Picking between n8n pricing self-hosted vs cloud comes down to three numbers: the subscription sticker, the execution quota attached to it, and the hourly value of whoever keeps the server alive. Self-hosted n8n charges no license fee ($0 AUD) and caps nothing, but the server and maintenance are yours; n8n Cloud starts at approx. $33 AUD (€20) per month and removes that work. What follows: official prices, the exact license boundary, and a break-even model to rerun on your own numbers.
Updated September 7, 2026. All prices were checked against official pages on this date; pricing and quotas change, so recheck n8n.io/pricing before acting.
Quick Answer: n8n Self-Hosted vs Cloud Pricing at a Glance
Self-hosted n8n has no license fee ($0 AUD) and no execution limit, but a realistic deployment runs $85-110 AUD ($55-70 USD) per month once you price one monthly maintenance hour at $75 AUD/hr ($50 USD/hr) (sinqra, checked September 7, 2026). n8n Cloud starts at approx. $33 AUD (€20) per month billed annually and often costs less in cash until execution volume or data-control needs outgrow the published tiers (n8n pricing, checked September 7, 2026).
| Decision factor | Self-hosted Community | n8n Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Software cost | $0 AUD license fee | approx. $33-83 AUD/mo (€20-50/mo, annual billing) |
| Execution limit | None | 2,500/mo (Starter), 10,000/mo (Pro) |
| Who runs the server | You | n8n (Frankfurt, EU) |
| Realistic monthly cost | approx. $85-110 AUD incl. labor ($55-70 USD) | approx. $33-83 AUD (€20-50), no labor line |
| License restriction | Internal business use only | Plan terms only |
| Best fit | Volume, data control, in-house ops | Lower volume, zero ops |
Key Takeaways
- n8n Cloud runs approx. $33 AUD/mo (€20/mo Starter, 2,500 executions) to approx. $83 AUD/mo (€50/mo Pro, 10,000) billed annually, unlimited users on all plans, as checked on September 7, 2026 (n8n pricing).
- Self-hosted Community Edition is $0 AUD for internal business use under the Sustainable Use License; “free” excludes server and time (LICENSE.md).
- Realistic self-host TCO is approx. $85-110 AUD/mo ($55-70 USD/mo) with one maintenance hour at $75 AUD/hr ($50 USD/hr), not the “$8 AUD / $5 USD VPS” headline (sinqra).
- Self-hosting tends to win on cash above roughly 10,000 executions/mo or under data-sovereignty requirements; below that, Cloud often beats your labor cost.
- Prices and quotas drift; recheck n8n.io/pricing before deciding.
What Does n8n Cloud Cost in 2026?
n8n Cloud comes in four tiers, billed per workflow execution: one full run from trigger to final node, however many steps it contains. All plans include unlimited users, unlimited workflows, and every integration (n8n pricing, checked September 7, 2026).
| Plan | Price (AUD approx. & Official, billed annually) | Executions/mo | Notable extras |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | approx. $33 AUD/mo (€20/mo) | 2,500 | 5 concurrent executions, 2,300 AI credits/mo |
| Pro | approx. $83 AUD/mo (€50/mo) | 10,000 | 20 concurrent, admin roles, workflow history |
| Business | approx. $1,100 AUD/mo (€667/mo) | 40,000 | Self-hosted tier: SSO/SAML/LDAP, Git version control, environments |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Cloud or self-hosted, 200+ concurrent, SLA support |
Note what most comparison pages miss: Business is a self-hosted plan, not a bigger cloud. The official page describes it for companies under 100 employees running n8n on their own infrastructure (n8n pricing, checked September 7, 2026), so the published Cloud path effectively ends at Pro: past 10,000 monthly executions, the next published step is a approx. $1,100 AUD (€667/mo) self-hosted tier or custom Enterprise pricing.
