n8n's biggest selling point is "it's free and open source." And that is technically true. But after running n8n self-hosted in production for 2 years across 15+ client deployments, I can tell you the real cost is never $0. Here is what you will actually pay.
n8n Plans Overview (February 2026)
Community Edition: Free (Self-Hosted)
- 100% free and open-source (Fair-code license)
- Unlimited workflows and executions
- All 400+ integrations included
- No execution-based billing
- You host it on your own infrastructure
- Community support only (forums, Discord)
- No built-in SSO, audit logs, or enterprise features
Honest take: This is genuinely the best free automation tool available. Period. You get everything -- every node, every integration, unlimited executions. The catch is you need to run it somewhere, keep it updated, handle backups, and fix it when it breaks at 2 AM. And it will break at 2 AM eventually.
- VPS (Hetzner CX32): $12/month
- PostgreSQL database (managed): $15/month
- Backups and monitoring: $5/month
- SSL certificate: free (Let's Encrypt)
- DevOps time (~2 hours/month for updates, monitoring): $100-200/month at $50-100/hr
- Real total: $132-232/month
Cloud Starter: $20/month
- 2,500 workflow executions per month
- 5 active workflows
- All integrations included
- n8n-hosted (no infrastructure management)
- Basic support (email)
- Execution history (3 days)
Honest take: 2,500 executions sounds like a lot until you realize a single workflow that runs every 5 minutes burns through 8,640 executions per month. Even a workflow that runs hourly uses 720. Starter works for 1-2 low-frequency workflows. It does NOT work for any real automation setup.
Cloud Pro: $50/month
- 10,000 workflow executions per month
- 15 active workflows
- All integrations included
- Execution history (30 days)
- Debug executions
- Global variables
- Priority support
- Overage: $0.007 per additional execution
Honest take: This is the minimum viable plan for most businesses. 10,000 executions handles 5-8 moderately active workflows. But watch those overages -- at $0.007 per execution, going 10,000 over adds $70 to your bill. We had a client get surprised by a $180 overage in their first month because a webhook workflow was triggering way more than expected.
Cloud Enterprise: Custom pricing
- Unlimited executions
- Unlimited active workflows
- SSO/SAML and LDAP
- Audit logs and compliance features
- Custom data retention
- Dedicated support manager
- SLA guarantees
- Pricing: typically starts at $300/month, varies by needs
Honest take: If you are running 20+ workflows or need compliance features, Enterprise is actually a good deal compared to Pro + overages. At 50,000 executions/month, Pro with overages would cost $50 + $280 = $330. Enterprise at $300 with unlimited executions is the better deal. And you get SSO, which your IT team probably requires.
Self-Hosted vs Cloud: The Real Math
When self-hosted wins
- You run 10,000+ executions per month (Cloud Pro starts losing to self-hosted here)
- You have someone technical who can manage a VPS and Docker
- You need full control over data residency and retention
- You want to run n8n with local AI models (LLaMA, Mistral) without API costs
When Cloud wins
- You have no DevOps capability (no one to SSH into a server)
- You value reliability over cost savings (n8n Cloud has 99.9% uptime SLA on Enterprise)
- You run fewer than 5,000 executions per month
- You need quick setup (Cloud is running in 2 minutes, self-hosted takes 1-2 hours minimum)
n8n vs Zapier vs Make: Price Comparison
This is where n8n's value proposition really shines:
- Zapier: Starts at $29.99/month for 750 tasks. Their "Professional" plan is $73.50/month for 2,000 tasks. At scale (50,000 tasks), you are paying $600+/month.
- Make: Starts at $10.59/month for 10,000 operations. Their "Pro" plan is $18.82/month for 10,000 operations with more features. More affordable than Zapier but less powerful.
- n8n Cloud Pro: $50/month for 10,000 executions. More expensive than Make for equivalent volume, but far more powerful with code execution, self-hosting option, and AI integrations.
- n8n Self-Hosted: ~$30-50/month in infrastructure for unlimited executions. The clear winner at any volume above 5,000.
For the full feature comparison, read our n8n vs Zapier comparison or n8n vs Make comparison.
Our Setup and What We Pay
We run a hybrid setup: self-hosted n8n for internal workflows and heavy-volume client automations, plus n8n Cloud for clients who do not want to manage infrastructure.
- Internal: Self-hosted on Hetzner CX32 ($12/month) + managed PostgreSQL ($15/month). Running 40+ workflows, ~200,000 executions/month. Total: $27/month.
- Client deployments: Mix of self-hosted (for tech-savvy clients) and Cloud Pro/Enterprise (for others). Average client pays $50-300/month depending on volume.
If we ran our internal 200,000 executions on n8n Cloud Pro, the overages alone would cost 190,000 × $0.007 = $1,330/month on top of the $50 base. Self-hosting saves us over $1,350/month just on internal workflows. That is $16,200/year.
Hidden Costs and Gotchas
- Self-hosted updates: n8n releases updates every 1-2 weeks. If you fall behind, you risk security issues and missed bug fixes. Budget 30-60 minutes per update (they usually go smoothly, but test first).
- Cloud execution counting: Error executions still count toward your limit. A broken webhook that fires and errors 1,000 times burns 1,000 executions. Set up error-handling sub-workflows.
- External API costs: n8n itself is just the orchestrator. If your workflows call OpenAI, Twilio, or other paid APIs, those costs are separate and can add up fast.
- Worker mode for self-hosted: High-volume self-hosted deployments need worker mode (separate process for execution). This roughly doubles your server requirements.
We have deployed n8n for 15+ clients -- from simple lead notifications to complex multi-step AI workflows. Our AI automation service includes n8n setup, workflow design, and ongoing support. Or browse our n8n implementation page to see what we build.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is n8n really free?
The software is free and open-source (Fair-code license). You can download it and run it on your own computer or server at no cost. The Cloud hosting service has paid plans starting at $20/month.
What is the best n8n plan for a small business?
If you have someone technical: self-hosted on a $10-15/month VPS. If you do not: Cloud Pro at $50/month. Starter is too limited for anything beyond a single simple workflow.
Can I switch from self-hosted to Cloud (or vice versa)?
Yes. n8n lets you export and import workflows. The migration is straightforward -- workflows transfer cleanly. Credentials need to be re-entered manually for security reasons. We typically complete a migration in 1-2 hours.
Does n8n have a free trial for Cloud?
n8n Cloud offers a 14-day free trial of the Pro plan. No credit card required to start. This is usually enough time to build 3-5 workflows and validate whether Cloud suits your needs.