Short answer: yes, n8n is free if you self-host the Community Edition. Unlimited workflows, unlimited executions, no per-step billing, no feature gates on the parts you actually use.
Two catches, and both of them trip people up.
- n8n is not open source in the OSI sense. It ships under the Sustainable Use License, which is “fair-code”, not MIT. Almost every article you will read gets this wrong, including some that rank on page one.
- n8n Cloud has no free tier any more. It starts at $24/mo. If someone told you there is a free Cloud plan, they are quoting 2024.
I run n8n self-hosted. Here is the whole picture, checked against n8n’s own LICENSE.md in September 2026 rather than against other blog posts.
What “free” actually covers
The Community Edition is the same n8n software the paying customers run. You get:
| Thing | Community Edition (self-hosted) |
|---|---|
| Workflows | Unlimited |
| Executions | Unlimited, no metering |
| Integrations / nodes | All 400+ |
| Code nodes, AI agent nodes | Included |
| Licence fee | $0 |
| Time limit | None. It is not a trial |
There is no “upgrade to unlock this node” wall. That is the genuinely good news, and it is why self-hosting n8n is worth the effort.
What is not free
| Thing | Cost |
|---|---|
| n8n Cloud Starter | $24/mo, 2,500 executions |
| n8n Cloud Pro | $60/mo, 10,000 executions |
| Self-hosted Enterprise features (SSO, LDAP, audit logs, log streaming) | Paid licence key |
| The server you run it on | $3 to $7/mo managed, $5 to $6/mo raw VPS |
The old free Cloud tier is gone. Cloud now begins at the paid Starter plan, so “free n8n” in 2026 means one thing only: self-hosted Community Edition.
The licence, in plain English
This is the part almost nobody reads, so here it is from the actual file.
n8n is distributed under the Sustainable Use License, version 1.0. It is not MIT, not Apache-2, not GPL. The wording that matters is one sentence:
You may use or modify the software only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use. You may distribute the software or provide it to others only if you do so free of charge for non-commercial purposes.
Translated:
- Running n8n to automate your own company’s work: fine. This covers the overwhelming majority of people asking whether n8n is free. Your business is commercial. Your use is internal. That is explicitly allowed.
- Personal projects and homelabs: fine.
- Building client automations on your own n8n instance: fine, because you are still the one using the software.
- Reselling n8n as a hosted service, or embedding it as the automation engine inside a product you sell: not allowed without an agreement with n8n.
There is also a second restriction that surprises people. Source files with .ee. in the filename or .ee in the directory name are not covered by the Sustainable Use License at all. Those are the enterprise features, and they need a paid key. That is how SSO and audit logs sit in the same repo without being free.
So “is n8n free and open source” has a precise answer: free, yes, for essentially everything you are likely to do. Open source in the OSI-approved sense, no.
The catch that actually costs money: the server
Free software still has to run somewhere, and this is where the “free” plan quietly becomes a $5 to $7 monthly bill.
n8n is not a static site. It needs a persistent process, a database, a domain, HTTPS for webhooks to work at all, and something to restart it when it falls over at 3am. The old way to get there:
- Rent a VPS
- Install Docker and a runtime
- Configure nginx as a reverse proxy
- Get an SSL certificate and set up renewal
- Point a domain at it and wait on DNS
- Configure a firewall
- Add a process manager so it survives a reboot
That is an evening, and then it is yours to maintain forever.
| How you run it | Monthly | Your time |
|---|---|---|
| n8n Cloud Starter | $24 | None |
| Raw VPS you administer | $5 to $6 | Setup evening, then ongoing |
| Managed pod (InstaPods) | $7 flat | Minutes |
| Managed (PikaPods) | ~$3.70 variable | Minutes |
The honest framing: the software is free, the hosting is not, and the gap between a $5 VPS and a $7 managed server is smaller than the value of not being the person who fixes the certificate renewal. If you want the full cost breakdown including the things that do not show up on a pricing page, n8n pricing in 2026 does the maths on Cloud against every self-hosted route.
When free stops being the right answer
Self-hosting is not automatically correct. Move to Cloud or a paid licence when:
- You need SSO, LDAP or audit logs for compliance. These are the enterprise features and they are not in the free tier.
- Nobody on the team wants to own an upgrade, a backup, or a 3am restart.
- You are selling n8n-as-a-service, in which case the licence requires you to talk to n8n.
Everyone else: the Community Edition is genuinely free, genuinely unlimited, and genuinely the same software.
FAQ
Is n8n free to use?
Yes. The Community Edition is free to self-host with unlimited workflows and unlimited executions. You pay only for a server to run it on, typically $3 to $7/mo.
Is n8n still free in 2026?
Yes, the self-hosted Community Edition is. What changed is n8n Cloud: the old free Cloud tier was removed, so Cloud now starts at $24/mo.
Is n8n free for commercial use?
Yes, for internal business use. The Sustainable Use License permits use “for your own internal business purposes”. What it forbids is reselling n8n or embedding it in a product you sell to others.
Is n8n free if self-hosted?
Yes. Self-hosting is the free route. The software costs nothing; the server costs $3 to $7/mo.
Is n8n free and open source?
Free, yes. Open source in the OSI sense, no. It uses the fair-code Sustainable Use License rather than MIT or Apache-2, and files marked .ee are excluded from it entirely.
Is n8n not free any more?
The Community Edition is still free. The confusion comes from two 2025 changes: the free n8n Cloud tier was removed, and self-hosted Enterprise features moved to tiered pricing.
How much is n8n Community Edition?
$0 in licence fees. Your only cost is hosting.
Is there a free n8n plan on Cloud?
No. There is a trial, but no permanent free Cloud plan. Self-hosting is the free option.
Can I use n8n free forever?
Yes. The Community Edition has no time limit, no execution cap and no feature countdown. It is not a trial.
The short version
n8n is free the way Postgres is free: the software costs nothing, and you still need somewhere to run it. Budget $5 to $7 a month for a server, read the one sentence in the licence about reselling, and ignore anyone who tells you it is MIT licensed.