n8n Nodes: Community vs Cloud vs Enterprise Node Feature Comparison

n8n offers five tiers of node and feature access across its Community, Cloud Starter, Cloud Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans. The Community Edition is free and self‑hosted with unlimited workflows, executions, and full access to 400+ native nodes plus community nodes—but lacks SSO, RBAC, projects, log streaming, and external secrets. Cloud Starter ($24/mo) adds managed hosting with 2,500 executions, 5 concurrent runs, and 1 shared project. Cloud Pro ($60/mo) scales to 10,000 executions and 3 shared projects. Business ($800/mo) unlocks SSO, Git version control, and RBAC. Enterprise (custom pricing) adds log streaming, external secrets, audit logs, and dedicated SLAs.

Which native nodes, AI nodes, and Code nodes are available on each n8n plan?

All 400+ native integration nodes are available on every plan—Community, Cloud, Business, and Enterprise include the full integration catalog without restriction. There are no node‑type gating or per‑plan node limitations: the Postgres node, HTTP Request node, and AI Agent node work identically on every tier. The JavaScript and Python Code nodes execute on Community, Business, and Enterprise, but on Cloud plans Python is limited to no external libraries.

Community nodes—the nearly 2,000 developer‑contributed integrations published on npm with over 8 million total downloads—are fully supported on self‑hosted Community and Enterprise instances. On n8n Cloud, only a curated set of verified community nodes is accessible; the ability to install arbitrary community packages is restricted for security and performance reasons. On self‑hosted Business and Enterprise instances running n8n 2.x, a checksum‑based vetting system may block unverified node installation unless N8N_UNVERIFIED_PACKAGES_ENABLED=true is set. For the complete node catalog including every integration and AI node, see the n8n Integration Nodes Catalog.

How do execution limits, concurrency, and memory compare across Cloud and self‑hosted plans?

The Cloud plans impose fixed execution caps that reset monthly: Cloud Starter provides 2,500 executions and 5 concurrent runs with 512 MiB RAM per execution; Cloud Pro increases to 10,000 executions and 20 concurrent runs with 640 MiB (Pro‑1) or 1,280 MiB (Pro‑2) RAM. Business provides 40,000 executions. The Community Edition has no execution limits—you are constrained only by your server hardware. [1] [2]

The execution counting model is the same across all plans: one execution equals one complete workflow run from trigger to final output, regardless of how many steps or nodes the workflow contains. A critical caveat for Cloud plans: test executions do not count toward your monthly quota—only activated workflows that run via production triggers or schedules consume executions. The most common cause of rapid execution consumption on lower Cloud tiers is a polling trigger set too aggressively—a polling trigger checking every 5 minutes uses ~8,640 executions per month on its own. For the complete concurrency and memory tuning guide, see the n8n Scaling & Queue Configuration guide.

What RBAC, SSO, and authentication features differentiate Enterprise from other plans?

SSO (SAML, LDAP, OIDC) and full RBAC are gated to the Business and Enterprise plans only— neither Community nor Cloud Starter/Pro include them. Business supports SAML integration with identity providers like Okta, Azure AD, and Auth0. Enterprise extends RBAC with custom project roles (viewer, editor, admin), SAML attribute‑based provisioning (mapping roles and project access directly from IdP attributes), and OIDC for modern federated auth. [3] [4]

Community Edition authentication is restricted to local email/ password users managed within the n8n database. There is no workflow or credential sharing across users beyond the instance owner and creator. Cloud Starter and Pro add Admin roles for basic access management and invite‑based user onboarding, but no SSO federation. For Enterprise, SAML configuration supports automatic user provisioning: on first SAML login, n8n creates a local account; when users are removed from the IdP, access is revoked on the next sync. Instance owner accounts are never converted to LDAP or SAML for security. For complete credential security patterns across authentication modes, see the n8n Credential Nodes guide.

How do log streaming, external secrets, and audit logs differ between plans?

Log streaming, external secrets, and audit logs are exclusive to the Enterprise plan. Log streaming sends n8n execution events, user activities, and audit records to external monitoring platforms (Datadog, Splunk, ELK, Sentry, webhooks) via Settings → Log Streaming → Add new destination. External secrets integrate with AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, GCP Secret Manager, HashiCorp Vault, 1Password, and Infisical. [5] [6]

External secrets decouple sensitive credentials from n8n’s internal database entirely—ideal for SOC2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA compliance workloads. Secrets are referenced in credential fields using {{$secrets.vault-name.secret-name}} syntax and resolved at runtime, not stored in n8n. Audit logs capture every significant action—workflow creation, credential access, user permission changes, and execution events—and can be streamed to your SIEM alongside application logs. Enterprise also provides 365+ days of execution log retention with hourly granularity, compared to 7 days on Starter and 30 days on Pro. For teams below Enterprise, a lightweight audit trail can be built using community templates that capture error logs and execution metrics into n8n’s own Data Tables—see the n8n DevOps Nodes guide.

How do projects, environments, and Git version control scale across plans?

Shared projects enable teams to build and edit workflows together. Cloud Starter provides 1 shared project with unlimited members; Pro expands to 3 shared projects with admin roles and 30 days of workflow history; Business provides 6 projects with RBAC (project admins/editors/viewers) and Git‑based version control; Enterprise unlocks unlimited projects with custom role definitions. [1]

Environments (dev → staging → production) are available on Pro (2 instances), Business (full multi‑env with Git promotion), and Enterprise (unlimited). Business uses Git‑backed source control to manage workflow versions with diffs, branching, and promotion across environments. Community Edition users must set up environments manually by running separate instances—there is no built‑in environment management or workflow promotion. For the complete environment configuration guide, see the n8n Self‑Hosting Security guide.

What is the best plan for solo builders, small teams, and enterprises based on node needs?

Solo builders and developers should use the Community Edition—it provides unlimited workflows, unlimited executions, access to 400+ native nodes and all community nodes, and costs only your infrastructure. A $5–10/month VPS runs thousands of monthly executions without a license fee. Small teams needing managed hosting benefit most from Cloud Pro: 10,000 executions, 3 shared projects, and no server maintenance. [1] [7]

Growing teams (20+ employees) requiring SSO, Git version control, and structured RBAC should choose Business ($800/mo self‑hosted, 40,000 executions, 6 projects, SAML/LDAP SSO, and multi‑environment promotion). Qualifying startups with fewer than 20 employees can get 50% off the Business plan through n8n’s Startup discount. Large organizations and regulated enterprises should choose Enterprise for log streaming, external secrets, audit logs, dedicated SLAs, and custom execution scaling. For the complete production deployment blueprint covering all infrastructure options, see the n8n Docker Compose production stack guide.