n8n

What n8n does

n8n builds workflows and AI agents, with every integration, unlimited users and unlimited workflows on every plan. You can use n8n Cloud, where n8n hosts and maintains the service and stores data in Frankfurt, or run n8n on your own servers, where infrastructure and maintenance are your job. It suits technical teams who want long workflows without paying per step.

How executions are counted

n8n bills executions. One execution is one run of a whole workflow, however many steps it has or how much data it processes, so a 20-step workflow costs the same as a 2-step one. This is a different unit from a Zapier task or a Make credit, which count each action.

Scheduled runs count. n8n's own example puts a workflow that runs every 5 minutes at about 8,600 to 8,900 executions a month (12 runs an hour × 24 × 30 = 8,640). That one workflow would use more than Starter's 2,500 executions.

What you pay

Prices are in euros. Starter costs EUR 24 a month, or EUR 20 a month billed annually (EUR 240 a year), for 2,500 executions. Pro costs EUR 60 a month, or EUR 50 a month billed annually (EUR 600 a year), for 10,000 executions. Both are hosted by n8n. Business costs EUR 800 a month, or EUR 667 a month billed annually (667 × 12 = EUR 8,004 a year), for 40,000 executions, and runs only on your own servers. Enterprise is quoted. Taxes are not stated.

The Community Edition is free and self-hosted. Without a licence key a self-hosted install runs as Community; Business and Enterprise keys check in with n8n daily and report production execution counts. Companies under 20 employees may qualify for a Start-up Plan at 50% off Business.

Limits that change the choice

Starter runs 5 executions at the same time and Pro up to 50. Assistant credits for AI-assisted building are 1,600 a month on Starter and 4,000 or 9,600 on Pro; they do not roll over, and extra credits can be bought. On self-hosted n8n you bring your own AI key and no credit limit applies.

On Business, workflows keep running over the quota. Extra executions cost EUR 4,000 per 300,000 and are invoiced 45 days later if you do not move to a higher tier.

What the documentation leaves open

The pricing page does not say what happens on Starter or Pro when the monthly executions run out, what extra Assistant credits cost, or what Starter's "AI models without API keys" costs to use. Dollar prices are not shown. Whether a polling trigger that finds nothing new counts as an execution is not stated.

When to compare alternatives

If your workflows are short but run very often, compare Zapier, which never charges a task for polling and counts only successful actions. Activepieces is the closest match on billing: it counts a flow run as one credit regardless of steps and also offers self-hosting.

Before you buy

List each workflow with its trigger and how often it runs, then add up runs per month; the number of steps does not matter. Check that frequent schedules fit 2,500 or 10,000 executions. The Cloud trial includes 1,000 executions with no credit card, enough to time a real workflow and see how quickly executions add up.