n8n Cloud Plans Breakdown
Starter, Pro, Business, and Enterprise compared. Execution limits, concurrency, features, real-world cost analysis, and the Zapier/Make pricing gap.
How n8n Pricing Works
n8n overhauled its pricing in 2025. Active workflow limits are gone. Every paid plan now includes unlimited workflows, unlimited users, and every integration. The only variable that scales your cost is how many times your workflows run each month: executions.
That single change makes n8n dramatically more predictable to budget for, and dramatically cheaper than Zapier or Make for anyone building complex automations.
One execution = one complete workflow run, from trigger to final node, regardless of how many steps it contains. A 3-node workflow and a 50-node workflow both cost exactly one execution. That is the key difference from Zapier (per task/step) and Make (per operation).
Plans at a Glance
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Executions/mo | Concurrency | Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $24/mo | $20/mo | 2,500 | 5 | n8n Cloud |
| Pro | $60/mo | $50/mo | 10k - 50k | 20 | n8n Cloud |
| Business | $800/mo | $667/mo | 40,000 | 200+ | Self-hosted |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | 200+ | Cloud / Self |
Annual billing saves roughly 17% vs monthly. All cloud plans include a free trial, no credit card required. n8n bills in EUR; USD equivalents are approximate.
Starter Plan
Starter
$24/mo ($20 annual)- 2,500 workflow executions per month
- 5 concurrent executions
- 1 shared project
- Unlimited users, unlimited workflows, all integrations
- 50 AI Workflow Builder credits per month
- 7-day execution history
- Up to 100 GB data storage
- Executions and AI credits reset on the 1st of each month
What 2,500 executions actually means: Roughly 83 runs per day. A single scheduled workflow polling every 5 minutes burns through roughly 8,640 executions per month on its own. Starter is built for event-driven workflows triggered by webhooks, form submissions, or manual runs. If you have a handful of workflows that fire a few dozen times a day, Starter is plenty. If you are running anything on a tight schedule, you will hit the ceiling fast.
Concurrency matters more than most people realize: With only 5 concurrent executions, if 6 workflows trigger at the same moment, the 6th queues. For most solo builders this is fine. For anything with burst traffic like a webhook that fires 20 times in a second, it becomes a bottleneck.
Who it is for: Solo builders, freelancers, and indie hackers validating n8n in a light production setting. Also a solid starting point before committing to a higher tier.
Pro Plan
Pro
$60/mo ($50 annual)- 10,000 executions/month (Pro-1) or 50,000 (Pro-2)
- 20 concurrent executions (4x Starter)
- 3 shared projects
- 150 AI Workflow Builder credits per month
- 14-day execution history
- Admin roles for team management
- Global variables
- Workflow history (version rollback)
- Execution search
- 7-day workflow insights dashboard
- Additional executions purchasable via Admin panel (monthly) or by emailing help@n8n.io (annual)
Pro-1 vs Pro-2: n8n offers two Pro tiers. Pro-1 starts at 10,000 executions/month. Pro-2 scales to 50,000. Both share the same feature set. The only difference is execution volume. Monthly subscribers can add more executions directly from the Admin panel without contacting support.
What 10,000 executions actually means: Roughly 333 runs per day, or a workflow firing every 4 to 5 minutes around the clock. This comfortably handles most small-to-medium production workloads: CRM syncs, lead routing, internal reporting, Slack notifications, and similar event-driven automations.
Who it is for: Small teams running production workflows, agencies managing client automations, and technical teams centralizing their automation stack. The workflow history and admin roles become essential once more than one person is editing workflows.
Business Plan
Business
$800/mo ($667 annual)- 40,000 executions/month
- 200+ concurrent executions
- 6 shared projects
- SSO, SAML, and LDAP authentication
- Git-based version control
- Multiple deployment environments (dev, staging, production)
- Workflow diff (compare versions visually)
- 30-day insights retention
- Queue mode and scaling options
- Self-hosted (you manage infrastructure; n8n provides the license)
Business is self-hosted. Unlike Starter and Pro, the Business plan runs on your own infrastructure. You pay n8n for the license key and you pay separately for your servers. This gives you full data control and the ability to deploy on-premises or in your own cloud, which is often a hard requirement for regulated industries like healthcare, fintech, and legal.
Startup discount: If your company has fewer than 20 employees, n8n's Startup Program gives you 50% off the Business plan, bringing it down to roughly $333/month billed annually. That is a significant unlock for smaller teams that need SSO or multi-environment support before they have grown into the full price.
Who it is for: Companies with under 100 employees that need SSO, version control, and environment management. If your IT team requires single sign-on for compliance, or your engineering team needs a proper dev/staging/prod workflow, Business is the minimum viable plan.
Enterprise Plan
Enterprise
Custom pricing- Everything in Business
- Unlimited shared projects
- 200+ concurrent executions (configurable)
- 365-day insights retention
- Extended data retention
- External secret store integration (HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
- Log streaming (Datadog, Splunk)
- 1,000 AI Workflow Builder credits/month (Cloud Enterprise only)
- Dedicated SLA support
- Invoice billing
- SOC 2 compliance (continuous evaluation and annual audits)
- Available as n8n Cloud hosted or fully self-hosted
What Enterprise pricing looks like in practice: n8n does not publish Enterprise pricing publicly. Community discussions suggest contracts typically start at $1,000+/year and scale significantly with execution volume and support tier. Contact sales directly with your expected monthly execution count, team size, and compliance requirements.
