Self-hosted n8n

n8n (pronounced "n-eight-n") is an open-source workflow automation platform. You connect apps, APIs, AI models, and your own data with a visual builder — Slack, Gmail, Stripe, HubSpot, OpenAI, Anthropic, your database, anything with an API. Then n8n runs your workflows automatically when triggers fire: a webhook arrives, a schedule hits, a row changes in your database. Think Zapier or Make, but open-source, self-hostable, and not metered.

n8n Cloud is the hosted version run by the n8n team. It's metered: you pay per execution, with plans starting at 2,500 executions/month. Self-hosted n8n is the same product running on a server you control — but with unlimited executions, no per-task billing, and full control over your data. The trade-off is that you (or your hosting provider) handle setup and maintenance. On a WHC VPS, n8n comes pre-installed and pre-configured.

Zapier is the most polished but charges per task — costs scale fast with multi-step workflows. Make is a middle ground with better visual logic at a lower price. n8n is the open-source option: unlimited executions when self-hosted, full code access, deeper customization, and significantly cheaper at any meaningful scale. The trade-off is a steeper learning curve (more technical) and slightly fewer pre-built integrations than Zapier's 8,000+. n8n has 400+ native integrations and connects to anything else via HTTP.

Yes. n8n's self-hosted version (Community Edition) has no software-imposed limits on workflows, steps, or executions. The only constraint is your VPS resources — RAM, CPU, and disk. A WHC VPS Power plan (4 GB RAM, dedicated CPU cores) comfortably handles tens of thousands of executions per month for most SMB workloads. Heavy users on Ultra can run hundreds of thousands.

Less than you'd expect. n8n comes pre-installed on your WHC VPS — no SSH, no Docker setup, no SSL certificate gymnastics. You sign into your n8n instance from your WHC Client Area and start building workflows. The places technical skills help: writing custom JavaScript in code nodes, debugging webhook signatures, and the occasional npm package install for community nodes. For everything else, the visual builder gets you 90% of the way.

Your n8n instance, your workflow definitions, your stored credentials, and your execution history all live on your WHC VPS in your chosen Canadian datacenter (Montreal, Toronto, or Vancouver). The only data that leaves Canadian infrastructure is what your workflows explicitly send to external services (a Slack message, a Stripe API call, an OpenAI prompt) — and that's true of any automation platform.

Yes — arguably more so than the cloud version, because your credentials and customer data don't sit in a multi-tenant database with millions of other workflows. WHC's underlying infrastructure is SOC 2 Type II certified. Your n8n instance runs in an isolated environment on dedicated resources, with daily backups, automatic SSL, and full firewall control. For businesses in regulated industries (finance, healthcare, government-adjacent), self-hosting is often the only acceptable answer.

Not automatically — Zapier and Make workflows don't export in n8n format. But the concepts translate cleanly: triggers, actions, and conditional logic all map directly. Most teams rebuild their highest-value Zaps first (the ones eating their task budget), then move others over as time permits. For agencies, this is a one-time investment that pays off in months through eliminated SaaS bills.

Yes. n8n has 70+ native AI nodes, including direct integrations with OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, and most major LLM providers — plus a built-in AI Agent node with LangChain support for multi-step agent logic. You can also run a local model via Ollama for fully sovereign AI workflows, where neither your data nor your prompts ever leave Canadian infrastructure.

For testing and personal automations, our Edge plan (4 GB RAM) is plenty. For day-to-day production workloads — Slack bots, CRM syncs, scheduled jobs — Power (8 GB RAM, dedicated CPU) is the sweet spot and what most customers pick. For agencies running automations for multiple clients, high-volume pipelines, or queue mode with workers, Ultra (16 GB RAM, 8 CPU cores) gives you the headroom. You can upgrade any time with zero downtime.

Yes. WHC is a Canadian-owned company with datacenters in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. Hosting your n8n instance on a WHC VPS keeps your workflow data, credentials, and execution history on Canadian infrastructure governed by Canadian law — not subject to the US CLOUD Act that affects American hosting providers, even those with a "Canadian region." For Quebec businesses subject to Law 25 or any SMB handling PIPEDA-regulated data, this simplifies your privacy compliance story significantly.

The VPS infrastructure (host OS, firewall, backups) is managed by WHC. Daily server-level backups with 14-day retention are included on every plan. The n8n application itself follows the open-source release cycle — you choose when to update to a new n8n version, which means you're never forced into a breaking change. We provide guides and bilingual support to help if you need it.