Self-Hosting n8n on Google Cloud (Free Tier)

Running your own automation platform gives you full control over data, workflows, and scalability. In this guide, we'll walk through a real-world, production-ready setup of n8n on Google Cloud, using Docker for isolation, Nginx as a reverse proxy, and Let's Encrypt for HTTPS.

This guide is written from hands-on experience, including the most common pitfalls you will hit when setting this up for real- and how to solve them correctly.

Who this setup is for

This setup is ideal if you want:

• A private n8n instance
• A custom domain or subdomain (e.g. n8n.your-domain.com)
• HTTPS out of the box
• A solution that is easy to update and maintain
• No vendor lock-in

Architecture overview

The stack we'll build looks like this:

Internet → HTTPS (Let's Encrypt) → Nginx (Reverse Proxy) → n8n (Docker container) → Persistent volume (~/.n8n)

Components:

• Google Cloud VM (Ubuntu, Free Tier–compatible)
• Docker – runs n8n in isolation
• Nginx – reverse proxy + SSL termination
• Certbot – automatic HTTPS certificates
• Persistent volume – keeps workflows safe during updates

Table of Contents

1. Install and enable Docker
2. Run n8n in Docker (correctly for production)
3. Install Nginx
4. Configure Nginx as a reverse proxy
5. Enable HTTPS with Certbot
6. Restart n8n correctly for HTTPS
7. Updating n8n safely
8. Updating Docker without data loss
9. Troubleshooting: real problems & real fixes
10. Is it really free!?

Step 1: Install and start Docker

Update your VM and install Docker:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker.io -y

Start Docker and enable it on boot:

sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

Verify installation:

docker --version

Step 2: Run n8n in Docker (production-correct)

This step is critical. n8n must be started with the final domain and protocol in mind.

Using a subdomain (recommended)

Example: n8n.your-domain.com

docker run -d --restart unless-stopped \
  --name n8n \
  -p 5678:5678 \
  -e N8N_HOST="n8n.your-domain.com" \
  -e N8N_PROTOCOL="https" \
  -e WEBHOOK_URL="https://n8n.your-domain.com/" \
  -e NODE_ENV="production" \
  -v ~/.n8n:/root/.n8n \
  n8nio/n8n

Why this matters

• N8N_HOST and WEBHOOK_URL must match the final HTTPS URL
• Secure cookies depend on HTTPS
• Webhooks will silently fail if URLs are wrong
• These values cannot be changed by restarting- only by recreating the container

At this stage, n8n is reachable internally at:

http://localhost:5678

We will not expose this publicly.

Step 3: Install Nginx

Nginx will forward external traffic to n8n and handle HTTPS.

sudo apt install nginx -y

Step 4: Configure Nginx reverse proxy

Create a new site configuration:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n.conf

Paste:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name n8n.your-domain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5678;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_buffering off;
        proxy_cache off;
        chunked_transfer_encoding off;

        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        proxy_read_timeout 86400;
    }
}

Enable the site and reload Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

At this point, http://n8n.your-domain.com should load n8n (without HTTPS yet).

Step 5: Enable HTTPS with Certbot

Install Certbot and the Nginx plugin:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Request a certificate:

sudo certbot --nginx -d n8n.your-domain.com

Certbot will verify DNS, perform the HTTP challenge, install the certificate, enable HTTP → HTTPS redirect, and schedule automatic renewal.

If successful, you'll see:

Congratulations! You have successfully enabled HTTPS

Step 6: Restart n8n correctly (important)

After HTTPS is live, restart the container (not Docker itself):

docker restart n8n

Now open:

https://n8n.your-domain.com

You should see:

• 🔒 Valid HTTPS
• No “secure cookie” error
• n8n setup screen

Updating n8n (without losing data)

Your workflows and credentials live in ~/.n8n, so updates are safe.

docker stop n8n
docker rm n8n
docker pull n8nio/n8n:latest

Then re-run the same docker run command you used originally (with all -e flags).

Updating Docker itself

Updating Docker is independent from n8n.

docker stop $(docker ps -aq)
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade docker.io -y
sudo reboot

After reboot:

docker start n8n

Troubleshooting (real problems we faced & solved)

❌ DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

Cause: DNS records added in the wrong place (e.g. cPanel while domain uses Cloudflare).

Fix:

dig your-domain.com NS

Add DNS records only in the active DNS provider (e.g. Cloudflare) and verify with:

dig n8n.your-domain.com @8.8.8.8

❌ Certbot returns NXDOMAIN

Cause: DNS exists in the dashboard but is not globally resolvable yet.

Fix:

dig n8n.your-domain.com @nelly.ns.cloudflare.com

Then wait for negative DNS cache to expire (typically 15–60 minutes).

❌ “Secure cookie” error in n8n

Cause: n8n is configured for HTTPS but accessed via HTTP.

Fix:

• Enable HTTPS properly
• Do not disable secure cookies
• Restart container after HTTPS is active

❌ 502 Bad Gateway from Nginx

Cause: Nginx cannot reach n8n on localhost:5678.

Most common reasons:

• Container not running
• Container started without correct env vars
• Container was restarted instead of recreated

Fix:

docker stop n8n
docker rm n8n
# then recreate with correct docker run command

❌ “Why didn't restarting Docker fix it?”

Because:

• docker restart does not change environment variables
• Docker containers are immutable
• Any change to -e flags requires container recreation

Final notes

This setup gives you:

• Full control over automation infrastructure
• Secure HTTPS webhooks
• Predictable updates
• Zero vendor lock-in
• A solid foundation for internal or client-facing automation

Once you understand DNS authority, container immutability, and the correct order of enabling HTTPS, n8n becomes extremely reliable in production.

Is it really free!?

Here is the breakdown of what is all free and what you need to pay attention to not to break rate limit of the free tier!