n8n Pricing 2026: Which Plan Is Right for Your Business?

n8n Pricing at a Glance (April 2026)

Bottom line: n8n has four plans ranging from free (self-hosted) to €667/month (Business). All plans include unlimited users, unlimited workflows, and every integration (400+). You only pay based on how many times your workflows run.

Annual billing saves 17%. Prices verified against n8n.io/pricing in April 2026. Note: Business is self-hosted only (with license key). Enterprise is available as cloud or self-hosted.

How n8n Billing Actually Works

Bottom line: n8n charges per workflow execution — one full run from trigger to end, no matter how many steps. A 3-step and a 30-step workflow both count as 1 execution. This is fundamentally different from Zapier (counts each action step) and Make (counts each module), which is why n8n wins on price for complex automations.

n8n is an open-source workflow automation platform with 400+ built-in integrations used by over 50,000 companies, including Delivery Hero, Zendesk, and Vodafone. It offers both a free self-hosted Community Edition and managed cloud plans, with pricing based on workflow executions rather than individual steps.

But there are a few things that trip people up in production:

I set up webhook-based triggers for clients whenever possible — they only fire when something actually happens, which keeps execution counts predictable. If you're evaluating n8n cost for your business, the trigger type matters as much as the plan you choose.

Community Edition: When "Free" Is Actually Free

Bottom line: The self-hosted Community Edition costs €0 in license fees. You pay for hosting — typically €5–20/month for a VPS. No execution limits, no workflow limits, all 400+ integrations. This is the best deal in automation — but only if you have someone to maintain a server.

This is where I spend most of my time. A recent example: I set up n8n on a €9/month Hetzner VPS for a client running an online education business. They have 14 active workflows — lead routing from Telegram and web forms, student onboarding sequences, payment notifications, reporting to Notion. About 8,000 executions per month. Total n8n cost: €9. The equivalent on n8n Cloud Pro would be €50+. On Zapier, with workflows averaging 8–12 steps, we estimated $200–350/month.

Here's what self-hosting actually involves:

• VPS cost: €5–10/month on Hetzner or DigitalOcean for most workloads. €15–20 for heavy processing.
• Setup: 1–3 hours with Docker. The n8n documentation covers it well.
• Maintenance: 2–4 hours per month — updates, backups, occasional debugging.
• What you give up: No managed updates, no execution monitoring dashboard, no SSO. And if something breaks at 2 AM, that's your problem.

Self-hosting is the best deal in automation — but only if you have someone to maintain it. That can be a developer on your team, a freelancer, or a consultant. Your workflows export as JSON and import directly into a self-hosted instance, so nothing is lost if you switch later.

Starter Plan (€20/mo): Good for Testing, Not for Production

Bottom line: 2,500 executions is enough to test n8n seriously, but most businesses outgrow it within weeks of going live. Use Starter for the 14-day trial, then move to Pro or self-hosted. Don't build production automation around it — the execution ceiling is too low.

To put 2,500 executions in perspective: 3 webhook-based workflows running 30 times per day = 2,700 executions per month. You're already over the limit, and that's a modest setup. Add one polling trigger, and the math falls apart completely.

Other Starter constraints worth knowing:

• 5 concurrent executions — if 6 workflows trigger simultaneously, one waits. Fine for testing. Frustrating when a client submits a form and nothing happens for 30 seconds.
• 1-day workflow history — you can't debug something that broke yesterday. In production, that's a serious limitation.
• No admin roles, no global variables — everyone sees everything, and you can't centralize API keys.
• 14-day free trial, no credit card needed — this is the real value of Starter.

I recommend Starter to clients who want to validate n8n before committing. Build 2–3 workflows, run them for a week, see if the logic and interface click for your team. Then move to Pro or self-hosted.

Pro Plan (€50/mo): The Sweet Spot for Small Teams

Bottom line: Pro is where n8n becomes a real production tool. Custom execution count, 20 concurrent executions, 7-day workflow history, admin roles, global variables, and execution search. If you're staying on cloud, this is the plan.

