Why self‑host n8n?
Self‑hosting n8n gives you full control over your automation platform. Whether you’re protecting sensitive data, optimizing costs, or customizing integrations, running n8n on your own infrastructure removes limitations of managed plans and unlocks enterprise‑grade flexibility.
Key benefits
- Data privacy & compliance: Keep workflows and credentials inside your environment to meet internal security policies and regulatory requirements.
- Cost control: Avoid recurring per‑user or usage fees for managed services; scale compute to your needs.
- Customizability: Install community nodes, develop private nodes, and integrate with internal services without restrictions.
- Performance & reliability: Choose the infrastructure, redundancy and monitoring strategy that fits your SLA.
Deployment options
n8n is flexible and can run in multiple environments. Common choices are:
- Docker Compose: Fast to start and ideal for small teams or proof‑of‑concepts.
- Kubernetes: Production‑grade deployments benefit from auto‑scaling, rolling updates and easier high availability.
- Virtual private server (VPS): Simple and cost effective for single‑instance setups (DigitalOcean, Linode, AWS EC2).
- Platform images: Use a marketplace image or distro (Ubuntu/Debian) with systemd for process supervision.
Recommended stack & sizing
Start with minimal resources and scale when needed:
- Small deployments: 1–2 vCPU, 1–2 GB RAM, and a 10–20 GB disk (for logs & DB)
- Production: 2–4+ vCPU, 4–8+ GB RAM, and persistent storage; consider separate PostgreSQL instance for reliability
- Database: PostgreSQL is recommended for production (SQLite is acceptable for dev & testing)
- Reverse proxy & TLS: Nginx, Traefik or a managed load balancer with certificates (Let’s Encrypt)
- Storage: Use persistent volumes for database and workflow credentials/backups
Security & best practices
- Run behind HTTPS: Always expose n8n over TLS to protect credentials and webhook payloads.
- Use environment variables for secrets: Store API keys and database credentials in environment variables or a secrets manager — never commit them to code.
- Network isolation: Limit network access to n8n, expose only required endpoints (web UI and webhook endpoints) and use firewalls.
- Authentication: Enable identity providers (OAuth, SSO) or at minimum enable n8n’s built‑in user authentication and strong passwords.
- Role separation: Use separate DB users, and limit permissions for the n8n DB account.
- Regular updates: Keep n8n, node packages and the underlying OS up to date to avoid vulnerabilities.
Backups & monitoring
- Back up your database (PostgreSQL dumps) and any persistent files regularly — automate snapshots and keep offsite copies.
- Monitor application health with alerts for high error rates, queue backlogs, and CPU/memory spikes.
- Log retention: centralize logs (ELK, Loki, or a managed logging service) and set reasonable retention policies.
Maintenance & updates
Follow a safe update strategy:
- Test updates in a staging environment first.
- Use rolling updates (Kubernetes) or zero‑downtime deploys where possible.
- Review breaking changes in release notes and migrate credentials or node settings accordingly.
Common pitfalls & troubleshooting
- Missing persistent DB: Running on transient storage (e.g., ephemeral container storage) without a persistent DB leads to lost workflows.
- Webhook failures: If webhooks fail, verify that firewall, TLS termination, or reverse proxy aren’t blocking or altering requests.
- Resource limits: Workflow runs can consume CPU and memory; set sensible resource limits and concurrency controls.
Getting started quickly
- Choose a host (VPS, cloud, or Kubernetes).
- Provision a PostgreSQL instance and TLS (Let’s Encrypt + Nginx/Traefik).
- Deploy n8n using Docker Compose or Helm chart (Kubernetes).
- Configure environment variables: DB connection, N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE (or SSO), and webhook URL.
- Import or build your first workflows and enable proper monitoring & backups.
Conclusion
Self‑hosting n8n empowers teams to run robust automations with full control over data, customization and costs. With the right deployment option, security measures, and maintenance plan, you can run n8n reliably in production and scale as your automation needs grow.
If you’d like help choosing a deployment or need a template for Docker Compose or a Helm chart, reach out — we can share examples tailored to your infrastructure.