What Is n8n? Self-Hosting, Security and Server Selection

Originally published: 2025-09-09

Technical review: 22 October 2026

n8n connects applications and APIs through automated workflows. Accessible source code does not mean every commercial usage has identical licence terms. Compare your use case with n8n's current licensing guidance.

Self-hosting responsibilities

Running your own infrastructure can provide more control over data and configuration. It also requires decisions about updates, access, retention and recovery. Deployment options appear in the official hosting documentation.

Before production

• Use narrowly scoped API credentials and keep them out of logs and screenshots.
• Evaluate webhook exposure and administrator access separately.
• Design failure handling, retries and duplicate-operation protection.
• Test restoration of the database and required configuration.
• Review execution history for personal or confidential data and define retention.

Resource planning

Size for concurrency, payload size and execution duration rather than workflow count alone. Compare an n8n server with general virtual server rental. Confirm installation, management and backup scope before purchase.