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09:41 discover  keycloak 26.1.4
09:41 backup    verified, zur1
02:00 apply     rolling, ok
02:01 restore   drill ok, 1m02s
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  3. n8n

Managed n8n hosting

Workflow and dataOn-prem or your region

Workflow automation your own team writes, running next to the systems it talks to instead of reaching them across the internet. Pilae runs it on your own servers, or in Zurich, Switzerland, and eleven other Pilae Cloud regions.

Talk to us about n8n

Licence
Sustainable Use
Runs on
Your own hardware, or any of 10+ Pilae regions — six of them in Switzerland and the EU
Upgrades
Pinned, tested against your configuration, applied in your window
Upstream
n8n.io

Running n8n in production: what it takes

  1. Pin and deploy

    The version in our recipe, not whatever latest resolves to on the day, with Postgres behind it rather than the default SQLite file.

  2. Turn on queue mode

    Redis and separate worker containers, so one slow workflow cannot stall the rest and so a second worker is a scale decision rather than a rebuild.

  3. Separate the encryption key

    You hold the credential key. We back it up to a target you own, separate from the database, so restoring one does not hand over the other.

  4. Back up and restore on a schedule

    We take the database and the key offsite nightly. Once a month we restore both into a scratch environment and run a workflow there.

  5. Upgrade in your window

    n8n releases weekly, and the behaviour of individual workflow steps does change between minor releases. We hold your pinned version, test the next one against a copy of your workflows, and move you in the window you agreed.

What n8n is, and who runs it

n8n is a workflow tool. You wire a trigger to a sequence of steps — call an API, transform the result, branch on it, write it somewhere — in a visual editor, and drop into JavaScript for the step that does not fit a node. It covers the same ground as Zapier or Make, with one structural difference: it runs on your own machine.

That difference is the point. An automation platform is, by nature, the thing holding credentials to everything else: the CRM, the accounting system, the file share, the mail relay. Running it as SaaS means those credentials live with a vendor and every workflow reaches your internal systems from outside. Running it yourself means the automation sits next to what it automates, and the systems that were never meant to face the internet do not have to.

It is also the app on this list we run hardest ourselves, which is why the operational advice here is specific rather than general. The default SQLite database is pleasant until the first restore. Without queue mode, one workflow polling a slow API stalls every other trigger on the box. Execution history grows without bound unless pruning is configured. And the encryption key that protects every stored credential is, by default, sitting in the same backup as the database it protects.

One thing to be clear about: n8n is not open source, and the note below sets out what its licence allows. For internal automation that costs nothing. We would rather write that here than have it surface in a procurement review.

n8n ships under the Sustainable Use Licence, not an open-source licence. You may run it for your own internal business purposes without paying anyone; offering it to third parties as a hosted service is restricted. Pilae operates your deployment for you, which is internal use — but if you intend to resell access to it, that needs an agreement with n8n first, and we will say so rather than let you find out later.

n8n system requirements

Before anything is deployed, this is what has to exist. We size it with you in the first session, and we say so when your own hardware is already enough.

CPU and memory
2 vCPU · 4 GBFor the main node. Real volume wants queue mode and separate workers, which is the same image again.
Database
PostgreSQLSQLite is the default and is fine until the first time you want a second node or a clean restore.
Queue
RedisRequired for queue mode. Without it one process does triggers and execution both, and a slow workflow blocks the rest.
Encryption key
1 key, stored apartIt encrypts every saved credential and you hold it. Backed up separately from the database, because one file holding both leaks everything.
DNS and TLS
1 hostnameReachable by whatever calls your webhooks. Certificate issuance and renewal are automated end to end.

Migrating from Zapier to n8n

Zapier workflows do not convert. The triggers, the field mappings and the branching all have direct equivalents in n8n, but there is no import: somebody rebuilds each one. That is less daunting than it sounds, because most estates turn out to have a long tail of Zaps nobody has looked at in two years. We inventory what actually ran in the last ninety days, rebuild those, and let the rest expire with the subscription. The credentials are the part to plan around — every integration has to be re-authorised against the new host.

  1. Count what actually runs

    Execution history for the last ninety days, not the list of workflows. That list is usually much shorter than the one in the sidebar.

  2. Rebuild the live ones

    Trigger by trigger, with the same inputs fired at both systems so the outputs can be compared rather than assumed.

