Running it seriously
The parts people usually discover after a month in production are set up from the start: a real database, execution pruning, and a place for the queue when one workflow starts blocking the rest.
Why self-host it
Credentials never leave
API keys for your CRM, your bank feed and your mailbox sit on your server, encrypted, not in someone else's tenant.
No execution quota
The only limit is the machine. A workflow that fires every minute costs the same as one that fires daily.
Reach private things
Put it on the private network with your database and it can talk to services that have no public address at all.
Light until the workflows get heavy
Webhooks and scheduled jobs sit comfortably on the entry tier. Move up when you start running many executions in parallel, or when a node pulls large files through memory.
From order to a working n8n
Pick n8n as the image
In the configurator, next to the plan and the region.
Point a hostname at it
Webhooks need a name, and the certificate is issued for it.
Open it and claim the owner account
Set your password on the first visit.
Import your workflows
Export from wherever they run today and bring them across.
Straight answers before you deploy
The community edition, self-hosted. Read n8n's own terms before you resell automations built on it — the licence has conditions we cannot waive for you.
Yes. It runs as a system service and comes back with the machine; the hostname and certificate do not change.
Ready when you are.
Configure a server now. Your account is created right before payment, with the configuration saved.