Is self-hosted n8n free for client work? The license, setup by setup

On Oct 6, 2026, n8n staff announced a plain-language license explainer on the n8n forum and wrote, Even internally, we were often unsure about this. The License FAQ behind it now answers agency questions head on. It says there's no limit on the number of clients you can serve from one instance. Whether the credentials belong to you or your client is secondary.

The test n8n applies to client work

The free license covers self-hosted n8n only. n8n Cloud is a paid subscription with its own terms.

Internal business purposes sounds as if it shuts out client work. n8n's FAQ reads it wider, as use within your organization or product where people outside of your business can receive or see what your workflows produce. The FAQ then asks whether n8n is the thing being sold, or a tool that supports something else you sell.

Charging for the work is allowed. The FAQ lists charging customers for workflow creation, setup and maintenance, and for training and consultancy. n8n lifted its old limit on paid consulting in March 2022, when it moved off Apache 2.0 with Commons Clause.

Agency setups, in n8n's words

The rows quote the License FAQ, n8n's Help Center answer on which license you need, n8n's OEM page and n8n Cloud's Self-Serve Terms, all read on Oct 20, 2026.

The FAQ's not-allowed list also covers letting outside users build workflows through your own UI, n8n's API, MCP or an AI agent acting for them. It applies even when your product hides the editor.

Why a client login doesn't work on free n8n

A login looks like the easy way to show a client what you've built. On Community Edition it can't. n8n's comparison of what Community Edition leaves out lists workflow and credential sharing, and notes: Only the instance owner and the user who creates them can access workflows and credentials. n8n's role table lets a Member manage their own workflows.

We checked this on a fresh Community install of n8n 2.43.8. The invite page offered the Member role only. Asking for an Admin got Please upgrade to a license that includes this feature. Once the client account signed in, its workflow list was empty, and its home page read Let's build your first automation. It saw none of the owner's credentials either. When the owner tried to share a workflow with it, n8n answered Plan lacks license for this feature.

The client account could create and save a workflow of its own, and the owner's list showed it. So a login gives the client an editor to build in and none of your work, which is the access the FAQ rules out.

How we ran the check

DreamHost ran it on Oct 20, 2026, on a test VM (not a DreamHost server) with 2 vCPU and 4 GB of RAM (arm64, Ubuntu 24.04), using n8n's own Docker image with its default SQLite database. It wasn't a DreamHost server, which ships n8n on PostgreSQL. The limits it hit come from license feature flags the instance reports, so we'd expect the same on PostgreSQL. We used throwaway accounts, no license key and no email server, and we copied the invite link by hand. It was one run on one version, and it records what the product does, not what the license allows. We didn't register for n8n's free community key, so the extra features that key adds weren't tested.

A server in the client's name

n8n allows you to install and manage n8n on a client's own server provided that you are not also hosting for them. The client can sign up for the same n8n VPS Hosting plan on its own DreamHost account and pay for it, and every plan includes n8n installation. You'll do the build and the upkeep. For one client with a light workload, Stack 4 is the plan to start on, the one our pages label For lightweight apps and solo projects. It has the 4 GB of RAM that n8n's Docker Compose install guide asks for.

Settle who holds the owner account before anyone builds. Our check showed the owner sees every workflow, while a Member sees only its own. If the client creates the owner account and invites you, the client can see everything you build there. If you hold the owner account, the client's login is a Member's, with the same blank view our test showed.

If you build on your own server first, move the workflows before the client starts editing them. The free license doesn't allow client editing on your server. The move takes four steps.

1. Export the workflows
   Download each of the client's workflows from your instance as a JSON file.
2. Import them on the client's server

   Open the n8n editor on the client's server and import each file.

3. Reconnect the client's accounts

   n8n's docs say a workflow file exported from the editor includes credential names and IDs, so connect each of the client's accounts again on the new server.

4. Run each workflow once

   Start each workflow by hand and check its output before you remove the copy from your server.

Where n8n hasn't settled it

n8n hasn't given a clear answer on two setups yet.

One server per client, in your name

n8n allows you to run several instances of Community Edition, and it allows client work on your own instance. Its answer on clients' servers adds the condition that you aren't also hosting for them. A set of servers you pay for, one per client, falls between those answers. n8n says a partner program for multi-instance management is in development. Until you have its reply in writing, use one of the two layouts it has approved.

n8n in the back end of your product

Say your product runs each customer's form entries through workflows you built, and customers never see n8n. The License FAQ allows that on the Community license as long as only your backend communicates with n8n, and end users do not access n8n UI or configure n8n workflows. n8n's OEM page puts the same case on a regular Enterprise license. Its OEM docs add that this kind of setup is available on all paid plans, under the standard license, with no separate agreement needed. Until n8n answers for your architecture, plan on the stricter reading and budget for a paid license.

Paid features need a key on any of these setups. Using enterprise features that ask for a license key without an Enterprise license is on the FAQ's not-allowed list.

What to send [email protected]

n8n's Help Center says its help desk can't confirm whether a specific use case is allowed. This address is the route for any setup above marked Ask n8n first. A useful message covers:

• who builds and edits the workflows, and whether any client or customer can log in
• whose server n8n runs on, and who pays for it
• how many instances there are, and in whose name
• whether end users only trigger workflows or can set them up
• any license key or paid plan you already use

For a commercial license, write to [email protected] instead, and file n8n's reply with your client contracts.

Picking your setup

Once you've picked a layout, our guide on how to set up self-hosted n8n covers the install and sizing. If you're still weighing a server against a hosted service, see what the same workload costs on Zapier, n8n Cloud or a server.

n8n license FAQs