQLite file because they skipped Postgres to save a few pounds. Not a good trade.

Operations. This is the cost everyone leaves off the spreadsheet. Someone has to apply updates, take backups, renew TLS certificates, and notice when the disk fills up before it takes the whole instance down with it. If that someone is you, it's not free, it's just unbilled. If you're running n8n in containers, the official Docker installation docs are worth reading properly rather than copy-pasting the first command you find, and our Docker hosting guide covers where to run the containers themselves.

What does n8n Cloud pricing look like?

n8n Cloud is priced per workflow execution across tiered plans, with the number of active workflows and allowed executions rising as you move up. I won't quote specific tier prices or execution limits here, pricing pages change, and I'd rather point you somewhere accurate than print a number that's stale by the time you read this. Go to n8n's own hosting and pricing documentation for current figures before you commit to anything.

What I can tell you from working with clients on both models is the shape of it: low, predictable monthly cost at low execution volumes, climbing as your automations scale, because you're paying per execution rather than per server.

Where's the actual crossover point?

This is the part people treat as opinion when it's arithmetic. Self-hosting has a roughly fixed monthly cost: your VPS, your database, plus whatever value you put on your own time. n8n Cloud's cost scales with execution volume. Below a certain number of executions per month, Cloud is cheaper because you're not paying for idle server capacity. Above that number, self-hosting wins because your fixed cost stays fixed while their per-execution cost keeps climbing.

Exactly where that line sits depends on your execution volume, your appetite for ops work, and the current Cloud tier prices, another reason to check n8n's pricing page directly rather than trust a number I'd have to guess at. What I will say is that clients running high-volume, always-on automations almost always end up self-hosting within a year, because the maths stops being close.

When self-hosting genuinely wins

• You're running enough executions monthly that per-execution Cloud pricing adds up faster than a flat server bill.
• Data residency matters. If workflows touch customer data that legally or contractually needs to stay in a specific jurisdiction, self-hosting gives you control Cloud can't promise in the same way.
• Workflows need to reach internal systems that aren't exposed to the public internet, an internal database, an on-prem API, a VPN-only service. n8n Cloud can't reach those. Your own server, sitting inside your network, can.

These aren't edge cases either. I've had more than one client move to self-hosted specifically because a workflow needed to talk to a legacy internal system that would never be reachable from a public cloud service.

When n8n Cloud genuinely wins

• Your execution volume is genuinely low. Paying for a server you barely use isn't cheaper just because it feels more "in control."
• Nobody on the team wants to be on call for a workflow platform. That's a real cost, and if the honest answer is "nobody has time for this," Cloud removes the question entirely.
• The workflows are business-critical from day one and you don't have the operational maturity yet to run infrastructure reliably. Better to launch on Cloud and migrate later than have your first automation go down because nobody was watching disk space.

If reliability is the deciding factor either way, it's worth working out what downtime actually costs you before choosing. Our uptime calculator is useful for putting a real figure on that rather than guessing.

What hidden costs do people miss on both sides?

On the self-hosted side, it's almost always operations time: backups that were never tested, TLS certificates that lapse, upgrades put off until they become a security problem. On the Cloud side, it's execution creep, workflows that quietly grow in volume without anyone revisiting the plan tier, until the monthly bill has drifted well past what was budgeted.

Scaling self-hosted n8n properly, particularly running it in queue mode with separate worker processes, adds its own infrastructure cost that a lot of "just spin up a VPS" guides skip entirely. Read n8n's own scaling documentation before you assume a single small server will carry you indefinitely.

How do you actually decide?

Work out your realistic monthly execution volume first, not your aspirational one. Then check n8n's current Cloud pricing tiers against that number. If you're comfortably inside a low tier and nobody wants ops responsibility, stay on Cloud, it's the boring, sensible answer for a lot of small teams. If you're near or over the higher tiers, or any workflow needs to touch something that isn't publicly reachable, start pricing out self-hosting properly: server, database, and an honest estimate of your own time.

If you land on self-hosting, don't just grab the cheapest VPS on a general hosting list. The workload has specific enough needs, Postgres, Docker, decent uptime, that a general-purpose host comparison won't serve you well. That's the gap our n8n hosting rankings exist to close, and if you're evaluating other self-hosted automation platforms alongside it, our OpenClaw hosting guide covers similar ground. For a wider view of server options, our hosting directory and our piece on cloud hosting versus VPS are both worth a read before you commit.

Frequently asked questions

Is n8n free forever, or does it become paid later?

The self-hosted, open source version of n8n stays free indefinitely under its fair-code licence. There's no bait-and-switch where the software itself starts charging you. The only cost is the infrastructure you run it on and the time you spend maintaining it.

Is n8n cheaper than Zapier or Make?

Usually, if you're willing to self-host and have some technical comfort. Zapier and Make are pure SaaS with no self-hosted option, so you're always paying their pricing. n8n gives you the choice: genuinely free at the infrastructure level for low-volume use, or predictably cheaper at high volume once you're past the crossover point with Cloud.

Can I move from n8n Cloud to self-hosted later without losing my workflows?

Yes, workflows are portable, you can export them and import them into a self-hosted instance. It's a sensible path for teams that want to start on Cloud to validate the automation before taking on server management, then migrate once volume justifies it.

Do I need a powerful server to self-host n8n?

No. n8n's own documentation is clear that it isn't a CPU-heavy application for typical use, and I see far more clients over-provision than under-provision. A modest VPS handles most workloads fine, and if you scale into queue mode with worker processes later, you add capacity then rather than paying for it upfront.

The bottom line

n8n pricing isn't really one question, it's two separate products with two separate cost structures, and the right answer depends on your execution volume and how much operational responsibility you actually want. Do the arithmetic on your real usage against n8n's current Cloud tiers before assuming either option is automatically cheaper. If the numbers point at self-hosting, use a ranked comparison built for this specific workload rather than a generic VPS list, starting with our n8n hosting rankings.