n8n automation that survives production.
Anyone can connect two nodes. The workflows that matter run thousands of times a week against real orders and real customers. We build n8n the way software is built: self-hosted, version-controlled, tested, monitored, with a human approval where the stakes are high.
What Gigabit does with n8n.
Gigabit is an n8n agency: we design, build and run automation on n8n: self-hosted installation, workflows that connect commerce, CRM, ERP and messaging systems, AI agent workflows, custom nodes and code where the built-in ones fall short, and migrations from Zapier and Make.
For a $28M multi-channel electronics seller, five automations on self-hosted n8n with custom Python and a small language model cut manual operations work from 32 hours a week to 4.5, and process 85% of returns without a person touching them.
The n8n work we take on.
The difference between a demo and a system is everything that happens when a step fails.
Self-hosted set-up
n8n in your own cloud with queue mode and workers, encrypted credentials, backups, staged upgrades and access control, so your data stays on infrastructure you own.
Workflow builds
Order, returns, inventory, reporting and vendor workflows across the systems you run, with retries, idempotency and a dead-letter path for what cannot be processed.
AI agent workflows
Agents built on n8n's AI Agent node with a deliberately small set of tools, grounded in your data, and tested against real past cases.
Custom nodes and code
Custom nodes for systems without one, and Python or JavaScript services alongside n8n for logic too complex to live in a canvas.
Migration from Zapier and Make
An inventory of what runs today, what it costs per task, and a rebuild of the workflows worth keeping on infrastructure with no per-task bill.
Monitoring and takeover
Execution logging, failure alerts and run-time dashboards, and rescue of brittle workflows someone else built.
n8n makes an agent easy to draw. Making it reliable is the work.
The canvas hides how many ways an agent step can go wrong.
Built into the platform
n8n has gone further than other workflow tools in treating AI agents as a first-class building block.
- An AI Agent node that calls tools you connect to it, with memory and a choice of model.
- MCP support in both directions: workflows can expose themselves as MCP tools, and an instance-level MCP server lets outside AI clients use them.
- A code node and a self-hosted option, so data and custom logic stay under your control.
What turns a workflow into a system
In the case study above, the exception router deliberately keeps a human approval in the loop. Knowing where to do that is most of the skill.
- An evaluation set of real past cases that every agent step must pass before and after each change.
- Approval steps on actions that move money or stock, and autonomy only where a mistake is cheap to undo.
- Structured outputs and validation between steps, so one odd model reply cannot corrupt a record.
- Complex logic moved into tested code, with n8n left to do what it is good at: orchestration.
Published prices, mapped to the job.
Every figure here is the same one on the pricing page. Nothing on this platform is quoted from a separate rate card.
A price marked “from” buys the base scope set out on the pricing page. Anything larger is quoted as a fixed price before work starts. Work with no natural end, such as ongoing development, is priced per engineer per month with no lock-in.
Self-hosted, n8n Cloud or something else: the facts that decide it.
Prices and licence terms as n8n publishes them, checked on 23 October 2026. n8n shows dollars or euros depending on where you view the page. They change, so check the linked pages before you budget.
What n8n itself costs
n8n bills per workflow execution, however many steps the workflow has. On a self-hosted install the server, database and model API costs come on top; our build and run fees come on top of either option.
| Option | Paid to n8n | Runs on | What decides it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community edition | Free | Your server | Almost the full feature set, queue mode included. No SSO, Git version control, environments, external secrets, log streaming or shared projects. |
| n8n Cloud Starter | $20/mo (€20) billed annually, 2,500 executions | n8n's cloud | 5 concurrent executions and one shared project. A first workflow, not a production estate. |
| n8n Cloud Pro | $50/mo (€50) billed annually, 10,000 executions | n8n's cloud | Up to 50 concurrent executions, workflow history and admin roles. |
| Business | $800/mo on the US page (€667 on the euro page) billed annually, 40,000 executions | Your server only | Adds SSO and LDAP, multiple environments and Git version control. Self-hosted only. |
| Enterprise | Quoted by n8n | Your server or n8n's cloud | External secret stores, log streaming, audit logging and support with an SLA. |
What the licence lets you do
n8n is fair-code, not open source. The self-hosted Community edition is free under n8n's Sustainable Use License, which allows use for your own internal business purposes. n8n's licence FAQ spells out the practical line.
Allowed: running it to help run your business, having an agency build and maintain workflows on your instance and charging you for it, and using n8n behind the scenes in your own product, where users trigger automations you built. Not allowed without a commercial licence: hosting n8n as a service where your clients build their own workflows, letting outside users configure workflows through your product, white-labelling it, or using the enterprise features that ask for a licence key.
That is why we build on your instance, under your licence. The workflows are yours, and so is the relationship with n8n.
n8n, Zapier, Make or code
| Choose | When |
|---|---|
| Zapier | A handful of simple connections, owned by non-technical staff, where the widest catalogue of app integrations matters most. |
| Make | Branching and data transformation at moderate volume, run by a technical operator who is happy with a hosted tool. |
| n8n Cloud | You want n8n's AI and code features without running a server, and volume fits the plan. |
| Self-hosted n8n | Data must stay on your infrastructure, volume makes per-task pricing expensive, or you need custom nodes, and someone will own the server. |
| Custom code | Heavy computation, strict real-time processing, or logic that has outgrown a canvas. Often alongside n8n, not instead of it. |
Running self-hosted n8n in production
Scaling is queue mode: one main instance receives triggers and separate worker instances run the executions, and you add workers as volume grows. The free Community edition includes it.