Questions worth asking sales before signing:
- How are executions counted and billed for self-hosted Enterprise?
- Is there a base fee plus per-execution charges, or purely per-execution?
- What happens if you exceed your execution quota mid-month?
- Are upgrades and downgrades possible without long-term contract lock-in?
- What does the dedicated SLA actually guarantee (uptime, response time)?
- Does the contract include a dedicated customer success manager?
Who it is for: Organizations with 100+ employees, strict compliance requirements (HIPAA, SOC 2, data residency), or those migrating from large Zapier/Make deployments at scale.
Execution Reality Check
The execution numbers on the pricing page look generous until you map them to real workflows. Here is what common automation patterns actually consume:
| Workflow Type | Frequency | Executions/Month | Fits On |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polling trigger (every 5 min) | 288x/day | ~8,640 | Pro only |
| Webhook-triggered (50x/day) | 50x/day | ~1,500 | Starter |
| Daily report (1x/day) | 1x/day | ~30 | Starter |
| AI chatbot (moderate traffic) | Unpredictable | 500 - 50k+ | Pro-2 / Business |
| 5 workflows, mixed triggers | Varies | 2k - 15k | Starter - Pro |
What happens when you run out: On n8n Cloud, exhausting your monthly execution allowance stops all workflows. Cron jobs, webhooks, scheduled automations, everything. They resume when your billing period resets on the 1st of the month, or immediately if you upgrade. There is no grace period or soft limit.
n8n vs Zapier vs Make
The execution model is what makes n8n pricing genuinely different. Zapier charges per task (each individual step in a workflow). Make charges per operation (each action). n8n charges per execution (the entire workflow run, regardless of steps).
| Platform | Billing Unit | 10-Step Workflow x 1,000 Runs | Approx. Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| n8n Cloud Pro | Per execution | 1,000 executions | ~$60 |
| Zapier Professional | Per task (step) | 10,000 tasks | ~$69 - $299 |
| Make Pro | Per operation | 10,000 operations | ~$16 - $79 |
The gap widens with every additional step and every additional run. At 5,000 runs of a 10-step workflow per month, n8n stays at $60. Zapier climbs to $299+. Make reaches $79+. Over a year, that difference compounds into thousands of dollars.
The one scenario where n8n is not the cheapest: very simple, low-volume automations with 2 to 3 steps running a few hundred times per month. Make's $9/month entry point wins there. The n8n cost advantage kicks in as soon as workflows get complex, which is exactly when automation delivers the most business value.
Which Plan to Pick
- You are a solo builder or freelancer
- Your workflows are event-driven, not polling-heavy
- You want zero infrastructure overhead
- You are validating n8n before committing
- You have a small team editing workflows
- You need workflow history and admin roles
- You are running 5 to 20 production workflows
- You have outgrown Starter's execution limit
- Your IT team requires SSO/SAML
- You need dev/staging/prod environments
- You want Git-based version control
- You have DevOps capacity to self-host
- You need SOC 2, HIPAA, or data residency
- You require log streaming and audit trails
- You need a dedicated SLA and support team
- You are migrating from large Zapier/Make deployments
What about the Community Edition? The Community Edition is free, self-hosted, and has no execution limits. You can run unlimited workflows commercially. The only cost is your own server (typically $5 to $30/month). It does not include SSO, Git version control, or dedicated support. For details, see our Community Edition guide. For hosting setup, see the VPS self-hosting guide.
FAQ
Can I switch plans at any time?
Yes. You can upgrade or downgrade your n8n Cloud plan at any time from the Admin panel. When upgrading, the change takes effect immediately and you are billed the prorated difference. When downgrading, the change takes effect at the start of your next billing cycle.
What counts as one execution?
One execution is one complete run of a workflow from trigger to final node. It does not matter how many nodes (steps) the workflow contains. A 3-node workflow and a 50-node workflow both count as one execution. Sub-workflows triggered by a parent workflow each count as separate executions.
Do test runs count against my execution quota?
Yes. Manual test executions from the workflow editor count toward your monthly execution limit. This is important to keep in mind when actively developing and debugging workflows.
What happens if I hit my execution limit mid-month?
All active workflows stop immediately. No grace period, no soft limit. Workflows resume when your billing period resets on the 1st of the next month, or immediately if you upgrade to a higher plan or purchase additional executions (available on Pro monthly).
Is the free trial really free?
Yes. The n8n Cloud free trial does not require a credit card. You get access to the full feature set of your chosen plan for the trial duration. If you do not add payment details before the trial ends, your instance pauses but your workflows and data are preserved.
Can I self-host for free instead?
Yes. The n8n Community Edition is free and has no execution limits. You need your own server (a VPS starting at $5/month), Docker, and basic Linux knowledge. See our VPS self-hosting guide for a complete setup walkthrough. The tradeoff is that you handle all maintenance, backups, and security yourself.
Why is the Business plan self-hosted only?
Business targets organizations that need infrastructure control (data residency, custom networking, on-premises deployment). These requirements are fundamentally incompatible with a managed cloud service. n8n provides the license; you provide the servers. For managed hosting with Enterprise features, the Enterprise Cloud plan is the option.
