Can you resell n8n to clients?
· 6 min read
No, not in the way most agencies mean. n8n's Sustainable Use License lets you build workflows for a client as a paid consultant, but hosting n8n for them and charging for access, or white-labelling it, each require a separate paid licence from n8n.
The confusion is understandable. n8n is source-available and free to run, so it reads like a tool you can build a business on. You can — but only up to a point, and the point is earlier than most agencies assume.
What the licence actually says
n8n is not open source. It is distributed under the Sustainable Use License, which grants a free right to use, modify, and redistribute the software subject to three limitations. Two of them matter here.
“You may use or modify the software only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use. You may distribute the software or provide it to others only if you do so free of charge for non-commercial purposes.”
“Internal business purposes” is the phrase doing the work, and n8n defines it: all use is allowed unless you are selling a product, service, or module in which the value derives entirely or substantially from n8n functionality. That definition is what separates a consultancy from a managed service.
What agencies are allowed to do
Consulting is explicitly permitted, and n8n names it directly in its list of allowed uses.
“Providing consulting services related to n8n, for example building workflows, custom features closely connect to n8n, or code that gets executed by n8n.”
So an agency can be paid to design and build a client's automation, write custom nodes, and hand the whole thing over. If the client runs it on their own instance, no licence is required on the agency's part at all. n8n's Help Center confirms the same thing from the other direction: if your role is limited to helping clients set up their own internal instances, no commercial license is required on your part.
What agencies are not allowed to do
Two things are prohibited outright, and both describe the business model most agencies drift toward once a build is finished.
“White-labeling n8n and offering it to your customers for money. Hosting n8n and charging people money to access it.”
That is the wall. The moment you stop advising and start operating — running the client's workflows on an instance you control, and billing them for it — you are outside the free licence. It is not a grey area and it is not a technicality about branding; it is the second prohibited bullet.
Which licence do you need?
n8n's Help Center answers this by use case. Three rows cover almost every agency.
| n8n licence required | |
|---|---|
| Help a client set up their own n8n instance | None |
| Host and manage client workflows on your instance | Enterprise |
| Embed or white-label n8n in your product | Embed |
“If you intend to host and manage your clients' workflows and credentials within your own internal n8n instance, an Enterprise license would be required.”
Neither Enterprise nor Embed pricing is published. Both require a direct commercial agreement with n8n, so the honest answer to “what does the middle row cost?” is that you will not know until you have had a sales conversation. Figures circulate in blog posts and forum threads; none of them come from n8n, and we are not going to repeat them.
Does self-hosting change anything?
No. The licence governs what you may do with the software, not where it runs. Hosting it yourself on your own server and charging clients for access is precisely the prohibited case — self-hosting is what makes it your instance, which is what triggers the Enterprise requirement.
It is also worth separating the licence question from the operational one. A self-hosted instance is yours to upgrade, back up, monitor, and repair. That cost is invisible while everything works and very visible the first time a client's overnight workflow fails silently for three days.
What to do instead
There are three legitimate routes, and which one fits depends on what you are selling.
- Stay a consultancy. Build on the client's own instance and charge for the build. Free under the licence, but you cannot bill for running it, and the client owns the thing you made.
- Buy the licence. Talk to n8n about Enterprise or Embed. This is the correct route if n8n specifically is what you are selling, and the cost is whatever they quote.
- Use a platform whose terms already permit client work. Some managed products license operating the service on a client's behalf as standard, which removes the negotiation entirely.
The short version
Building for clients is free. Running it for them is not. If your retainer includes the word “managed”, read the second prohibited bullet again before you sign it.
This is a reading of publicly published licence terms, not legal advice. n8n directs licensing questions to license@n8n.io, and if your model sits near the line that is the address worth writing to.