One catch the documentation states plainly: in queue mode n8n cannot keep binary data on the local filesystem, so workflows that handle files need S3 external storage, which is a feature of the paid self-hosted plans. Decide that before you design file-heavy workflows, not after.
The rest is ordinary operations work that a demo skips: Postgres rather than the default SQLite, a backed-up encryption key for stored credentials, pruning of execution data, an error workflow that alerts a person, and upgrades tested on a copy before they reach production.
GDPR and where the data sits
No tool is GDPR-compliant on its own; the deployment decides it. Self-hosted n8n keeps workflows, credentials and execution data in your own database. Personal data sent to our US entity or our engineers in Bangladesh would be a third-country transfer under GDPR, so by default we deploy it in your cloud account in an EU region and work inside that environment, so personal data is not transferred to us. You remain the controller and we act as processor under a data processing agreement. Where a transfer cannot be designed out, the standard contractual clauses your counsel chooses are signed before it happens.
Model calls are the part people forget: an AI step sends its input to the model provider you choose, so pick the provider and region with that in mind.
When n8n is the right call, and when it is not.
- You want automation on your own infrastructure, with data that does not pass through a third party.
- Volume is high enough that per-task pricing elsewhere has become a real cost.
- Someone technical, yours or ours, will own the instance.
- Nobody will look after a server. Use n8n's hosted plan, or stay on Zapier.
- The job is one simple app-to-app sync. A native integration is less to maintain.
- The core of the work is heavy computation or strict real-time processing. Write that as a service.
32 Hours Per Week Recovered: AI Workflow Automation for a Multi-Channel E-Commerce Operation
Five automations across Shopify Plus, Amazon, Walmart and wholesale, orchestrated in self-hosted n8n with custom Python for the complex logic and a human approval kept on order exceptions.
Questions n8n teams ask
How much does n8n automation cost with Gigabit?
One workflow, scoped, built and deployed with up to three tool integrations and error handling, is $8,000 fixed over three weeks. A production AI agent is a flat fee from $8,000. Several workflows or a migration are staffed as an embedded pod at $3,000–$7,500 per engineer per month. Running them afterwards is Managed AI Operations from $3,000 a month.
Should we self-host n8n or use n8n's cloud?
Self-host when data control, volume or custom nodes matter and someone will own the server. Use n8n's cloud when you want no infrastructure to manage and your volumes are modest. The workflows themselves are portable between the two, so it is not a permanent decision.
n8n or Zapier?
Zapier for a handful of simple connections owned by non-technical staff. n8n when workflows branch, loop or need custom code, when volume makes per-task pricing expensive, or when data should stay on your own infrastructure. Most companies we meet have outgrown Zapier for their core operations and still use it happily at the edges.
Can you fix n8n workflows someone else built?
Yes. We start by adding logging and failure alerts so the real error rate is visible, then fix the workflows that fail most or matter most: missing retries, duplicate processing, and agent steps with no validation.
Is n8n free?
The self-hosted Community edition is free under n8n's Sustainable Use License and includes almost the full feature set, queue mode included; you pay for the server and database it runs on. When we checked on 23 October 2026, n8n Cloud started at $20 (or €20 on n8n's euro page) a month billed annually for 2,500 workflow executions, and the self-hosted Business plan, which adds SSO, environments and Git version control, was $800 a month billed annually on n8n's US page (€667 on its euro page). The full breakdown is in our n8n pricing guide.
Can an agency build n8n workflows for us on the free licence?
Yes. n8n's licence FAQ allows building automations for a client on the client's own instance and charging for setup, building and maintenance, as long as the client's customers cannot create or edit workflows. It does not allow hosting n8n as a service where clients build their own workflows, or white-labelling it. That is why we build on your instance, under your licence.
Is n8n GDPR-compliant?
No tool is compliant on its own; the deployment decides it. Self-hosted n8n keeps workflow and execution data in your own database, so by default we deploy it in your cloud account in an EU region and work inside that environment. You stay the controller and we act as processor under a data processing agreement. AI steps still send their input to the model provider you choose, so choose the provider and region accordingly.
Does self-hosted n8n scale?
Yes, through queue mode: a main instance receives triggers and worker instances run the executions, and you add workers as volume grows. The free Community edition includes queue mode. One catch: in queue mode, workflows that handle files need S3 external storage, which is a feature of the paid self-hosted plans.
Is an n8n workflow reliable enough for money and stock?
It can be, if it is built for it: idempotent steps, validation between stages, a path for records that cannot be processed, and a human approval on anything hard to reverse. In one production system we built, 85% of returns process with nobody involved and order exceptions still wait for a person on purpose.
Choosing between the three? n8n vs Zapier vs Make
Also read: n8n pricing, with worked examples · n8n templates for business
Often scoped alongside.
Zapier & Make
An inventory of what is running, the fragile parts rebuilt, and a migration when the task bill stops making sense.
Zapier & MakeShopify
Builds, migrations, custom apps and Functions, plus support and returns agents grounded in live order data.
ShopifyHubSpot
Workflow automation, custom objects, integrations with billing and product data, and agents that span the CRM and beyond.
HubSpot
Name the workflow that eats the most hours.
Thirty minutes to scope it. One workflow is $8,000 fixed, live in three weeks.