I'm Emil Hjorth. I run em8, a founder-led AI studio in Mora, Sweden. People type n8n pricing when they need the product bill — Cloud vs Community self-host — not a quote to hire a builder. This page is the license. Hire rates live elsewhere.
Here is how n8n bills, what the Cloud list actually is, what Community self-host really costs once you add infra and ops, and when each wins. If the question is “what do we pay a person to ship this,” skip to hire an n8n expert or n8n agency.
Quick Answer
n8n Cloud Starter is 20€/month billed annually (2.5K executions). Pro is 50€/month annually (10K). Community self-host is free software plus the server and the person who keeps Docker alive. Business is 667€/month annually (40K executions, SSO) on a licensed self-host. Enterprise is contact sales. n8n bills full workflow executions, not per step. EU Cloud sits in Frankfurt. Treat n8n.io/pricing as the live list — this page is a reading of that list, not a substitute.
What n8n pricing actually means
Three different invoices get stuffed into the same Google query.
- The product. What n8n GmbH charges for Cloud or a paid self-host license. This page.
- The machine under it. VPS, backups, TLS, upgrades. Real for Community. Invisible on Cloud.
- The work. Mapping the process, building the workflow, owning the 3am path. That is not a plan tier.
If you mix them, Cloud looks expensive and self-host looks free. Neither is true. n8n is fair-code automation: Community on GitHub, Cloud hosted by n8n, paid self-host licenses when you need SSO, Git, environments, or an SLA. Still choosing a tool? Read Make vs Zapier vs n8n. Want us to run it? That is n8n automation.
How billing and executions work
n8n does not bill per node, per task, or per seat the way Zapier and Make often do. One production run of a workflow = one execution, no matter how many steps sit inside it. Unlimited steps in that run. Unlimited users on the Cloud plans that publish a user count.
That is the whole trick vs per-operation tools. A 40-node invoice parser that would chew a Make quota is still one n8n execution. The trap on the other side: a chatbot that fires on every message, or a cron every five minutes, will burn 2.5K Starter executions before the month is interesting. Count triggers, not screenshots of the canvas.
EU Cloud data is stored in Frankfurt. Self-host data lives wherever you put the box. Monthly vs annual changes the €/month, not the execution pool — annual is the list everyone quotes (Starter 20€, Pro 50€). Confirm the live number on n8n.io/pricing before you send a budget to finance.
n8n Cloud plan table
Hosted by n8n. List prices below are the annual €/month figures n8n shows on the pricing page. Monthly billing costs more for the same execution cap.
| Plan | € / month (annual) | Executions | You get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Starter | 20€ | 2.5K / month | Hosted instance, 1 shared project, 5 concurrent, forum support, Frankfurt |
| Cloud Pro | 50€ | 10K / month | 3 shared projects, 20 concurrent, admin roles, global variables, workflow history |
Skip Starter if you already know volume will blow ~80 runs/day. Skip Pro if you need SSO, Git, or separate environments — that is not this tier. Starter is the honest trial after the free Cloud trial (1K executions, Pro-shaped features, no card). Pro is where a small production team actually lives. Neither is Business. Business on n8n's own page is a self-hosted license, not another Cloud SKU with a bigger slider.
Self-host Community TCO
Community Edition is free software. The invoice is the box and the hours.
| Line | Typical range | What it actually is |
|---|---|---|
| n8n software | 0€ | Community Edition on GitHub. You own the runtime. |
| VPS / cloud VM | ~5–40€ / month | Hetzner-class box for light load; more RAM/CPU once queue workers exist |
| Backups, domain, monitoring | ~0–20€ / month | Snapshots, TLS, a dead-man alert. Skip these and you will pay later |
| Ops time | the real cost | Upgrades, disk, Postgres, 2am restart. Cheap if you already run Docker. Expensive if this is your first container |
A quiet internal instance can land under Cloud Starter's 240€/year. A neglected instance is more expensive than Pro by the second outage. Community has no n8n execution cap — your cap is CPU, disk, and whether anyone is watching logs. That is why high-volume teams leave Cloud: not ideology. Math.
