n8n pricing 2026: cloud, self-hosted and real costs

What are n8n's pricing plans in 2026?

n8n offers two deployment paths: Cloud (hosted by n8n) and self-hosted. Cloud plans are billed by execution volume. Self-hosted has no execution limits. The right choice depends on your technical resources and how many workflows you run.

All Cloud plans include unlimited workflows, unlimited users, unlimited steps per workflow, and every integration. The only variable is execution volume. Annual billing saves approximately 17 percent across Starter and Pro.

How does the n8n execution model work?

One execution is one complete workflow run, regardless of how many nodes or steps it contains. A webhook trigger that runs a 30-node workflow counts as one execution. This makes n8n's pricing significantly more predictable for complex workflows than per-step tools.

This is the most important concept to understand before choosing a plan.

A team migrating from Zapier often discovers their real execution count is a fraction of their old task count. A 5-step Zapier workflow fires 5 tasks per trigger. The same workflow on n8n fires 1 execution.

The main gotcha is trigger frequency. A workflow that runs every 5 minutes fires 8,640 executions per month from that single workflow alone. The Starter plan's 2,500 limit covers roughly 9 days at that frequency.

Plan your executions by trigger frequency, not workflow complexity.

What does each n8n plan include?

Cloud Starter and Pro differ only in execution volume and a handful of feature gates. Business adds SSO, Git version control, separate dev and production environments, and 30-day insights retention. Enterprise adds dedicated support, SLA, and custom compliance.

Community Edition (free, self-hosted)

The Community Edition is n8n's open-source version. You run it on your own server, pay nothing to n8n, and get unlimited executions.

Typical server costs run $5 to $20 per month on a DigitalOcean, AWS, or managed VPS provider. Self-hosting requires technical setup and ongoing maintenance. SSL certificates, updates, and backups are your responsibility.

For developer teams comfortable with Docker or Kubernetes, self-hosting saves $200 to $700 per year versus Cloud plans.

Starter (~$24/month cloud)

Starter is the entry point for teams that want n8n without managing infrastructure. It includes 2,500 executions per month and all of n8n's core features.

It suits teams running a moderate number of non-time-sensitive automations. Workflows that trigger on a schedule every few hours, not every few minutes, stay within the limit comfortably.

Pro (~$60/month cloud)

Pro increases the execution limit to 10,000 per month and adds execution history retention and debug features.

It suits teams running higher-frequency automations or a larger number of active workflows. If your Starter plan consistently runs within 500 executions of the limit, Pro is the right upgrade.

Business (~€800/month self-hosted)

Business is a significant jump in both price and capability. It adds SSO with SAML and LDAP, Git version control for workflows, separate development and production environments, 30-day insights retention, and 6 projects.

It is self-hosted, not cloud. You pay an enterprise-level price but still manage your own infrastructure. The plan is scoped to organizations under 100 employees.

The startup discount reduces Business to approximately €333/month annually for companies with fewer than 20 employees and under €5M in total funding.

Enterprise (custom)

Enterprise adds dedicated infrastructure, priority support, SLA guarantees, and advanced compliance options. Buyer reports from 2026 put typical contracts at $2,000 to $3,000 per month.

Treat that figure as a starting negotiation point, not a rate card. n8n does not publish Enterprise pricing.

Self-hosted n8n: what does it actually cost?

Self-hosting n8n Community Edition costs only what you pay for the server. Most teams pay $5 to $20 per month depending on the provider and instance size. Unlimited executions at that price is the strongest value proposition in workflow automation.

Managed hosting options like PikaPods handle updates and backups automatically. Raw VPS options require you to manage those yourself.

The hidden cost of self-hosting is engineering time. Setting up n8n, configuring SSL, managing updates, and troubleshooting outages takes time. For non-technical teams, Cloud is worth the monthly premium. For developer teams, self-hosting typically pays for itself within the first month.

How does n8n pricing compare to Zapier and Make?

n8n is significantly cheaper than Zapier for complex multi-step workflows because it bills per workflow run rather than per action step. For simple two-step automations, Zapier's Starter plan is comparable. Make sits between the two.

For a 5-step workflow running 500 times per month, Zapier costs roughly twice what n8n Cloud costs. At 10 steps and 500 runs, Zapier costs 10x what n8n costs for the same work.

Zapier wins on integration breadth (7,000+ apps vs n8n's 400+) and ease of setup for non-technical users. n8n wins on cost at volume and flexibility for developers building complex logic.

What are the hidden costs in n8n pricing?

The main hidden costs are execution overage when limits are exceeded on Cloud plans, engineering time for self-hosted setup, and the Embed License required for embedding n8n in customer-facing SaaS products.

• Execution overages: Cloud plans pause workflows when the monthly limit is hit rather than charging overage. You need to upgrade the plan or wait for the monthly reset. This affects production workflows unexpectedly if not monitored.
• Self-hosting maintenance: Updates, backups, SSL, and incident response are your team's responsibility on self-hosted. Budget 2 to 4 hours per month of engineering time.
• Embed License: Building n8n into a customer-facing SaaS product requires a separate Embed License. Pricing is negotiated with n8n directly.
• Startup plan limitations: The 50 percent Business discount requires fewer than 20 employees and under €5M in funding. Teams that grow past either threshold need to transition to full pricing.
• Annual contract cancellation: n8n contracts auto-renew with no pro-rata refund on cancellation per published policy. Factor renewal notice windows into any annual commitment.

Which n8n plan should you choose?

Self-host Community Edition if you have a developer who can manage it. Choose Cloud Starter for non-technical teams with moderate automation needs. Upgrade to Pro when execution limits become a constraint. Evaluate Business only when SSO and workflow governance are required.

Choose Community (self-hosted) if: Your team has a developer comfortable with Docker, and your execution volume would push Cloud plans to Pro or higher. The monthly savings exceed the maintenance time cost.

Choose Starter if: You want Cloud without infrastructure management and your workflows run on hourly or longer schedules. Model your trigger frequency first to confirm 2,500 executions covers your month.

Choose Pro if: Your automations run frequently, you have a higher volume of active workflows, or you consistently approach Starter's execution limit before month end.

Choose Business if: You need SSO, Git version control for workflows, and separate environments. Verify the startup discount eligibility before committing to the full rate.

Choose Enterprise if: You need dedicated infrastructure, SLA guarantees, or compliance requirements that Cloud plans do not cover.

Conclusion

n8n pricing is straightforward once the execution model is understood. One run equals one execution. Complex workflows are not penalized.

Self-hosting is the best value in workflow automation for technical teams. $7 per month for unlimited executions on your own infrastructure is genuinely hard to beat. Cloud plans make sense for teams that need managed infrastructure without the DevOps overhead.

For teams migrating from Zapier, the task-to-execution comparison almost always favors n8n at scale. Simple automations are close. Complex multi-step workflows are not.

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Need automations built on n8n or a custom integration?

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We have delivered 450+ products for clients including Coca-Cola, American Express, and Sotheby's. If you are building serious automation and want it done right, let's talk.