n8n

n8n's own hosting documentation explains how a company can run the tool itself, either on-premises or in a private cloud. Its licence documentation names two licences, the Sustainable Use License and the n8n Enterprise License, both based on the fair-code model.

n8n's source code is available under the Sustainable Use License, but the licence restricts how it may be used. The licence text in the official repository permits use or modification only for the user's own internal business purposes, or for non-commercial or personal use. n8n's documentation notes that, according to the Open Source Initiative (OSI), an open-source licence cannot restrict how software is used, and n8n explicitly does not describe itself as open source.

For simpler workflows, where a workflow tool is the right fit, we host n8n ourselves. One business application Business application In general terms, a business application is software used to perform or support business functions. Read in the glossary → we built for a pharmaceutical logistics Pharma logistics Pharma logistics is the term we use for storing, transporting and delivering medicinal products and other pharma-sector goods, such as promotional material and supplies for patients. Read in the glossary → company still runs its chatbot on n8n, but n8n merely passes on the prompt Prompt A prompt is the input a user gives a generative AI system, which then responds with an output. Read in the glossary → that the application has put together. In August 2026 we moved that application's other AI AI Artificial intelligence (AI) covers methods that let a computer perform tasks which would require intelligence if a person did them. Read in the glossary → functions (document classification and summarisation) off n8n, and they now call the model directly. Some jobs need separate AI agents AI agent An AI agent is a software system, built on a large language model, that carries out actions on its own and uses interfaces to other programs to reach its goal. Read in the glossary → , review stages or a deliberate choice of model for each task. In our experience n8n could not provide these, so for such jobs we build bespoke software.