n8n Pricing Explained: Cloud vs Self-Hosted Real Costs (2026)

n8n's pricing model is the reason it keeps winning cost comparisons: it bills per workflow execution, not per step. A 15-step workflow that runs once costs one execution — the same workflow on Zapier or Make consumes 15 tasks/operations. This guide breaks down what n8n really costs in both flavors, with the numbers that matter for AI automations.

n8n Cloud plans

As of July 2026, n8n Cloud starts around €20/month for 2,500 executions (Starter) and €50/month for 10,000 (Pro). Because executions — not steps — are the meter, a 'busy' automation with many nodes costs exactly the same as a simple one. For most small businesses, Starter covers more real work than a $50–100 Zapier plan.

Self-hosted: the near-free option with a real cost

The Community Edition is free and runs unlimited executions. What you pay for is the server and your time: a 2 vCPU / 4–8 GB VPS (Hostinger, Hetzner, DigitalOcean class) runs $5–15/month and comfortably handles tens of thousands of executions. The honest hidden cost is maintenance: updates, backups, SSL, the occasional 2 a.m. restart. Budget 1–2 hours/month of your time — at $50/h, that's $50–100/month of real cost that 'free' marketing forgets.

The math vs Zapier and Make

Take 10,000 records/month through a 5-step workflow. Zapier bills ~50,000 tasks (roughly $200+/month on business tiers). Make bills 50,000 operations (~$30–60). n8n Cloud bills 10,000 executions (€50). Self-hosted n8n bills a $10 VPS. At 100,000 records the gap becomes structural: thousands per year on Zapier vs a few hundred on n8n Cloud vs server pocket change self-hosted.

AI workflows change the equation

When your workflow calls LLMs, the platform fee stops being the main line — tokens are. An enrichment workflow processing 10,000 items through a mini-tier model spends $20–80/month on tokens against $10–50 of platform. Two consequences: don't over-optimize the platform bill before the token bill, and model both — our AI cost calculator prices the tokens, and the ROI calculator tells you whether the automation pays for itself at all.

Which one should you pick?

• n8n Cloud — you want zero ops, webhooks that just work, and your volume fits 2,500–10,000 executions. Start here; migrate later if the bill grows.
• Self-hosted — you're technical, run high volume, or need data to stay on your infrastructure (EU compliance, client contracts). The VPS pays for itself immediately at scale.
• Zapier/Make instead — you need a long tail of niche SaaS integrations n8n lacks, and your volume is low enough that per-task billing doesn't sting.

Estimates are for planning only — verify current plans on each vendor's official pricing page. If you want the full token side of the budget, start with the calculator and the automation ROI tool.