Can you use n8n for client work? What the license FAQ says

The short version from n8n's FAQ

According to the FAQ, "Consulting and automation services are explicitly permitted under the Sustainable Use License", with a key condition: n8n stays your internal tool, and clients receive outputs, not access. The FAQ describes the determining factor as client access, not client count or revenue volume. There is no limit on the number of clients you can serve from one instance.

What the license text itself says

The license text is short. Its Limitations section says you may use or modify the software only for your own internal business purposes, or for non-commercial or personal use, and may distribute it to others only free of charge for non-commercial purposes. It does not spell out consulting. The FAQ is where n8n explains how it applies the "internal business purpose" idea to freelancers. The repository's license file also says files with ".ee." in the name or ".ee" in the folder name are not covered and need an Enterprise license, and the FAQ lists using enterprise features without one as not allowed. The FAQ says the Community license applies to the self-hosted version only; n8n Cloud has its own terms.

Case 1: you run n8n and clients get results

The FAQ gives an automation consultant example: one n8n instance hosted by the consultant, workflows built for small business clients, clients paying consulting fees and receiving only the outputs such as messages, synced data or chatbot responses, with no client access to the interface or the workflow logic. It says building, running and maintaining workflows on your own instance for clients is permitted, including charging consulting or development fees.

A related example covers client credentials. Each client creates their own OAuth credentials or API keys and authenticates through n8n. The FAQ says this is allowed, and that what matters is that clients cannot build or modify workflows, not whose credentials are used.

Case 2: the client runs n8n on their own server

The FAQ says you can install and manage n8n on a client's own infrastructure and charge for installing, configuring, building workflows and maintaining n8n, as long as you do not also host it for them. Hosting as well would compete with n8n's own Cloud offering.

The test behind both cases

The page says the license restricts uses where the commercial value of a product comes entirely or substantially from n8n functionality. It frames the question as: is n8n the thing being sold, or a tool supporting something else being sold? Its example of a restricted pattern is an "automation as a service" subscription where customers build and run their own automations on a hosted backend powered by n8n.

The FAQ also says the test is not about the interface: what matters is whether the end user determines the workflow logic, whether through the n8n UI, API, MCP or an AI agent acting for them. Triggering pre-built workflows through an API or webhook is described as fine.

Gray areas the FAQ flags

• Shipping n8n inside a product. A vendor selling a document-processing tool that runs on customer-hosted n8n, where customers enter their own credentials, is described as permissible but possibly "in gray territory"; the FAQ suggests confirming the architecture with license@n8n.io before launch.
• Workshops and training. Using n8n for live demos in paid training is described as allowed when n8n is not handed to participants as a deliverable, there is no ongoing access after the session, only systems the operator controls are connected, no enterprise features are used, and the fee is for the training, not for n8n access.
• Many client environments. For managing n8n across multiple client environments, the FAQ says to contact license@n8n.io and mentions that a partner program for multi-instance management was in development when we read it. We have no further detail. The FAQ's cannot-do list also includes white-labelling n8n by removing its branding and offering n8n as is.

A practical checklist

1. Decide where n8n will run: your instance or the client's.
2. If it is yours, give clients outputs and reports only. Do not hand out logins to the editor.
3. If it is the client's, charge for setup and maintenance and do not host it for them.
4. Keep client credentials in each client's own accounts where you can, and put credential ownership in your contract.
5. Write down which case your offer falls into, in plain words, in your proposal. That also helps pricing; see how to price n8n and Make automation work.
6. If your plan sits near a gray area (white-label dashboards, client self-service, reselling n8n access), email n8n and keep their reply.

Before you promise a client "you can edit it yourself later", check whether that breaks case 1. Clients who want to change workflows themselves might need their own n8n, Cloud or self-hosted, with you as consultant.

Where Thomas Partners fits

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