n8n review: the self-hosted automation option, and what that actually costs
n8n pricing across its free self-hosted Community Edition and paid cloud tiers, and when owning the infrastructure is actually worth it for a small business.
Verdict
n8n is the automation tool built for a technical owner: free and open source if self-hosted, or from about $22 a month (20 euros) on the managed cloud. The trade-off is real setup complexity either way.
n8n at a glance
- Starting price
- Free self-hosted, or from €20/mo cloud
- Free plan
- Yes
- We tested for
- Two weeks
Pros and cons
What works
- The self-hosted Community Edition is genuinely free and open source, with no operation cap imposed by n8n itself, unlike every other tool in this comparison
- Cloud Starter includes unlimited users on a shared project even at the entry price, where competitors often charge per seat
- Workflows can call code directly (JavaScript or Python) inside a step, which gives a technical operator far more control than a pure no-code builder
What does not
- Self-hosting means a business is responsible for its own server, updates, and uptime — the software is free, but running it reliably is not
- The visual builder and code-step options assume more technical comfort than Zapier's guided setup or even Make's canvas
- The jump from Cloud Pro (€50/mo) to Business (€667/mo) is large, with limited middle ground for a growing team that has outgrown Pro's execution limits
What n8n is#
n8n occupies a different position in the automation category than Zapier or Make: it is open source, and can be run entirely on a business's own server for free, with n8n also selling a managed cloud version for businesses that would rather not host it themselves.
Free
Self-hosted Community Edition, no operation cap
The only tool in this category with a genuinely free, uncapped option, in exchange for a business taking on its own server maintenance.
The real cost of "free" self-hosted#
Cloud pricing: competitive at the low end, steep at the top#
n8n's managed Cloud Starter tier, at roughly €20 (about $22) a month, undercuts Zapier's cheapest paid plan and lands close to Make's Core tier. It also includes unlimited users on that entry tier, where several competitors charge per seat from the first additional person.
The gap opens up between Pro and Business: from €50 a month to €667 a month is a large jump, with nothing in between for a team that has outgrown Pro's 10,000 monthly executions but does not need Business's SSO and compliance features.
| Plan | Price | Executions/mo | Self-hosting required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community Edition | Free | Uncapped by n8n | Yes |
| Cloud Starter | ~€20/mo | 2,500 | No |
| Cloud Pro | ~€50/mo | 10,000 | No |
| Cloud Business | ~€667/mo | 40,000 | No |
Code steps: the feature that separates n8n from a pure no-code tool#
Where Zapier and Make are built around connecting pre-built app actions, n8n lets a workflow drop into a JavaScript or Python code step at any point. For a technical operator, this closes gaps that no-code connectors cannot: custom data transformation, calling an API n8n has no native connector for, or logic too specific for a generic "filter" step. It is also the clearest signal that n8n is built with a more technical user in mind than its two main competitors.
Who should pick n8n over Zapier or Make#
A business with any in-house technical capacity, or one already comfortable running self-hosted software, gets real long-term savings from n8n that neither Zapier nor Make can match, because there is no per-operation fee to hit a ceiling on. A business with no technical staff and no appetite to acquire any should stick with a fully managed tool instead, since the setup and maintenance overhead is the real price, not the subscription.
n8n pricing
| Plan | Price | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community Edition (self-hosted) | Freeopen source, run on your own server | Full workflow engine, no operation cap from n8n, unlimited workflows; infrastructure and hosting costs are separate | A technical owner or a business with existing DevOps capacity willing to manage the infrastructure |
| Cloud Starter | €20 ($22)per month billed annually | 2,500 executions/month, 1 shared project, 5 concurrent executions, unlimited users, 2,300 AI credits/month | A small team that wants n8n's flexibility without managing a server |
| Cloud Pro | €50 ($55)per month billed annually | 10,000 executions/month, 3 shared projects, 20 concurrent executions, admin roles, workflow history | A team running enough automations to need higher concurrency and execution history |
| Cloud Business | €667 ($735)per month billed annually | 40,000 executions/month, SSO/SAML/LDAP, Git version control, staging environments | An organisation with governance or compliance requirements around its automations |
Prices in US dollars, checked on August 6, 2026. Vendors change pricing without notice.
Who n8n is for
Buy it if
- Someone on the team is comfortable with (or wants to learn) light code, and the business wants to avoid recurring per-operation fees long term
- You already run other self-hosted infrastructure and adding one more service is a marginal cost, not a new capability to build
Skip it if
- Nobody on the team wants to own server maintenance, and the Cloud plans' technical assumptions feel like more setup than Zapier or Make require
- You need to scale past Cloud Pro's execution limits soon; the jump to Business at €667 a month is a large step with no smaller tier in between
Frequently asked questions
- Is n8n really free?
- The self-hosted Community Edition is free and open source with no usage cap imposed by n8n. The business running it is responsible for its own server and hosting costs, which are not free, just separate from n8n's pricing.
- How does n8n compare to Zapier and Make on price?
- n8n's managed Cloud Starter plan is about €20 (roughly $22) a month for 2,500 executions, cheaper than Zapier's $19.99 entry tier and in a similar range to Make's Core plan, but n8n's real price advantage is the free self-hosted option neither competitor offers.
- Do I need to know how to code to use n8n?
- No, n8n has a visual workflow builder like its competitors. Coding is optional: workflows can include a JavaScript or Python code step for logic a no-code builder cannot express, which is an option Zapier and Make do not offer as directly.
Written by
Marcus O.Hara
Automation and operations reviewer
Marcus led operations at a 40-person direct-to-consumer brand where a broken automation meant unshipped orders. He builds every workflow tested on this site against a live sandbox with real order and invoice data, then deliberately breaks it to see how the tool recovers. He covers automation, agents, and integrations.
- Eight years in e-commerce operations
- Built and maintained 200-plus production automations