Question about n8n license and client automations

Hey everyone :waving_hand:

I’ve been digging into how n8n’s license works, especially around providing automation services to clients, and I’d love some clarification.

Let’s say I self-host n8n on my own VPS (Hetzner for example), and I build automations that access my client’s Google Sheets, Calendar, and Gmail. The automations would:

  • Read from their Google Sheet (e.g. leads list)
  • Add events to their Google Calendar
  • Send email campaigns from their Gmail account

Clients don’t get access to n8n directly — they just authorize their Google account, and I run everything in the background for them as part of a broader service.

My question is: Does this count as “internal business use” under the n8n license? Or would it be considered “offering n8n as a service” and require an embedding license?

I’m trying to stay compliant, so any guidance or clarification (especially if someone from the n8n team sees this) would be much appreciated!

Thanks :folded_hands:

PLEASE HELP @liam and thanks

That wouldn’t be allowed under the license

You can’t have your clients credentials logged in.

If you host the VPS on the clients VPS account and make your relationship as a freelancer that maintains their infrastructure, then you can do whatever you want inside of that n8n as it’s their n8n instance

Does that make sense?

2 Likes

Yeah it does, thanks for the help

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