Deploy and Host N8N on Railway on Railway

n8n on Railway is a scalable, production-ready setup that deploys n8n with PostgreSQL and Redis with one click. Designed for reliability, flexibility, and performance, this template gives you a complete automation environment in minutes — ideal for both developers and teams running workflows at scale.

About Hosting N8N on Railway

This setup combines n8n, PostgreSQL, and Redis into a fully managed, distributed environment optimized for production use.

• PostgreSQL handles workflow data and logs.
• Redis powers the job queue system for distributed executions.
• n8n runs in queue mode with separate worker and UI nodes for scalability and fault tolerance.

This setup comes fully pre-configured — just click Deploy and your n8n instance deploys instantly on Railway. No linking, no setup, no extra steps.

Common Use Cases

• Marketing Automation Pipelines
  Automatically pull leads from web forms, CRM tools, or email campaigns, clean/transform the data, and update your database — all without manual intervention.

• E-commerce Order & Inventory Workflows
  Sync orders between your store, warehouse, and accounting system. Trigger notifications, update stock in real-time, and handle fulfillment workflows reliably.

• Data Integration & ETL Tasks
  Aggregate data from APIs, transform it, and store it in PostgreSQL for analytics or dashboards. Perfect for teams that need lightweight, flexible ETL without heavy infrastructure.

• Internal Business Process Automation
  Streamline approvals, notifications, or reporting across teams. For example, automatically generate weekly reports from your database and email them to stakeholders.

• Trading & Financial Data Pipelines
  Collect real-time stock or crypto market data, store it in PostgreSQL, and trigger alerts or automated trading workflows. Ideal for monitoring portfolios, generating analytics, or running backtests.

Dependencies for N8N on Railway Hosting

• PostgreSQL – stores workflows, logs, and execution data
• Redis – manages job queues and inter-node communication

Comparison With Other Tools

• n8n vs Zapier Zapier is great for quick, simple automations, but n8n gives you complete control, unlimited workflows, and no vendor lock-in — all self-hosted.
• n8n vs Make (Integromat) Make focuses on user-friendly visual design but is fully cloud-based. n8n offers similar flexibility with the freedom of running it on your own infrastructure.

How to Use n8n

Click the “Deploy Now” button above. Railway will automatically spin up n8n for you. Once deployment completes, a public URL appears — open it in your browser.

Set your username and password, and you’re ready to start building workflows. From there, you can explore triggers, nodes, and integrations directly in the n8n visual editor.

How to Self-Host n8n

Prefer running it manually? You can self-host n8n locally with Node.js:

# 1. Install Node.js >= 18
# 2. Install n8n globally
npm install -g n8n

# 3. Start n8n
n8n start

n8n will be accessible at http://localhost:5678

What is n8n Cloud

Prefer a fully managed solution? n8n offers n8n Cloud, a hosted service with automatic updates, team features, and zero maintenance.

Plans start with a free trial, and scale based on execution volume — ideal if you want to skip infrastructure setup and focus purely on building automations.

Deployment Dependencies

• n8n Documentation
• Railway Docs
• Redis Queue Mode Setup
• PostgreSQL Connection Guide

Implementation Details

Each n8n node (Primary and Worker) connects via internal networking.
Queue mode ensures all heavy executions are offloaded to workers for stability.
Environment variables for Redis and PostgreSQL are automatically injected by Railway.

❓ FAQ

1. What is n8n?
n8n is an open-source workflow automation platform that lets you connect apps, APIs, and databases to build complex automations visually. It’s great for developers, marketers, and teams who want to automate repetitive tasks without writing full applications.

2. Is n8n free to use?
Yes. You can self-host n8n for free under its open-source license, or opt for the paid n8n Cloud if you prefer a managed setup. Hosting on platforms like Railway gives you the flexibility of running your own production-grade instance without the ongoing SaaS costs.

3. What are the minimum requirements to host n8n?
For a smooth experience, n8n typically needs around 512MB RAM and 1 vCPU for small to medium workloads. On Railway, these specs are automatically handled — you don’t need to configure anything manually. As your automations scale, you can easily upgrade your plan to add more resources with a single click.

4. Can I deploy n8n on Railway for free?
Yes! Railway gives $5 in free credits to every new user — enough to host and explore n8n for about a month with light to moderate usage. Once you’re ready to scale, you can upgrade to a paid plan without redeploying or losing data.

5. What makes hosting n8n on Railway special?
Railway offers one-click deploys, automatic PostgreSQL setup, persistent volumes for workflow data, and secure environment variable management — all out of the box. It’s one of the easiest and most reliable ways to self-host n8n in production without DevOps setup.

6. Can I add my own database or Redis instance?
Absolutely. The template is fully customizable — you can connect your own external PostgreSQL or Redis instances by simply updating the connection variables in your Railway dashboard. Perfect if you already have part of your stack hosted elsewhere.

7. How do I scale n8n for production workloads?
You can enable queue mode with Redis and split workflows between multiple worker nodes. Railway supports this architecture seamlessly, making it easy to scale horizontally as your automation volume grows.

8. Does Railway support persistent data for n8n?
Yes — the n8n template includes attached Railway Volumes, ensuring that your workflow data, credentials, and logs persist even across redeployments. You won’t lose your configurations or history.

9. Can I expose my n8n instance publicly or keep it private?
By default, your n8n instance is deployed with a secure Railway domain (HTTPS enabled). You can use Railway’s custom domain feature to map it to your own URL, or keep it private behind auth credentials for internal use.

💡 Pro Tip: For most users, the one-click deploy template is all you need. It includes everything — PostgreSQL, Redis (optional), and preconfigured environment variables — so you can go from zero to automation in under 60 seconds.

Why Deploy N8N on Railway on Railway?

Railway is a singular platform to deploy your infrastructure stack. Railway will host your infrastructure so you don't have to deal with configuration, while allowing you to vertically and horizontally scale it.

By deploying N8N on Railway on Railway, you are one step closer to supporting a complete full-stack application with minimal burden. Host your servers, databases, AI agents, and more on Railway.