Community is not Business. You do not get SSO/SAML, Git version control, or licensed environments on the free edition. You get nodes, Code, webhooks, and the obligation to keep the process up.
Business and Enterprise
| Plan | List | Executions | Why it exists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business | 667€ / month annual | 40K / month | Self-hosted license: SSO, SAML/LDAP, Git, environments. For companies under 100 who already host |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Custom | Cloud or self-host. SLA, log streaming, secret store, invoice billing, 200+ concurrent |
Business is the line where “n8n is free” stops being a serious sentence. You are buying collaboration and control features on your infra, plus a 40K execution quota across instances that share the key. Overage, if you blow the quota and ignore sales, is billed in large buckets — n8n publishes 4,000€ per extra 300K executions on Business. Do not discover that in month eleven.
Startups under 20 employees should check n8n's Start-up Plan (50% off Business) on the same pricing page. I do not resell licenses. I will tell you if you are buying Business to avoid learning Docker. That is a bad trade.
Cloud vs self-host: when each wins
| Cloud Starter / Pro | Community self-host | Business / Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wins when | Speed, no Docker, Frankfurt is fine, 2.5K–10K executions cover the month | Volume, PII, custom nodes, you already operate boxes | SSO, Git, environments, SLA, procurement needs a vendor |
| You pay | 20€ or 50€ / month annual list | Infra + ops (software 0€) | 667€ / month annual list, or a sales quote |
| You accept | Vendor limits, concurrency caps, less deep customization | You own upgrades, backups, and the Sunday failure | License pings, quota across instances, a real procurement loop |
| Wrong default | Forcing Cloud when the CRM dump is the business | Forcing self-host for a three-step Slack ping | Buying Business because “enterprise” sounds safe |
I put clients on Cloud when the workflow is internal ops and nobody on their side should SSH. I put them on Community when the data is the business — deal tables, rate cards, anything that must not sit in a shared tenant. Business only when IT already asked for SSO and Git. Conscious choice. Not a default I hide.
When the license question is the wrong question
You searched n8n pricing because a person is still copying rows. The software line is 20€–50€. The expensive line is the build.
- One named flow, one senior pair of hands → hire an n8n expert
- Multi-system, coverage, week-1 diagnostic → n8n agency
- What a build actually costs in 2026 → how much does automation cost
- Studio vs retainer bands → automation agency pricing
- n8n vs Make vs Zapier on cost shape → Make vs Zapier vs n8n
If you already know n8n is the stack and you want a studio that ships on your instance, start at n8n automation or book the 30-minute call. Bring the hours. I will tell you Cloud vs self-host out loud before anyone talks retainers.
FAQ
What does n8n Cloud cost?
List prices billed annually: Cloud Starter 20€/month (2.5K executions), Cloud Pro 50€/month (10K). Monthly billing is higher. Live list: n8n.io/pricing.
How does n8n bill executions?
n8n bills a full workflow execution — one run from start to finish, not per node or per user. Unlimited steps inside that run. EU Cloud data sits in Frankfurt.
Is self-hosted n8n free?
Community Edition software is free. You still pay infrastructure, backups, upgrades, and ops time. That TCO is the real self-host price, not a €0 line on a vendor page.
When does Cloud beat self-host (and the reverse)?
Cloud wins when speed and low ops matter and 2.5K–10K executions cover you. Self-host Community wins on volume, PII, or control. Business (667€/month annual, 40K, SSO) is a licensed self-host tier. Enterprise is contact sales.
Does this page cover n8n agency or freelancer rates?
No. This is product pricing. Builder rates live on hire an n8n expert, studio bands on n8n agency, and broader build cost on how much does automation cost / automation agency pricing.
Know the license. Then decide the build.
30 minutes. Free. No pitch. Tell me the workflow and roughly how often it runs. I will say Cloud vs self-host, name the plan that actually fits, and tell you when you should not buy a license at all.