n8n is the kind of tool you start using lightly and then quietly route half your operations through. At which point "it's running on someone's cloud seat, metered per execution, with my API keys living on their servers" starts to feel less great. Self-hosting fixes all three — flat cost, no execution cap, and your keys stay on a box you own. With Docker it's a fifteen-minute job.
How much server it actually needs
Honest numbers first, so you don't over- or under-buy:
~2 GB RAM is the sweet spot — n8n plus its Postgres database plus normal workflows sit comfortably here.
1 GB works if your workflows are light, but you'll notice it on bigger runs.
