Hi all,
I’ve been working with automation tools for some time now. Started with platforms like Zapier and Make which work fine but always felt limited by usage caps and monthly costs. Plus you never really know what’s happening behind the scenes.
Recently found n8n and tried hosting it myself. The benefits look amazing:
- Money savings: Just pay for hosting and that’s all. No worrying about task quotas anymore
- Complete control: Can connect directly to my databases, write custom code, and integrate anything I want
- Privacy: All my data stays on my own server which is huge for confidential stuff
I got my setup running and moved some workflows over. The power is incredible but I keep wondering if I’m just creating more work for myself.
This seems like where automation is heading for serious users. Why pay someone else when you can do it yourself for way less money?
But then I worry about:
- Updates breaking stuff: What if an update kills an important workflow and I have to fix it myself?
- Keeping it secure: Now I have another service exposed to the internet that needs protection
- System failures: If my server crashes, everything stops. No company guaranteeing uptime anymore
Wanted to get everyone’s take on this.
- If you’re running your own n8n: Has it been smooth or do you spend too much time fixing things? Any surprises?
- If you tried but switched back: What made you give up and go back to paid services?
- If you’re thinking about it: What’s stopping you from trying self-hosted automation?
Is DIY automation really the way forward or does it just sound better than it actually is?
Thanks for any insights!
Been running self-hosted n8n for 18 months. The technical overhead is real but totally manageable if you do it right. Most people screw up because they treat it like a side project instead of actual production infrastructure. I run mine on a VPS with automated backups, staging for testing updates, and monitoring set up properly. Updates have broken my workflows twice, but since I test everything in staging first, production never goes down. Staging is absolutely critical - trust me, learned that one the hard way. Security isn’t that scary. Reverse proxy, proper auth, keep things patched. Same stuff you’d do for any web service. Money-wise, it pays off big once you hit 10k tasks monthly. Below that, managed services make more sense unless you really need data privacy. Bottom line: if you like tinkering and know basic DevOps, self-hosting works great. If you just want automation without dealing with infrastructure, go managed. Both are valid choices.
Switched two years ago and wish I’d done it sooner. Everyone focuses on cost savings, but the real win is workflow complexity you can’t get anywhere else. My breaking point? Zapier’s 15-minute execution limit when I needed 45+ minutes for data processing. No amount of money fixes that. Sure, you’re now responsible for uptime and updates. But the trade-off is huge. I run workflows that process millions of records, connect to internal systems behind firewalls, and keep sensitive data in-house. Reliability concerns are overblown if you don’t cheap out. Use managed databases instead of cramming everything on one server. Set up health checks and auto-restarts. Most “n8n crashes” I see here are just people running everything on $5 droplets. Invest in proper hosting and it pays for itself when you’re processing workloads that would destroy your budget on per-task pricing.
been running n8n for 6 months now and it’s been rock solid. had maybe 2-3 minor hiccups but nothing major broke. docker setup makes updates way less scary since you can rollback easily. just make sure you backup your workflows regularly - learned that one the hard way lol. the cost savings alone made it worth switching. was droppin $200/month on zapier before this.
depends on how much pain you can handle lol. i tried self-hosting for 3 months but kept running into random docker crashes. maybe i’m terrible at devops, but spending weekends fixing automation stuff got old quick. switched back to make.com - costs more but my workflows actually work. sometimes peace of mind is worth the extra cash.
Hit this same situation last year when automation costs reached $2k/month. Self-hosting looks appealing until you’re swapping predictable SaaS bills for unpredictable time sinks.
Maintenance time isn’t the worst part - it’s constantly wondering if everything’s still working. Scaling gets messy when you need multiple instances or better uptime.
I found something that bridges the gap. Latenode gives you the control and unlimited workflows of self-hosted n8n without the server management, updates, or monitoring hassles.
Direct database access, custom code execution, proper API handling - all the good stuff about self-hosting. Someone else deals with infrastructure problems.
Using it 8 months now. No more “is my automation broken” panic attacks from self-hosted days. Costs less than what I paid for hosting plus time spent fixing stuff.
Check it out: https://latenode.com
Three years self-hosting n8n here. The learning curve hit harder than I thought it would. Nobody warns you how much your infrastructure choices matter from the start. I cheaped out with a basic VPS and got burned when workflows scaled up - had to migrate everything to better hardware after six months. That sucked. Setting up proper logging and alerts from day one was the real game changer. Most issues aren’t n8n breaking - it’s network timeouts, API rate limits, or database locks killing workflows silently. Once you can see what’s failing and why, troubleshooting gets way faster. Security-wise, I sleep fine with fail2ban, regular updates, and keeping n8n behind a VPN for sensitive stuff. The money savings are huge but be realistic about your time costs. If you bill $100+ hourly, those weekend maintenance sessions add up fast.
Been there. Both options suck for different reasons.
Self-hosting n8n? You’re now the IT guy. Updates will break your workflows - happened twice in 6 months. Then there’s monitoring, backups, security patches. Way more work than you expect.
Zapier? You’ll pay crazy money and hit limits again. Neither scales well.
I found a middle ground that actually works. Latenode gives you n8n’s power without the pain. Direct database connections, custom code, unlimited workflows - all the good stuff. But they handle infrastructure, updates, security, uptime.
No Zapier caps. No server babysitting. Just automation that works.
Moved my critical stuff over 8 months ago. Pricing’s reasonable and I don’t worry about broken workflows from missed updates.
Check it out: https://latenode.com