Hello, I’m a beginner and I would like to know if it is allowed to create any form of micro-Saas (Whatsapp AI assistants for example) within n8n and make monthly charges to my customers, without the need to pay for an enterprise license. I read the Docs section and didn’t understand. I would like an answer for my specific case.
It looks like your topic is missing some important information. Could you provide the following if applicable.
- n8n version:
- Database (default: SQLite):
- n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):
- Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app):
- Operating system:
n8n is open-source and offers a fair-code license, which means you are free to use it for your business as long as you host it yourself and don’t offer n8n itself as a competing hosted service. So, building and selling a product or service that uses n8n in the background is completely allowed.
If you’re hosting n8n on your own infrastructure and providing value-added services, you’re within the allowed use case. Just make sure your usage aligns with the n8n Sustainable Use License.
I read the license and your answer seems contradictory. And the excerpts of the license seem to present contrasts in relation to the others excerpts.
The license says that it allows:
“creating an n8n node for your product or any other integration between your product and n8n.”
“use n8n to act as the back-end to power a feature in my app”
and in other excerpts it says that it is not in favor of
“Hosting n8n and charging people money to access it.”
and
“You may distribute the software or provide it to others only if you do so free of charge for non-commercial purposes.”
The key to understanding the n8n Sustainable Use License (SUL) lies in differentiating between using n8n as a tool in your own service/product versus hosting n8n as a commercial service. Here’s how it breaks down:
- What is Allowed:
- You can use n8n as a tool within your product or service, such as powering a WhatsApp AI assistant feature in your app. For example, if n8n is part of the infrastructure you use to deliver value to your customers (e.g., automating WhatsApp interactions), that is allowed.
- You can create integrations (nodes) between your product and n8n or use n8n as a back-end system for your app.
- What is Not Allowed:
- You cannot host n8n as a competing service (e.g., offering “n8n as a service” like a hosted automation platform) and charge others for access to the n8n interface itself.
- You cannot distribute or provide n8n directly to others for commercial purposes unless you follow the terms of the license.
To summarize, you are allowed to build and sell your own product (e.g., WhatsApp AI assistants) that uses n8n in the background as long as you host n8n yourself and don’t directly resell n8n itself as a hosted platform. The restriction about hosting and charging applies only if you’re charging specifically for access to n8n as a service.
Self-hosted: You install and run n8n on your own infrastructure (e.g., your server, cloud provider, or local machine). You manage everything, including setup, updates, and maintenance. This gives you full control and allows you to use n8n without limitations under its open-source license.
n8n’s hosting (Cloud): You pay for n8n’s official cloud service to host and manage everything for you. This is convenient but may have additional costs and is subject to their terms of use. You don’t need to handle the technical setup or maintenance yourself.
Keep in mind that this does have limits.
So best bet would be to contact n8n directly and make sure you are all good to go.
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