Question about n8n license and client automations

Questions
1

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

2

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?

3

Yeah it does, thanks for the help