Self-hosted n8n automation in Europe. Your data stays on a server you control.
We map the manual work between your applications, build the workflows on an EU instance in your name, and hand them over readable.
- CRMThe quote is signed
- n8n, EU instanceOnly the fields needed are read
- InvoicingThe customer is created
- Shared driveThe project folder is opened
- Your teamAn anomaly? A person decides
Each run is logged and pruned on your schedule; a failure raises an alert.
What is self-hosted n8n?
n8n is a workflow automation tool that connects applications through their interfaces. Self-hosted means it runs on a server you rent or own, so the records and credentials passing through each workflow stay where you decided.
The engagement is the part around the tool: deciding which flows are worth automating, standing up an instance an auditor would accept, building workflows that fail loudly rather than quietly, and leaving your team able to read them. The tool is free to download. The engineering is what makes it safe to put customer data through it.
Three kinds of work come up most: connectors between applications that were never meant to talk, content pipelines where a draft is assembled and routed for approval, and AI steps inside a process, where a model reads or drafts and a person approves anything that commits the company. When the AI part is the core of the need, see AI automation.
n8n, Make or Zapier: which one keeps your data where you want it?
| n8n, Make and Zapier compared on company home, self-hosting, data location, license and best fit | n8n | Make | Zapier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company home | Berlin, Germany (n8n GmbH) | Founded in Prague, Czech Republic | United States |
| Self-hosting | Yes, on your own server | No, cloud only | No, cloud only |
| Where data can live | Wherever your instance runs, EU included | An EU or a US zone, chosen for the organization | Check the data residency terms of your plan |
| License | Free for internal business use; Enterprise license for some features | Subscription | Subscription |
| Right when | Personal or confidential data, many workflows, someone to run a server | Visual flows, an EU zone is enough, no server wanted | No personal data, low volume, a non-technical team |
| Wrong when | Nobody will ever patch or back up the instance | Records must never leave infrastructure you control | Customer data from Europe flows through every run |
Checked on the n8n and Make documentation on September 28, 2026. If your flows carry no personal data and nobody wants a server to think about, Make or Zapier will usually serve you better, and we will say so.
Your auditor will ask where each copy goes.
A run that pulls a customer record from the CRM and pushes it into invoicing keeps a copy in its execution history, unless someone decided otherwise. That history is where most self-hosted instances quietly pile up personal data nobody listed.
How we build AI steps under GDPR and the AI Act- Where the data runsAn EU data center; each connected service listed with its region, so the processor contracts of GDPR Article 28 match reality.
- What leaves the instanceTelemetry and version checks off (N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED, N8N_VERSION_NOTIFICATIONS_ENABLED), full isolation where your policy asks.
- What is kept, and how longExecution data pruned automatically with EXECUTIONS_DATA_MAX_AGE, set to the retention you agreed in writing.
- Who can audit itYour own accounts on the instance, credentials in your vault, documentation written for someone who was not in the room.
From the data map to workflows your team can read.
Each stage hands you something you keep. The instance is in your name from day one.
Half a day
A map of what moves, and what is personal.
With the people who do the copying today: every application, every field, what happens when a step fails. You keep it whether or not we continue.
First weeks
An instance you own.
On EU infrastructure in your name, telemetry off, retention set, credentials encrypted, backups tested with a real restore.
In waves
Workflows that know how to fail.
Each one has an error branch, a retry rule and an alert that reaches a person. Time measured before, then after.
At handover
Workflows readable without us.
Named nodes, notes on every branch that is not obvious, a runbook for the likely failures, one owner on your side.
What you sign for self-hosted n8n, in short.
- Price
- A fixed fee for the build, set after the data map. The hosting is billed by the provider, to your account.
- Instance
- In your name, in the EU by default, or on a server you already run. Never in ours.
- Data
- Every connected service listed with its region; retention written down, then enforced by configuration.
- Human control
- No step that commits your company runs without a person approving it.
- Exit
- Workflows, runbooks and credentials are yours. Light maintenance afterwards is optional, and you can cancel it.
Who builds your workflows, and who keeps them running.
Three senior engineers, two of whom have worked together for more than twenty years. We will not show you n8n client projects we do not have. The precedent we can show is control: for Expertise France, national infrastructure delivered with the sources and hosting under the client's control (not an n8n engagement).
Measured in July 2026, across every engagement delivered since 2019: no client has had to call us back on an emergency after handover. The few follow-on contracts extended a warranty or widened the knowledge transfer, never to repair something we had left behind.
The case studies
Laurent, founder and CTOMaps the flows with your team and decides which ones are worth a workflow.
Clairmont, technical leadStands up the instance, builds the workflows, wires the logs and the alerts.
License, hosting, cost: before you self-host n8n.
Is n8n free if it is self-hosted?
The software is. Self-hosted n8n is published under the Sustainable Use License, which n8n calls its Community license: you can run it for your own internal business purposes without paying n8n. Some enterprise features need a paid Enterprise license.
What is never free is the running of it:
- a server
- backups
- updates
- monitoring
- someone who fixes a workflow when a connected service changes its API.
Budget for that, not for the license.
Can I host n8n on my own server?
Yes, and that is the point of choosing it. n8n runs on a server you rent or own, in the EU if you want it there.
According to n8n's own documentation, on a self-hosted instance n8n is neither controller nor processor of your data: you are. You also carry the duties, starting with deletion.
We configure execution data to be pruned automatically, switch off telemetry, and document where every copy of a record can end up.
How much does it cost to self-host n8n?
The honest answer is a calculation, not a number.
Add the server, sized on the number of executions and how heavy each one is, storage for execution history, backups, and the hours to keep it patched and to fix workflows when an external API changes.
For a handful of simple workflows the total is small. For dozens of workflows touching customer data, the operations time outweighs the hosting by far. We price the build on a fixed fee and tell you what running it will take before you commit.
How do I choose an n8n consultant or agency?
n8n keeps a directory of experts, and freelance marketplaces list many individual developers.
Ask any of them less about n8n than about what surrounds it: where the instance will run, who holds the credentials, what happens when a workflow fails at night, and who can change it after the builder leaves.
Under n8n's license FAQ, a provider may build and maintain workflows on your instance and charge for that work. What we will not do is keep the instance in our own name.
Who develops n8n, and does that decide where my data lives?
n8n is developed by n8n GmbH, based in Berlin. What decides where your data lives is where your instance runs: a self-hosted n8n on an EU server keeps workflow data in the EU.
n8n Cloud, according to n8n's security page, runs on Microsoft Azure with its data currently hosted in the European Union, which is a different arrangement, with a processor contract to read.
Do you train our team on n8n?
No. We build and run the workflows; we do not sell training, and your team does not need to learn the tool to benefit from it. The person who becomes the owner on your side receives a runbook for each workflow and a handover session, so they know what to check and whom to call.
And when connecting your tools is not enough?
Lead and modernize
Someone senior to decide, on a bounded mandate.
- Outsourced IT departmentNo IT team in house
- Fractional CIOAn IT function already in place
- Fractional CTOA software product to move forward
- Technical due diligenceThe starting point, fixed price
- Requirements and vendor selectionSomeone on your side of the quote
- Post-launch supportAfter the handover
- Legacy modernizationThe migration that keeps slipping
- VMware to Proxmox migrationOut of the renewal
- Software project rescueA vendor who stopped
Closer to your case
- AI automation
The work needs a model that reads or drafts, with the hours measured.
Name the task your team copies by hand every week. We tell you where it belongs.
A self-hosted n8n, Make, or a small piece of custom software. If a spreadsheet formula would do it, we say that too.
A 20-minute video call