  3. Re-authorise the integrations

    Every connected service needs new credentials against the new host. They are encrypted with a key held in your vault, not in the database.

  4. Run in parallel, then stop paying

    Both systems stay live. The old one writes to a log instead of acting. We switch it off once a full cycle has run without error, including the monthly and quarterly jobs.

What a night of n8n executions looks like

n8n · worker-027 lines

infoexec invoice-sync: ok in 2.4s, 41 items

infobackup database and encryption key: verified offsite

infoexec crm-to-erp: ok in 0.8s, 6 items

inforestore drill from last backup: ok, 1m02s

infoexec vendor-webhook: retry 1 of 3, upstream returned 502

infoexec vendor-webhook: ok in 1.1s, 1 item

infoprune executions older than 30 days: 12,904 rows

The shape of an overnight window under queue mode: triggers and execution are separate processes, so the workflow retrying against a slow upstream at 03:47 holds nothing else up.

What Pilae is responsible for

A pinned version

A version we have run, not whatever latest resolves to that day.

A runbook

What it depends on, how it fails, what to do about it. In your repository.

A restore drill

Backups restored on a schedule. A backup nobody has restored is a file.

A patch window

Security updates in a window you agreed, with a rollback ready.

Someone watching

Every endpoint probed on the minute. An alert reaches a person, not a dashboard nobody opens.

Where it runs
zur1, fra1, fal1, gra1, ams1, hel1, lon1, ash1, hil1, sin1, tok1, syd1, on-premZurich, Frankfurt, Falkenstein, Gravelines, Amsterdam, Helsinki, London, Ashburn, Hillsboro, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Your own hardware
Who holds the credentials
You do. Ours are separate, named, logged and revocable with one command. We ask before anything changes outside an agreed window.
If you leave
The machine, the data, the compose files and the runbook are already yours. Nothing stops when our access does.

What running n8n costs

On Starter, n8n runs in Pilae Cloud for CHF 449EUR 479USD 559 a month, hosting and onboarding included. On Business, it is one of up to three apps for CHF 1,590EUR 1,690USD 1,990 a month, on your own servers or in Pilae Cloud. Enterprise is quoted. The plans set what each includes; these are the inputs that move the price around them.

Instance size
The CPU, memory and, where a model runs, the GPUs the app needs for your users and your data.
High availability
One machine with tested restores, or a replicated setup that keeps serving when a node fails.
Storage and backups
How much data it holds, how long backups are kept, and point-in-time recovery for its database.
Plan and support
Starter, Business or Enterprise: support hours, response times in the contract and how often we review the service with you.
Region
Your own hardware, where the infrastructure is already yours, or a Pilae Cloud region, where machines are priced per month. On Starter, Pilae chooses the site.
Sign-on and integrations
Single sign-on, directory sync, mail relays and the other systems the app has to reach.

n8n: common questions

Is n8n open source?

No, and it is worth being precise. n8n uses the Sustainable Use Licence — source-available, free for your own internal business use, with restrictions on offering it to others as a service. For an organisation running its own automations that distinction costs nothing; if you plan to resell access, it needs an agreement with n8n first.

Why does it need Postgres if SQLite works?

SQLite works right up until you want a second worker or a restore you can trust. Execution history grows quickly, and a single file that one process holds open is both the bottleneck and the thing that makes a clean backup awkward. We start on Postgres so that decision is never a migration.

Where are the credentials for connected systems kept?

In the database, encrypted with a key you hold. It is backed up to a target you own, separately from the database, so anyone holding a database dump without the key holds nothing useful — including us.

Can it reach systems that are not on the internet?

That is most of the reason to run it yourself. n8n sits inside your network, so it talks to the ERP or the file share directly instead of needing them published outbound to a SaaS automation vendor.

How do you handle the weekly releases?

We do not follow them. Your deployment stays on a version we have run, and upgrades are batched, tested against a copy of your workflows in staging, and applied in your window with the previous version ready to come back.

Also in workflow and data

NocoDB

A spreadsheet interface over a real database, so a department can build the tool it needs without anyone provisioning a new system.

Replaces Airtable

Directus

A data platform and headless CMS over your own SQL database. Editors get an admin app, and every table gets an API.

Replaces Contentful, Airtable

Windmill

Scripts, workflows and internal tools in Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash or SQL, run by workers on your own machines and operated by Pilae.

Replaces Retool Workflows

Back to apps

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