n8n Cloud vs Self-Hosted: Real Cost & Feature Comparison
By Rick, NoCode Guide
n8n Cloud starts at €20/month on annual billing with execution limits, while self-hosting on a VPS costs about $12/month at renewal rates with unlimited executions, so self-hosting is cheaper for most people, and Cloud is worth it only if you'd rather not manage a server. Here's the full side-by-side.
Price comparison
| Provider | Plan | Monthly | Yearly | Executions | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-Hosted | VPS KVM 1 | $11.99 | $143.88 | Unlimited | Hostinger KVM 1: 1 vCPU, 4GB RAM, 50GB NVMe. $11.99/mo renewal rate ($6.49/mo on a 24-month promotional term). Unlimited workflows and executions. |
| Self-Hosted | VPS KVM 2 | $14.99 | $179.88 | Unlimited | Hostinger KVM 2: 2 vCPU, 8GB RAM, 100GB NVMe. $14.99/mo renewal rate ($8.79/mo on a 24-month promotional term). Room for Postgres and task runners. |
| n8n Cloud | Starter | €20 | €240 | 2,500 | €20/mo billed annually (about €24 billed monthly). 2,500 executions/mo. Unlimited active workflows and users. |
| Self-Hosted | VPS KVM 4 | $28.99 | $347.88 | Unlimited | Hostinger KVM 4: 4 vCPU, 16GB RAM, 200GB NVMe. $28.99/mo renewal rate ($12.99/mo on a 24-month promotional term). Queue mode and heavy payloads. |
| n8n Cloud | Pro | €50 | €600 | 10,000 | €50/mo billed annually (about €60 billed monthly). 10,000 executions/mo. Unlimited active workflows and users. |
| n8n Cloud | Business | €667 | €8004 | 40,000 | €667/mo billed annually. 40,000 executions/mo. Currently self-hosted only with a Cloud waitlist. Adds SSO, Git version control and environments. |
n8n Cloud prices in euro, as n8n publishes them; VPS prices in US dollars at Hostinger's renewal rate. Last verified October 2026. Always confirm current pricing with the provider.
Feature and maintenance trade-offs
| n8n Cloud | Self-Hosted | |
|---|---|---|
| Executions | Capped per plan | Unlimited |
| Updates | Automatic | You run a pull |
| Data location | n8n's servers | Your server |
| Setup time | Instant | ~15 min |
| Monthly cost | €20+ | $12-29 |
Our verdict
For technical users and anyone past a few thousand executions a month, self-hosting on a VPS wins clearly on cost and flexibility. Choose n8n Cloud if you never want to touch a server and your volume is low. Use the cost calculator to find your exact break-even point.
Who should pick which
- Pick self-hosted if you value control, privacy, and low cost, and can run a terminal.
- Pick Cloud if you want zero maintenance and predictable managed support.
See the official hosting docs and our VPS install guide.
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The comparison in one paragraph
n8n Cloud costs money per month and removes an entire job from your life. Self-hosting costs a server, has no execution ceiling at all, and makes the upgrades, backups, patching and uptime yours. Everything below is detail on that trade.
What Cloud is actually buying you
Not features. The Community Edition is the same workflow engine. What you are buying is that nobody on your team has to think about infrastructure, plus a set of capabilities that only exist on paid tiers.
The paid-only list is worth knowing before you assume self-hosting is a pure saving. Single sign-on, Git-based version control of workflows, multiple environments and custom roles are not in the free Community Edition. Nor are log streaming, external secret stores, or sharing workflows and credentials between users. If your organisation requires SSO, that requirement alone decides this question.
One correction to older comparisons: queue mode and basic logging are available in the free Community Edition. Only the multi-main setup is restricted. Articles claiming you must pay to scale horizontally are out of date.
The execution ceiling is the real dividing line
Cloud bills by executions, and each plan includes a fixed monthly allowance. Self-hosting has no execution limit whatsoever: the ceiling is your server's CPU and memory, and running ten thousand or ten million workflows costs the same monthly server bill.
That makes the arithmetic lopsided at volume and surprisingly close at low volume. A few hundred executions a month on an entry Cloud plan, with nothing to maintain, is a reasonable deal. The same workload self-hosted saves perhaps a few hundred a year and costs you an evening a month. Somewhere above that, the gap widens until self-hosting is obviously right, and the cost calculator will tell you where your own crossover point sits.
One more thing has changed in self-hosting's favour and against the old comparisons: the active-workflow caps on Cloud plans are gone. Plans now include unlimited workflows and unlimited users, so the question is purely about execution volume rather than how many automations you are allowed to switch on.
The hidden cost of self-hosting, stated plainly
It is not the server. It is that n8n ships breaking changes in major versions and you are the one who has to handle them. Version 2.0 dropped MySQL and MariaDB as storage backends, renamed the Docker tags everyone was using, and made task runners the default for code execution. None of that is unreasonable, and all of it is work that appears on your desk rather than somebody else's.
Budget an hour a month: read the release notes, take a backup, pull, verify a few workflows still run. Done monthly that really is an hour. Skipped for a year it becomes a weekend, because the version jumps compound.
A simple way to decide
Choose Cloud if nobody on your team wants to own a server, if you need SSO or environments, or if your volume fits comfortably inside a plan. Choose self-hosting if your execution volume is large or growing fast, if your data cannot leave infrastructure you control, or if you already run servers and one more is no burden. If you are unsure, start on Cloud's trial, build the workflows, and move later. Workflows export as JSON and import into any n8n instance, so the migration cost is low and the decision is not permanent.
Frequently asked questions
Self-hosting on a $12 VPS is cheaper than the €20/mo Cloud Starter plan and gives unlimited executions. Cloud is cheaper only when you value your time over the $12-29/mo server cost.
If you run more than a few thousand executions a month or need many active workflows, self-hosting wins on cost almost immediately. Below that, Cloud's convenience can be worth the price.
The Community Edition covers the core. Some enterprise features (SSO, log streaming, external secrets) are paid, but most users never need them.
With Docker it's minimal: an occasional pull to update and automated backups. Expect 15-30 minutes a month.
If you're comfortable with a terminal, self-host on a VPS. If you never want to touch a server, start with Cloud and migrate later.