We only count production execution as part of your usage. Production executions occur when a triggering event or schedule automatically runs a workflow, as opposed to manual executions (see details here). Additionally, sub-workflows executions that are triggered from the “execute trigger” node do not count towards your usage quota.
Please give details about what are the limitations and benefits in self hosted version.
I contacted the sales team about a month ago to learn more about self-hosted. This is their answer, in summary.
On self-hosted n8n, the pricing model depends on which edition you’re using:
If you’re using the Community Edition, it’s completely free and you can technically run as many executions as your infrastructure supports. However, this edition is meant for personal, hobby, or internal non-commercial use only, and it doesn’t include any enterprise-grade features, support, or guarantees.
If you’re using self-hosted Business or Enterprise, the pricing model is explicitly based on execution volume, exactly the same as if you were using n8n Cloud. The sales team confirmed this clearly:
“Our pricing model on any Enterprise or Business plan is based on execution volume on both Cloud and Self-hosted licenses. We do not differentiate.”
So even if you’re running n8n on your own servers, you still pay for Business or Enterprise based on your expected annual executions. What you’re paying for in that case is the commercial license, access to enterprise-grade features (RBAC, SSO, audit logs, support, etc.), and the ability to use n8n commercially, which is not allowed under the free Community license.
Btw, if you want all the details, my suggestion is to contact the Sales team to better explain the situation and your doubts, they respond quickly to requests.