What makes the jump from Starter worth it:

• Custom executions — you pick the volume that matches your workload instead of hitting a fixed wall at 2,500.
• 20 concurrent executions — enough to handle parallel workflows without queuing delays. If you're building AI agents that call multiple APIs, this headroom matters.
• 7 days of insights — see which workflows run most, which fail, where bottlenecks are. Essential for keeping production automations healthy.
• Global variables — store API keys, environment configs, and shared values in one place. Without this, you end up hardcoding credentials into every workflow, which is both messy and insecure.
• Execution search — find a specific run by the data it processed. When a client says "the order from Tuesday didn't sync," you can find it in seconds instead of scrolling through logs.

The price-to-value ratio on Pro is the best in n8n's cloud lineup. If self-hosting isn't an option for your team, this is where you should land.

Business Plan (€667/mo): Not for Everyone — But When You Need It, You Need It

Bottom line: Business makes sense when you have 10+ people editing workflows, IT requires SSO/SAML, or you need Git-based deployments across dev/staging/prod. For everyone else, Pro or Community Edition is the right call. Don't forget: startups under 20 people get 50% off (€333/month).

Here's when Business makes sense:

• You have 10+ people building or editing workflows and need role-based access control.
• Your IT team requires SSO/SAML — not as a nice-to-have, but as a compliance checkbox.
• You need to version-control workflows in Git and deploy across dev/staging/production environments.

A few things to know about Business:

• Self-hosted only. As of 2026, Business runs on your infrastructure with a license key from n8n. You don't get managed cloud hosting.
• 40,000 executions/month included. Overages are billed at €4,000 per 300,000 additional executions.
• 50% startup discount. If your company has under 20 employees and under $5M in funding, the n8n Startup Plan drops the price to €333/month. That's a meaningful difference.

I've recommended Business twice in the past year — both times to teams with 15+ people and existing Git-based deployment workflows. For everyone else, Community Edition gives you the same unlimited executions for the cost of a VPS.

n8n vs Zapier vs Make: The Real Price Comparison

Bottom line: The more complex your workflows, the bigger the n8n advantage. A 20-step workflow costs roughly 19× more on Zapier than on n8n. For simple, low-volume automations, Make's free plan or Zapier's free tier can be the smarter choice.

The three platforms count usage differently, and that difference determines your bill:

• n8n: 1 workflow run = 1 execution (regardless of steps)
• Zapier: Each action step = 1 task (triggers and built-in tools like Filter/Formatter are free)
• Make: Each module action = 1 credit (triggers included)

Here's what that looks like in real money. Prices based on annual billing, verified April 2026:

Zapier task counts assume ~4 action steps per 5-step workflow (trigger free) and ~19 action steps per 20-step workflow. Make counts all modules including triggers. Actual costs vary by specific plan tier and app selection.

Which Plan Should You Choose?

Bottom line: It comes down to three things: execution volume, technical ability, and security requirements. Start with the 14-day cloud trial to validate n8n, then move to self-hosted if you have technical resources, or Pro if you need managed cloud.

I want to try n8n before committing

Start the free Starter trial — 14 days, no credit card. Build 2–3 real workflows, not toy examples. Use webhook triggers so you don't burn through the 2,500 execution limit on polling. If n8n clicks, you'll know within a week.

I have a developer (or I can follow Docker tutorials)

Self-hosted Community Edition. €5–20/month for a VPS. Unlimited everything. This is the best deal in automation, period. One caveat: if your "developer" is a freelancer who might disappear in three months, have a backup plan. Document the setup, keep credentials in a password manager, and make sure someone else on your team knows the server exists.

I want cloud, and self-hosting isn't realistic

Pro at €50/month. Skip Starter for production — the limits will frustrate you within the first month. Pro gives you the execution flexibility, concurrency, and monitoring tools you need to run workflows reliably.

I need SSO, Git-based deploys, or compliance features

Business at €667/month (self-hosted). If you're a startup under 20 people, apply for the 50% discount first — €333/month is a very different conversation. Keep in mind that Business requires self-hosting infrastructure, so you'll need someone managing the server regardless.

Frequently Asked Questions About n8n Pricing

Author: Alex Boch — Operations Strategist & AI Automation Consultant. I build operating systems and AI agents for online businesses. elseops.com