n8n lists Cloud Starter at €20 a month for 2,500 workflow executions and Pro at €50 for 10,000, billed annually. Business is €667 a month for 40,000 executions on annual billing and is self-hosted only. Community Edition has no software subscription fee, but you provide the hosting and maintenance. Choose by the workload, features and responsibility your team can support.
Key facts
- Paid plans use workflow executions as their main usage unit.
- The prices below are monthly equivalents when billed annually, in euros.
- Business is self-hosted only; Enterprise can be hosted or self-hosted.
- Self-hosting adds infrastructure, monitoring, updates and backup responsibilities.
- Compare a measured workload, including human review and any model usage.
What does n8n cost?
| Plan | Deployment | Published starting price, annual billing | Monthly executions shown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | n8n Cloud | €20/month equivalent (€240/year) | 2,500 |
| Pro | n8n Cloud | €50/month equivalent (€600/year) | 10,000 at the displayed starting tier |
| Business | Self-hosted only | €667/month equivalent | 40,000 |
| Enterprise | n8n-hosted or self-hosted | Custom quote | Agreed with n8n |
| Community Edition | Self-hosted | No software subscription fee; operating costs remain | No paid-plan execution allowance |
Checked on 19 October 2026. The pricing selector can offer different execution tiers or billing terms. Confirm the selected allowance, payment term, applicable tax and currency charged at checkout. A monthly equivalent on annual billing is not the same as a cancellable monthly commitment.
For UK budgeting, keep the euro subscription and your estimated sterling cost separate. The amount charged in pounds can change with the exchange rate and payment provider. Do not treat an old sterling conversion as a fixed vendor price.
What counts as an execution in n8n?
An execution is a run of a workflow. n8n's paid pricing focuses on workflow runs rather than charging for each ordinary step within a run. That makes trigger design and frequency important, but it does not remove plan limits or the costs of services called by the workflow.
For example, ten clients receiving four reports each gives 40 reporting runs if each report is one workflow run. Treat this as a design assumption. Confirm how the selected plan counts your actual triggers, sub-workflows, retries and test activity using its documentation and usage screen.
What does self-hosting n8n really cost?
Community Edition can avoid a platform subscription, but the full cost includes a server or existing hardware, backups, monitoring, updates, troubleshooting and any external APIs. A paid self-hosted edition may be needed for particular collaboration, administration or security features.
As a planning exercise, if you allow two hours a month at an internal rate of £40 an hour, maintenance alone represents £80 of staff capacity before infrastructure or API charges. These are example assumptions, not measured n8n maintenance requirements or a hosting quote.
n8n recommends self-hosting for experienced users. Check its deployment guidance and licence terms against the service you intend to operate. Do not assume the licence permits every resale or embedded-product arrangement.
Is n8n cheaper than Make or Zapier?
There is no reliable universal answer. Make bills using credits, n8n's paid plans meter executions, and other platforms have their own charging rules. A workflow with loops, many records or AI steps can consume very different units in each service.
Build the same representative task in each shortlisted platform. Record platform consumption, external AI usage, review time and maintenance. Compare the plan that covers that measured workload, with headroom for retries. Our Make versus n8n comparison provides two example workloads and a cost worksheet.
Which n8n plan should you choose?
- A small hosted trial: evaluate Starter against the app connections, features and execution volume you need.
- More hosted usage or collaboration: inspect the available Pro tiers and included features before assuming a particular upgrade price.
- A reason to self-host: compare Community Edition with the paid self-hosted editions, and identify who operates it.
- Specific contractual or enterprise requirements: obtain an itemised quote and confirm deployment, support and security requirements in writing.
Use the requirements of your project, rather than employee count alone, to choose. The implementation brief helps you record the task, permissions, support and acceptance tests.
Can you build AI agents in n8n, and what costs extra?
n8n provides AI workflow features and model connections. Check whether your selected route uses included AI functionality, platform-provided credits or a separately billed model API. The workflow subscription is not automatically the whole cost of an AI process.
Begin with a draft that a person can review. Our client-reporting walkthrough provides fictional data, checked calculations and a prompt. The invoice-follow-up guide covers another business task.
Frequently asked questions
Is n8n free?
The self-hosted Community Edition has no software subscription fee. Hosting, administration and connected services can still cost money. Check the licence and edition features before choosing it.
Is the Business plan available on n8n Cloud?
The pricing page checked on 19 October 2026 says Business is self-hosted only. Starter and Pro are Cloud plans; Enterprise can be n8n-hosted or self-hosted.
Does a longer workflow always cost more?
More ordinary steps do not automatically mean more n8n executions. However, additional model calls, external services, resource needs or separately triggered workflows may add costs. Measure the complete process.
Sources and further reading
- n8n pricing: current plans, deployment and billing terms.
- n8n self-hosting documentation: operation and setup requirements.
- n8n Sustainable Use License guidance: permitted uses and restrictions.
- Make pricing and credit documentation: the comparison's alternative billing model.
- n8n Templates review: evaluating existing workflow designs.
- AI agent costs in the UK: the wider choice of implementation routes.
Correction, 19 October 2026: the previous version grouped Business with n8n Cloud plans and included a workload-cost comparison that did not establish equivalent usage. This version separates deployment options and explains how to measure comparable costs.
