n8n is the rare tool where the self-hosted version is the same product as the paid cloud. So the question isn’t which one has more features. It’s what you pay for, in money and in time.
Short answer: n8n Cloud is worth it at low volume if you never want to see a server. Self-hosting wins as soon as you have many runs, sensitive data, or community nodes, provided someone owns the maintenance.
n8n Cloud
n8n runs the instance for you and bills by workflow execution: one run of a workflow is one execution, however many steps it has.
| Plan | Price | Executions/month | Concurrent runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | €20/mo annual, €24 monthly | 2,500 | 5 |
| Pro | €50/mo annual, €60 monthly | 10,000 | 20 |
Every plan has unlimited users, workflows, and steps. What drives the price is volume. A single workflow polling every 5 minutes is 8,640 executions a month, which is already beyond Starter.
Self-hosted n8n
The Community Edition is free and open source, with no execution limit. You pay for a server instead, and you do the work that n8n Cloud would do:
- Docker and a reverse proxy with a valid TLS certificate, because webhooks need HTTPS.
- A persistent database volume, or your workflows and credentials vanish on restart.
- Updates. n8n ships often (see what’s new in 2.40), and skipping versions makes upgrades harder.
- Backups and monitoring, so you notice when it’s down before your automations quietly stop.
A small VPS is cheap. The hours aren’t. Most teams that give up on self-hosting do it after the first broken upgrade, not because of the invoice.
Side by side
| n8n Cloud | Self-hosted (DIY) | |
|---|---|---|
| Software | Same n8n | Same n8n (Community Edition) |
| Billing | Per execution tier | Server cost only |
| Execution limit | 2,500 / 10,000 | None |
| Community nodes | Verified nodes only | Install anything |
| Data location | n8n’s cloud | Your infrastructure |
| Updates, TLS, backups | Handled | You |
The third option: managed self-hosted
The self-hosted Community Edition can also run somewhere else that handles the ops. That’s what a Cadesia Pod is: the same open-source n8n, in its own isolated Pod with an HTTPS Address, persistent storage, and a managed runtime, for a flat monthly price with no execution counter from us.
You keep what self-hosting is good for (no per-run billing, your own instance, community nodes) without being the person who patches it. Start from the App Library. If you’re comparing n8n to other tools first, see n8n vs Make and n8n vs Zapier.
Questions
What's the difference between n8n Cloud and self-hosted n8n?
n8n Cloud is hosted by n8n and billed by monthly workflow executions. Self-hosted n8n is the free Community Edition running on your own infrastructure, with no execution limit but with the server work on you.
How many executions do n8n Cloud plans include?
Starter includes 2,500 executions a month and Pro includes 10,000. Starter is €20 a month billed annually or €24 monthly; Pro is €50 annually or €60 monthly.
Can I move workflows from n8n Cloud to self-hosted?
Yes. Workflows export as JSON and import into any n8n instance. Credentials have to be re-entered, and community nodes need to be installed on the new instance.