n8n Pricing 2026 — Cloud vs Self-Hosted Cost
n8n is the source-available automation tool developers reach for. You can pay for managed Cloud, run it on a cheap VPS, or host it on your own hardware for the price of the electricity. Here's the real cost of each path.
As of June 2026, the cheapest plan we track for n8n costs $8 per month at 1,000 runs and $45 at 100,000 runs (cheapest qualifying plan, 3-step workflows, monthly billing), from n8n's official pricing, verified by hand. Self-hosting is free — the figure is the server it runs on, not a tool fee.
n8n plans & real cost
Cheapest qualifying plan at four typical run volumes (3-step workflows) — prices generated live from our data, never hand-typed. Toggle to see prices when billed annually.
≈ Converted from USD at today's rate — not the amount you're billed.
Cloud
- 1,000 runs / month
- Cloud Starter
- 5,000 runs / month
- Cloud Pro 10k
- 20,000 runs / month
- Cloud Pro 50k
- 100,000 runs / month
- Business 100k
Self-host · VPS
- 1,000 runs / month
- self-hosted*
- 5,000 runs / month
- self-hosted*
- 20,000 runs / month
- self-hosted*
- 100,000 runs / month
- self-hosted*
Monthly figure is the rented server (VPS + database) that scales with volume — the software itself is free.
Self-host · own server
- 1,000 runs / month
- self-hosted*
- + ~$90 hardware (one-off)
- 1-2 vCPU, 2GB (Raspberry Pi 4 / mini PC), SQLite
- 5,000 runs / month
- self-hosted*
- + ~$90 hardware (one-off)
- 1-2 vCPU, 2GB (Raspberry Pi 4 / mini PC), SQLite
- 20,000 runs / month
- self-hosted*
- + ~$200 hardware (one-off)
- 2 vCPU, 4GB + Postgres (mini PC)
- 100,000 runs / month
- self-hosted*
- + ~$350 hardware (one-off)
- 2-4 vCPU, 8GB + Postgres + Redis (queue mode)
Monthly figure is electricity only — the software is free. One-off hardware cost (a mini PC or Pi you keep) is shown per volume.
n8n vs alternatives
Price for 20,000 runs / month across every tool we track. Use the Monthly / Annual toggle above to switch how the prices are billed.
| Tool | Price for 20,000 runs (monthly) | Integrations | Self-host |
|---|---|---|---|
| n8n | $25 | 1,868+ | Yes (free SW) |
| Zapier | $433.5 | 9,000+ | No |
| Make | $64.71 | 3,000+ | No |
| Pipedream | $153 | 3,000+ | No |
| Activepieces | $0 | 747+ | Yes (free SW) |
| Automatisch | $25 | 50+ | Yes (free SW) |
| Node-RED | $25 | 5,000+ | Yes (free SW) |
See all n8n alternatives → · Cheapest automation tool → · Full interactive comparison → · Plan limits & run caps →
When n8n is worth it
| Use case | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Developer comfortable with a server | Self-host — near-free at any volume |
| Want managed hosting, no DevOps | n8n Cloud is fair value |
| Need GDPR / EU data residency | Self-host in your own region |
| Non-technical and want a no-code UI | Consider Make or Activepieces |
| Need a huge third-party app catalog | Zapier still leads on breadth |
| No appetite for any infrastructure | Cloud only — skip self-host |