Annual billing saves 17%; the free trial includes 1,000 executions with no credit card; startups under 20 employees get 50% off Business. The official overage wording: workflows keep running past quota and “overage charges may apply.” Only Business overage is published (approx. $6,600 AUD / €4,000 EUR per extra 300,000-execution bucket, invoiced 45 days later); Starter and Pro overage pricing is not, so treat third-party rate claims as unverified.
For how per-execution billing compares with per-task and per-operations models, see our n8n vs Zapier and n8n vs Make comparisons.
Is Self-Hosted n8n Really Free? What the License Actually Says
The software costs nothing, but “free” has a legal boundary. n8n is fair-code: source-available software that is free for internal use but restricts commercial redistribution. The Sustainable Use License permits use and modification “only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use” (LICENSE.md, checked September 7, 2026); files with “.ee.” in the name need a separate Enterprise license.
The license text does not define “internal business purposes” further, and n8n’s license FAQ pages returned 404 at the time of writing. Practitioner explainers quoting n8n’s docs, such as NordFlux’s license explainer, draw the line this way (treat it as interpretation, not verbatim policy):
| Allowed under the free license | Needs a paid license (Embed/Enterprise) |
|---|---|
| Running n8n for your own company | White-labeling n8n for resale |
| Consulting and building workflows for clients | Hosting n8n and charging for access |
| Maintaining n8n on a client’s own server | Embedding n8n where n8n is the product’s value |
Editions differ within self-hosting (n8n docs, checked September 7, 2026): Community is free with almost the full feature set, email registration adds folders and debug-in-editor, and paid tiers gate SSO (single sign-on via SAML or LDAP), environments, Git version control, and multi-main high availability. Asked whether the free version limits executions or workflow count, n8n founder Jan answered on the official forum: “No, there are no such limits” (community thread, checked September 7, 2026).
Power Automate has no self-hosted option at all, as our n8n vs Power Automate comparison covers.
What Does Self-Hosting Actually Cost? (Real TCO)
TCO, total cost of ownership, counts every cost of running the thing, including your time. On paper, self-hosting n8n costs one VPS, a rented virtual server: a Hetzner CX23 (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM) at approx. $9-10 AUD/mo (€5.49-5.99 EUR/mo) depending on source and VAT treatment (instapods, NordFlux, both checked September 7, 2026).
The line item most comparison pages skip is labor: setup runs two to three hours for someone experienced (approx. $150-230 AUD / $100-150 USD at $75 AUD / $50 USD/hr), then about an hour monthly of updates, backups, monitoring, and troubleshooting. Add managed PostgreSQL (approx. $8-23 AUD / $5-15 USD/mo), backups (approx. $1.50-8 AUD / $1-5 USD/mo), and monitoring (approx. $0-15 AUD / $0-10 USD/mo), and realistic raw-VPS TCO lands between $85 and $510 AUD ($54 and $330 USD) monthly depending on how you value time (sinqra, instapods).
Scaling adds a step explainers rarely mention: past a single VPS, queue mode spreads executions across worker processes coordinated by Redis, adding components and cost, and multi-main high availability sits behind paid tiers (n8n docs).
The reverse direction deserves equal honesty: at approx. $100-130 AUD/hr (€60-80 EUR/hr) and one to three hours monthly, three years of self-host labor totals approx. $3,500-14,000 AUD (€2,160-8,640 EUR), dwarfing three years of Cloud Pro at approx. $3,000 AUD (€1,800 EUR) (NordFlux, checked September 7, 2026). Self-hosting’s reliable payoff is control and unlimited volume, not automatically cash.
Break-Even: At What Execution Volume Does Self-Hosting Win?
Below roughly 10,000 executions a month, Cloud is usually the cheaper cash option once your time is priced in; above it, the published path jumps to a approx. $1,100 AUD (€667/mo) self-hosted Business tier while a Community instance runs on the same approx. €6 EUR (approx. $10 AUD) server. This section is illustrative: computed only from the prices cited above, currencies labeled as published, assuming $75 AUD/hr ($50 USD/hr) labor and one maintenance hour monthly.
