n8n

Method: compiled from 2 official vendor sources reviewed on October 07, 2026 for n8n Cloud and Community Edition plan data as of October 2026. SRG did not hands-on test this tool.

What is n8n? Architecture & Deployment Editions

n8n is a workflow automation platform distributed in two editions: managed Cloud subscription plans and a self-hosted Community edition. Technical solopreneurs, systems integrators, and engineering teams are the audience this dossier addresses.

Cloud plans. The official n8n pricing page lists Starter, Pro, and Business plans, each with a monthly execution allowance and, on Starter and Pro, a documented concurrency cap. All Cloud plans include unlimited users and workflows.

Community edition. The official n8n Docker Compose documentation describes self-hosted deployment. Without a license key, n8n runs as the free Community edition under the Sustainable Use License, with unlimited executions.

Metering unit. n8n counts a full workflow run from start to finish as one execution. The number of steps inside the run does not change the count.

🚀 Core Features & Documented Technical Limits

Each capability below is paired with the limit the official sources document.

• Workflow executions with unlimited steps: Starter includes 2,500 executions per month, Pro includes 10,000, and Business includes 40,000. Each plan’s allowance is its ceiling.
• Concurrent executions: Starter caps concurrency at 5. Pro allows up to 50. The reviewed sources do not record a Business concurrency figure.
• Unlimited users and workflows: All Cloud plans include them, so the monthly execution allowance is the quota that varies by plan.
• Full-run metering: An execution consumes allowance only when a workflow runs from start to finish.
• Self-hosted Community edition: It lists unlimited executions and no license fee. It runs on operator-provided infrastructure deployed per the Docker Compose documentation, and the licensing terms are the Sustainable Use License.

⚖️ Documented Pros & Cons (Technical Consequences)

💰 Pricing & Plan Breakdown

The figures below come from the official n8n pricing page. All amounts are in euros, the currency the page publishes. Annual figures are per-month prices billed annually.

Plan / Edition	Annual Billing	Monthly Billing	Documented Allowance & Limits	Infrastructure Target
Community Edition	Free	Free	Unlimited executions; unlimited users	Self-hosted (Docker Compose)
Starter	€20 /mo (€240/yr)	See pricing page	2,500 executions/month; 5 concurrent; unlimited users	Managed n8n Cloud
Pro	€50 /mo (€600/yr)	See pricing page	10,000 executions/month; up to 50 concurrent; unlimited users	Managed n8n Cloud
Business	€667 /mo (€8,004/yr)	See pricing page	40,000 executions/month; concurrency not recorded; unlimited users	Managed n8n Cloud

Annual totals are calculated by SRG as monthly price × 12. The pricing page lists a 17% saving for annual billing.

Documented Plan Thresholds & Value-Add Analysis

Plan Allowance Reference (Documented Thresholds)

Plan / Edition	Documented Usage Ceiling	Metering Unit	Infrastructure Responsibility
Community	Unlimited executions	Full workflow run	Operator-provided infrastructure
Starter	2,500 executions/month	Full workflow run	n8n Cloud managed
Pro	10,000 executions/month	Full workflow run	n8n Cloud managed
Business	40,000 executions/month	Full workflow run	n8n Cloud managed

Analysis 1: The Tier-to-Tier Step Multiplier

A single workflow on a 5-minute schedule fires 12 times per hour, 288 times per day, and about 8,640 times in a 30-day month. That is 345.6% of the Starter allowance of 2,500 executions, and it exhausts that allowance in under 9 days (calculated by SRG).

The same 8,640 runs fall below the Pro allowance of 10,000 executions. The Community edition lists unlimited executions.

Analysis 2: Annual vs. Monthly Cash Commitments

Annual billing commits €240/yr for Starter, €600/yr for Pro, and €8,004/yr for Business (calculated by SRG: €20, €50, and €667 × 12). The pricing page lists a 17% saving for choosing annual over monthly billing.

Analysis 3: Unit Economics Normalization (Cost per 1,000 Runs)

If a plan’s full allowance is used, Starter costs €0.008 per run (€20 ÷ 2,500), or €8.00 per 1,000 runs. Pro costs €0.005 per run (€50 ÷ 10,000), or €5.00 per 1,000 runs.

Pro’s marginal run cost is 37.5% lower than Starter’s. Its documented concurrency cap is 10 times higher, at 50 versus 5 (all calculated by SRG).

Cluster Guides

• Self-Hosting Deployment Guide: production configuration baseline on a Linux VPS via Docker Compose and PostgreSQL.
• PostgreSQL Timeout Resolution SOP: database connection pool exhaustion, keep-alive parameters, and handshake timeouts.
• Active Loops & Pagination Playbook: batch iteration and HTTP $pageCount pagination without infinite loops.
• Media Outreach Bot SOP: automated PR monitoring, LLM semantic filtering, and pitch staging.
• B2B Lead Generation Templates: copyable JSON workflow schemas for enrichment, email verification, and CRM synchronization.
• AI Automation Architecture Comparison: n8n, Make, Zapier, and LangGraph compared on data sovereignty and execution runtimes.
• SQLite to PostgreSQL Migration SOP: database CLI migration from single-file SQLite to PostgreSQL in Docker Compose.

🏆 Objective Fit Summary (Documented Boundaries)

Architectural Fit

• Multi-step pipelines: Workloads with many nodes per run align with full-run metering, since step count does not change the execution count.
• Operator-controlled hosting: Environments that need execution on infrastructure the operator controls align with the Community edition, which lists unlimited executions and no license fee.
• Multi-seat teams: Teams with several operators align with Cloud plans that include unlimited users.

Operational Mismatch

• No infrastructure capacity: Teams that exceed Cloud execution allowances and cannot provision or maintain a self-hosted deployment conflict with the Community edition’s operator-provided infrastructure model.
• High simultaneous execution on Starter: Workloads needing more than 5 concurrent executions exceed the Starter concurrency cap.

Sources & Method

Source	Endpoint URL	Type	Accessed	Documented Scope
n8n Pricing page	https://n8n.io/pricing	Official Vendor Pricing	October 2026	Cloud Starter, Pro, and Business pricing, concurrency limits, execution quotas, unlimited users, and the free Community edition.
n8n Docker Compose documentation	https://docs.n8n.io/hosting/installation/docker-compose/	Official Tech Documentation	October 2026	Docker Compose specifications and self-hosted Community edition deployment terms.

What was not tested: SRG did not run hands-on billing audits, enterprise contract negotiations, or payment gateway tests. All commercial figures, feature boundaries, and execution quotas are documented from official n8n sources as of October 2026.