Compare a self-hosted VPS against n8n Cloud's plans at your real execution volume, with your maintenance time priced in, to see which one actually costs less.
Self-hosted n8n on a small VPS looks like a landslide win on paper — $5-20 a month versus $24-800 for n8n Cloud. But the VPS bill is only half the cost. Someone has to apply updates, rotate credentials, watch disk space, restore from backup after an incident, and troubleshoot when a webhook silently stops firing at 2am. That time has a real hourly value, and it's the number most comparisons leave out.
The volume where this flips matters too: at low execution counts (a handful of workflows checking email or Slack a few times a day) either option is cheap enough that maintenance time decides it. At high volume — thousands of executions a day, the kind the n8n Launch Pack's workflows can generate once they're running lead scoring, digests and reporting continuously — self-hosting's cost advantage widens fast, since n8n Cloud bills per execution tier while a VPS cost stays flat. Run your own numbers above rather than trusting a generic rule of thumb.
The calculator steps through n8n's published tiers automatically based on your execution volume (Starter, Pro, Business) and estimates beyond that proportionally. Confirm the exact current limits and price on n8n's pricing page, since plans change.
One full run of a workflow, from trigger to finish, regardless of how many nodes it has. A workflow that runs on a 15-minute schedule racks up executions fast even if each run does very little.
The n8n software is free to self-host, but you still pay for the server it runs on and the time to keep it patched and backed up. The 'maintenance hours' field is where that real cost shows up in this calculator.
The n8n Launch Pack automates the operations behind these numbers, and The Prompt Operating System covers the decisions. Both are a one-time payment away (PayPal or USDT).
Send exactly USDT
After sending, paste your transaction ID (TxID / hash) from your wallet or exchange withdrawal. Payment is verified on-chain and your download opens instantly.
Paying with PayPal? Your download link is emailed to your PayPal address within 24h — or email your receipt for faster delivery.
Paid more than 48h ago or trouble verifying? Email your TxID with order code and we deliver within 24h.