{"id":401,"date":"2026-11-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solucom.si\/?p=401"},"modified":"2026-10-10T00:42:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T22:42:39","slug":"n8n-self-hosted-or-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solucom.si\/en\/n8n-self-hosted-o-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"n8n self-hosted or cloud: costs, security and who maintains it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>n8n can be used in two ways: n8n Cloud, managed by the company that develops it, or installed on your own server (self-hosted).<\/strong> The version you install, the Community Edition, is free. The cloud starts at \u20ac20 a month billed annually.<\/p>\n<p>Put like that it looks like an easy choice, but the licence price is the least important part. The real question is a different one: who takes care of the server, the updates and the backups, and what happens when something stops. We run n8n self-hosted, on our own server: here we lay out costs, risks and criteria for deciding.<\/p>\n<h2>The two options, with prices<\/h2>\n<p><strong>n8n Cloud<\/strong> runs on n8n\u2019s servers, in Europe (Frankfurt). Updates, backups and availability are their responsibility. You pay by executions, i.e. how many times a workflow starts and runs to the end, whatever the number of steps:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Starter<\/strong>: \u20ac20 a month (annual), 2,500 executions a month, 5 concurrent executions;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pro<\/strong>: \u20ac50 a month (annual), 10,000 executions, up to 50 concurrent, admin roles and workflow history;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enterprise<\/strong>: priced on request.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>n8n self-hosted<\/strong> runs on your own server, on-premises or in a private cloud:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Community Edition<\/strong>: free, with unlimited executions. Registering an email address unlocks a few extra features, still free;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Business<\/strong>: \u20ac667 a month (annual), self-hosted only, for companies with up to 100 employees working as a team;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enterprise<\/strong>: priced on request.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Prices are those published by n8n in October 2026: they change often, so check them again before deciding.<\/p>\n<h2>What self-hosting really costs<\/h2>\n<p>The Community Edition is free, but running it well is not. You need:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>a server<\/strong>, usually a VPS. Normal workloads need few resources: our n8n instance runs on a VPS with 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM;<\/li>\n<li><strong>a proper database<\/strong>. n8n uses SQLite by default, but in production you use PostgreSQL, which is required if you want to scale with queue mode;<\/li>\n<li><strong>HTTPS and a domain<\/strong>, in front of n8n, with a reverse proxy;<\/li>\n<li><strong>backups<\/strong> of the database and of the encryption key. Without that key the credentials stored in n8n can no longer be read: losing it means reconnecting every service by hand;<\/li>\n<li><strong>updates<\/strong> on a regular basis. n8n releases new versions all the time, and some of them contain security fixes;<\/li>\n<li><strong>monitoring<\/strong>, to notice straight away if the server or a workflow stops.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The server is cheap, from a few euros to a few tens of euros a month. The real cost is the hours of whoever maintains it. If nobody in the company does it, those hours become either a supplier or a risk.<\/p>\n<h2>Security: n8n holds the keys to everything<\/h2>\n<p>An n8n instance contains the access credentials for your CRM, email, invoicing, e-commerce and databases. It often also exposes public webhooks, i.e. addresses that anyone on the internet can call. It is one of the most sensitive systems a company can have.<\/p>\n<p>In 2026 critical vulnerabilities were published, with the maximum score of 10 out of 10, that allowed code to be executed on the server (CVE-2026-21877 and CVE-2026-21858). n8n fixed them with updates. On the cloud n8n applies the updates; with self-hosting someone on your side has to apply them, quickly. Michele Rocco described a similar case in <a href=\"https:\/\/michelerocco.com\/automazioni\/nuova-vulnerabilita-critica-in-n8n-quando-lautomazione-diventa-un-rischio-se-non-sai-cosa-stai-facendo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">what happens when automation becomes a risk (Italian)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The minimum rules for a self-hosted instance:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the editor accessible only to those who need it, with two-factor authentication;<\/li>\n<li>security updates applied within a few days of release;<\/li>\n<li>a server with the bare minimum exposed to the internet;<\/li>\n<li>encrypted backups, stored off the server, with a restore tested at least once.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What the free edition lacks<\/h2>\n<p>The Community Edition has almost all of n8n\u2019s features. What is missing is mainly what you need for teamwork and company controls:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>sharing<\/strong> of workflows and credentials between users: only the instance owner and whoever created them can see them;<\/li>\n<li><strong>projects<\/strong>, <strong>SSO<\/strong> (SAML, LDAP), <strong>environments<\/strong> for development and production, and <strong>version control with Git<\/strong>;<\/li>\n<li><strong>log streaming<\/strong> to external systems, <strong>external secret stores<\/strong> and custom variables.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Queue mode for scaling across several workers is included, though. For one person or a small technical team the Community Edition is enough; when several departments build workflows and you need control over access, you look at the Business plan or the cloud.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch the licence.<\/strong> n8n is not open source in the strict sense: it is distributed under the <em>Sustainable Use License<\/em>. You can use and modify it for your own company\u2019s internal processes, but not resell it as a service to others. An agency that wants to offer \u201cn8n as a subscription\u201d to its clients needs an agreement with n8n.<\/p>\n<h2>When to choose which<\/h2>\n<p><strong>n8n Cloud<\/strong> is the right choice if:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>you have few workflows and low volumes, within the plan\u2019s executions;<\/li>\n<li>nobody in the company can look after a server;<\/li>\n<li>you want to start straight away and pay a predictable fee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Self-hosting<\/strong> is the right choice if:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>volumes are high: with unlimited executions the cost stays that of the server;<\/li>\n<li>the data must stay on your own infrastructure, by choice or by contract;<\/li>\n<li>you need custom nodes, scripts or direct access to the server;<\/li>\n<li>someone maintains it, internal or external, with clear response times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If in doubt, you can start with the cloud and move later: workflows can be exported and re-imported. Credentials, on the other hand, have to be reconnected carefully, and any move is worth planning.<\/p>\n<p>If you are still deciding what to automate, start there: we cover it in <a href=\"\/en\/when-to-automate-a-process\/\">how to tell whether a process can be automated<\/a> and in <a href=\"\/en\/n8n-automation-saves-hours\/\">the n8n workflows that save hours<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"sol-fonti\"><small><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/n8n.io\/pricing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">n8n pricing<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.n8n.io\/hosting\/community-edition-features\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">comparison of the self-hosted editions<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/n8n-io\/n8n\/blob\/master\/LICENSE.md\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">n8n licence<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.n8n.io\/hosting\/scaling\/queue-mode\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">queue mode<\/a>. Checked on 10 October 2026.<\/small><\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you have n8n on a server and nobody looking after it?<\/strong> We handle installation, updates, backups and monitoring, or we help you choose the cloud. See how we work on <a href=\"\/en\/automations\/\">automations<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>n8n Cloud o n8n sul vostro server: prezzi dei piani, cosa costa davvero il self-hosting, cosa manca nella versione gratuita e chi deve occuparsi della sicurezza.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"n8n self-hosted o cloud: costi veri, sicurezza, manutenzione","_seopress_titles_desc":"n8n Cloud o n8n sul tuo server? 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