n8n Self-Hosting Cost Calculator

This calculator prices a self-hosted n8n server against n8n Cloud, and it counts the one cost most comparisons leave out: your own upkeep time. Set your server, backup option, monthly upkeep hours, hourly value and execution volume, and it shows the cash cost, the all-in cost with your time, the matching n8n Cloud plan, and how many minutes of monthly upkeep you can afford before self-hosting stops saving money.

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How to read the result

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• Cash cost is what leaves your bank account each month: server, backups and domain.

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• All-in cost adds your upkeep hours at the hourly value you enter. Two hours at $40 an hour adds $80.

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• Break-even minutes is the monthly upkeep time at which the Cloud plan and your self-hosted server cost the same.

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What the calculator assumes

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• A DigitalOcean 4 GB Droplet is $24 a month, and weekly backups add 20%.

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• A Hetzner CPX22 is u20ac19.99 a month including IPv4, converted at about $1.12 to the euro, with backups at 20%. Hetzner’s order page showed the plan as unavailable on 22 October 2026, so check availability before relying on it.

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• n8n Cloud Starter is u20ac20 a month for 2,500 executions and Pro is u20ac50 for 10,000, both on annual billing.

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• A domain costs $1 a month.

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What it does not do

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This calculator uses vendor list prices, not invoices, and its upkeep time is an estimate, not a measurement. Nobody ran an n8n instance to produce it. It was built with AI coding assistance, as described in our Editorial Policy, and its arithmetic was checked by hand against the worked examples in the full article. The calculator’s own code runs in your browser and makes no network requests.

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The reasoning, sources and worked examples are in Is n8n Really Free? The True Cost of Self-Hosting n8n. Prices last checked 22 October 2026; confirm them on each vendor’s page before you decide.