“n8n is free if you host it yourself” is true about the licence and misleading about the cost. The software costs nothing. Running it reliably costs a server and, more importantly, someone’s time. This guide compares the two honestly.
What you get on each
| n8n Cloud (Starter / Pro) | Self-hosted Community Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence cost | Starter €20/month (billed yearly) for 2,500 executions. Pro €50/month for 10,000. | Free, under n8n’s Sustainable Use License |
| Execution limit | Per plan | None from n8n. Limited only by your server. |
| Hosting, updates, backups | Handled by n8n. Cloud data is stored in the EU (Frankfurt). | Your job |
| Data location | n8n’s cloud | Wherever you host it |
| Team features | Depends on plan | Some missing (see below) |
Prices checked 23 October 2026. There’s also a self-hosted Business plan (€667/month billed yearly, 40,000 executions) that unlocks paid features on your own server.
What the free Community Edition leaves out
According to n8n’s documentation, the Community Edition doesn’t include:
- Sharing of workflows and credentials. Only the instance owner and the user who created them can access them. For a team, this is often the deciding factor.
- Projects, environments and version control with Git
- SSO (SAML, LDAP)
- External secrets, log streaming, custom variables
- External storage for binary data, and multi-main mode (queue mode is included)
Registering the Community Edition with your email (free) unlocks folders, debug in editor and custom execution data.
The real cost of self-hosting
| Cost | What it covers | Planning estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Server | A small cloud server (VPS) is enough for light to moderate use | Roughly US$5–30 a month depending on provider and size. Check current prices. |
| Database | PostgreSQL on the same server, or managed | Included, or extra for managed |
| Backups | Off-server storage for database backups | A few dirhams a month |
| Domain and HTTPS | A subdomain on your existing domain. Certificates are usually free. | Usually nothing extra |
| Setup time | Install, HTTPS, database, backups, monitoring, testing | One-off, several hours |
| Maintenance time | Updates, checking backups, disk space, fixing breakages | Ongoing, a few hours a month |
The time lines dominate. Everything on the production checklist is work someone has to do, and keep doing.
A worked comparison (hypothetical)
Assumptions for a small business: server AED 60/month, backups AED 10/month, setup 8 hours spread over 12 months, maintenance 2 hours/month, at an illustrative AED 200/hour for whoever does it. For Cloud we assume €1 = AED 4.25 (check today’s rate).
| Monthly cost (AED) | Self-hosted | n8n Cloud Starter | n8n Cloud Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence or plan | 0 | ≈ 85 | ≈ 213 |
| Server and backups | 70 | 0 | 0 |
| Setup (8 h ÷ 12 months) | 133 | 0 | 0 |
| Maintenance (2 h) | 400 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | ≈ 603 | ≈ 85 | ≈ 213 |
| Executions included | Unlimited | 2,500 | 10,000 |
At this size, Cloud is clearly cheaper, even before counting the risk of a self-hosted server failing at a bad moment.
When the picture changes:
- High volume. Beyond Pro’s 10,000 executions a month, your options are a higher Cloud tier, the self-hosted Business licence or the free Community Edition. Here the Community Edition’s lack of an execution limit starts to matter.
- Someone already maintains servers. If a developer or IT person already runs your infrastructure, the extra maintenance time is small.
- Data must stay on your servers for contractual or regulatory reasons. Then self-hosting may be required regardless of cost.
- You need a feature only available self-hosted, such as running custom nodes or bash scripts, which n8n’s pricing page lists as self-hosted features.
The calculator lets you replace every assumption with your own numbers.
A sensible path
- Start on n8n Cloud while you build and prove your first workflows.
- Watch your execution count and how much you depend on the workflows.
- Move to self-hosting if volume, data location or features justify it, and only with the production checklist done.
Workflows export from Cloud and import into self-hosted n8n as JSON, so starting on Cloud doesn’t lock you in. Credentials need re-entering.
Frequently asked questions
Can we use the Community Edition for client work?
The Sustainable Use License sets the rules on how you may use and offer n8n. Read it, and if you plan to offer n8n itself as a service to others, check the licence terms carefully or ask n8n.
Does self-hosting make n8n faster?
It can, if your server is close to the services you call and sized properly. For typical small-business workflows, speed is rarely the reason to choose.
What if we just run it on an old office computer?
Then it stops when the computer sleeps, the power cuts or the internet drops, and webhooks from the outside world can’t reach it without extra setup. For anything that matters, use a proper server or Cloud.
If you’d like help deciding or setting it up, that’s part of our tech stack service.
Free download · Excel calculator
n8n hosting cost calculator
Enter your executions per month, server cost, maintenance hours and hourly rate. It compares monthly cost of self-hosting with n8n Cloud Starter and Pro, with every assumption editable.
Download itNo sign-up. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers.
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