n8n Community vs Enterprise (Self‑Hosted)

Pick the right edition for your team fast. We’ll assess, harden, and deploy the version that fits your scale, security, and budget.

pricing

Why Choose Self‑Hosted n8n

Short answer control, flexibility, and cost transparency. Here’s how the two editions differ:

Free

Community

Perfect for individuals and small teams. Get full automation power
with unlimited workflows at zero cost.

Great for: individuals and small teams getting started

What you get: full automation engine, official nodes, unlimited workflows/executions

Host anywhere: VM, Docker, Kubernetes

You manage: updates, backups, scaling, and access

Paid

Enterprise

Built for organizations that need enterprise-grade security,
governance, and professional support.

Great for: B2B and regulated teams that need governance

What you get: everything in Community plus SSO (SAML/OIDC), RBAC, audit/log streaming, multi‑environment promotion, and vendor
SLAs

Built for scale: guidance, support, and operational guardrail

Advantage

The Codimite Advantage

We don't just "turn it on." We help you decide (Community vs Enterprise), then build a production-grade setup: identity integration, secrets strategy, observability, CI/CD, and runbooks so your automations are reliable on day one.

PLAYBOOK

Our Proven Self‑Hosted Playbook

A battle-tested 6-step framework that takes you from initial assessment to production-ready n8n deployment with zero surprises.

01

Discovery & Fit

Workflows, data flows, risk profile, and edition fit

03

Pilot

Stand up an instance, rebuild 2-3 critical workflows, measure throughput

04

Security & Access

SSO (SAML/OIDC), RBAC, secret management, audit/log streaming

05

Environments & CI/CD

Dev/Staging/Prod promotion, backups, upgrade plan

Cutover & Hypercare

Zero-downtime switch, dashboards, on-call pathways

EDITIONS

Who Each Edition Serves (At a Glance)

Choose the right n8n edition for your team size, security needs, and compliance requirements.
Here's who benefits most from each version.

Individuals & Makers

Individuals & Makers

Spin up quickly, automate freely, and learn fast. Community covers almost everything you need early on.

Small Teams & Startups

Small Teams & Startups

Start on Community to validate value; move to Enterprise once you need SSO, roles, approvals, and audit trails.

B2B & Regulated Companies

B2B & Regulated Companies

Choose Enterprise for identity integrations, governance, auditability, multi-environment control, and SLA-backed support. That combination is what security, legal, and ops teams expect in vendor reviews.

COMPARISON

Community vs Enterprise: What Really Changes

Understand the key differences between n8n editions to choose the right version for your team's
security, collaboration, and operational needs.

Area
Security & Access
Authentication and user management capabilities
Local users/passwords
Local users/passwords you manage
Collaboration & Governance
Team workflows and deployment controls
Basic multi-user
Basic multi-user, no formal sharing/governance
Scale & Operations
Performance, monitoring and operational support
DIY Configuration
You configure scaling/queue mode yourself
Licensing & Support
License terms and professional support options
Sustainable Use License
Free under Sustainable Use License (internal use)

Security & Access

Authentication and user management capabilities

Community
Local users/passwords
Local users/passwords you manage

Collaboration & Governance

Team workflows and deployment controls

Community
Basic multi-user
Basic multi-user, no formal sharing/governance

Scale & Operations

Performance, monitoring and operational support

Community
DIY Configuration
You configure scaling/queue mode yourself

Licensing & Support

License terms and professional support options

Community
Sustainable Use License
Free under Sustainable Use License (internal use)

TCO SNAPSHOT

TCO Snapshot (Self‑Hosted)

A detailed breakdown of total cost of ownership factors when choosing between
Community and Enterprise editions for self-hosted deployment.

Category
License
Free (SUL)
Identity
Local users/2FA
Access Control
Basic
Audit & Logs
Basic instance logs
Environments
Manual
Support
Community only

License

Community
Free (SUL)

Identity

Community
Local users/2FA

Access Control

Community
Basic

Audit & Logs

Community
Basic instance logs

Environments

Community
Manual

Support

Community
Community only

faq

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to the most common questions about Codimite’s deployments, support, and capabilities.

Is Community enough for production?

Yes for smaller, low-risk use cases with simple access needs. As soon as you need centralized identity, roles, auditability, or SLAs, Enterprise is the safer bet.

Do we need Enterprise for SSO?

Yes. SAML/OIDC SSO is available on Enterprise self-hosted.

Can we start on Community and upgrade later?

Absolutely. Many teams begin on Community and switch to Enterprise when governance or scale requirements kick in.

What about licensing?

Community is under the Sustainable Use License (fair-code); Enterprise uses a commercial license.

Do you offer SLAs?

Codimite can provide managed ops SLAs; n8n Enterprise also includes vendor SLAs/support packages.

Ready To Pick The Right Edition?

We’ll help you evaluate, harden, and deploy your self‑hosted n8n Community or Enterprise without the guesswork.

Contact Us
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