One workflow triggering every five minutes generates 8,640 executions per month, exhausting Starter’s quota in nine days and nearly maxing Pro (instapods); two such workflows pass every published Cloud tier.
- Up to 2,500 executions/mo: Starter at approx. $33 AUD/mo (€20/mo) beats a approx. $85-110 AUD ($55-70 USD) self-host total on cash unless your labor is genuinely free, as with a founder learning the platform.
- 2,500 to 10,000: Pro at approx. $83 AUD/mo (€50/mo) versus approx. $85-110 AUD self-hosted is rough cash parity; decide on data control, ops appetite, and AI usage instead, since self-hosting accepts your own AI API keys with no credit limits (n8n pricing).
- Above 10,000: the next published tier is Business at approx. $1,100 AUD/mo (€667/mo); without its SSO, Git, and environments features, Community self-hosting at approx. $85-110 AUD/mo avoids that step, a gap on the order of approx. $1,000 AUD (€600/mo), currencies as published.
The three-year view cuts both ways (NordFlux): Cloud Pro totals approx. $3,000 AUD (€1,800 EUR), Hetzner infrastructure about approx. $350 AUD (€216 EUR), but adding approx. $3,500-14,000 AUD (€2,160-8,640 EUR) of labor flips the result, so the model only counts when net monthly benefit is positive in your numbers. If you are leaving Zapier over task pricing, this self-host question is your next decision; see our Zapier to n8n migration guide.
Which Should You Choose, and What If You’d Rather Not Run It?
Choose Cloud when you want zero maintenance and your volume fits a published tier; choose self-hosted when you need unlimited executions, data sovereignty, or already have someone who owns servers. A short checklist:
- Volume comfortably under a published tier’s executions
- Data residency or compliance rules that forbid third-party hosting
- A named owner for updates, backups, and incidents
- SSO or audit needs that force a paid tier on either path
- AI-heavy workflows that would burn Cloud AI credits versus bring-your-own-key self-hosting
Both options assume someone builds, monitors, and fixes the workflows. If that person does not exist in-house, the build matters more than the hosting model. Our n8n workflow automation services cover discovery, build, and handover with documentation, recommending Cloud or self-hosting per client constraints. Get in touch to scope your setup first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is n8n really free?
The Community Edition costs $0 AUD to self-host for internal business use under the Sustainable Use License (LICENSE.md); you still pay for the server and your time. n8n Cloud starts at approx. $33 AUD/mo (€20/mo) billed annually, as checked on September 7, 2026 (n8n pricing).
What happens if I exceed my n8n Cloud executions?
Per the official pricing page, workflows keep running and overage charges may apply. Only Business overage is published (approx. $6,600 AUD / €4,000 EUR per extra 300,000-execution bucket, invoiced 45 days later); Starter and Pro terms are not, so recheck n8n.io/pricing before relying on third-party rates.
Can I use self-hosted n8n for client work?
Building workflows for clients, consulting, and maintaining n8n on a client’s own server are allowed, per practitioner interpretations of n8n’s documentation. White-labeling n8n or hosting it and charging for access requires a paid Embed or Enterprise license. Edge cases go to license@n8n.io.
Do I need a paid plan to self-host n8n for my business?
No. Community Edition covers internal business use at $0 AUD. Paid self-host tiers (Business approx. $1,100 AUD / €667/mo billed annually, Enterprise custom) add SSO/SAML, Git version control, environments, and high availability (n8n pricing, checked September 7, 2026). Buy them for governance, not for the right to self-host.
The Bottom Line: Price Your Time, Not Just the Server
The self-hosted versus Cloud decision is a labor calculation wearing a pricing costume. Below roughly 10,000 executions a month, Cloud’s approx. $33-83 AUD (€20-50 EUR) tiers often cost less than the maintenance hour they replace; above it, or when data must stay on your infrastructure, self-hosting’s unlimited executions justify the ops work. Run the bands with your own labor rate, recheck the official pricing page, and if neither path comes with someone to build and maintain the workflows, talk to us before you commit.
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