Fly.io vs n8n
Run your app close to users, globally
vs. Source-available workflow automation — fair-code, self-host or cloud
Pricing tiers
Fly.io
Pay-as-you-go
No monthly fee. Machines billed per second. Free allocations: ~3 small shared machines + 3 GB volumes.
$0 base (usage-based)
Shared CPU 1x — 256 MB
Entry VM. 1 shared vCPU, 256 MB RAM. ~$2.02/month continuously on.
$2/mo
Performance 1x — 2 GB
Dedicated 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM.
$32/mo
Reservation — Shared (1 yr)
$36/year for $5/mo credit (40% savings).
$36/mo
Shared CPU 8x — 16 GB
8 shared vCPU, 16 GB RAM.
$89/mo
Performance 16x — 128 GB
Dedicated 16 vCPU, 128 GB RAM.
$1014/mo
Enterprise
Custom. Dedicated capacity, SLA.
Custom
n8n
Community (self-host)
Source-available (fair-code). Free forever. Full feature set self-hosted.
$0 base (usage-based)
Cloud Starter
€20/mo annual (~$22). 2,500 workflow executions. 5 concurrent. 1 shared project. Unlimited users.
$22/mo
Cloud Pro
€50/mo annual (~$55). Custom execution volume. 20 concurrent. 3 shared projects. 7-day insights.
$55/mo
Cloud Business
€667/mo annual (~$735). 40,000 executions. 30 concurrent. 6 projects. Self-host option. SSO, SAML, LDAP. Git version control.
$735/mo
Enterprise
Custom. 200+ concurrent. Unlimited projects. SLA. 365-day retention.
Custom
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing pay-as-you-go on Fly.io vs starter on n8n.
| Metric | Fly.io | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| No overlapping quota metrics for these tiers. | ||
Features
Fly.io · 14 features
- Auto Stop/Start — Machines auto-stop when idle, start on request (like scale-to-zero).
- Certs — Let's Encrypt + wildcard certs managed.
- Fly GPU — A100/L40S/A10 on-demand GPU machines.
- Fly Kubernetes (FKS) — Managed Kubernetes on Fly machines.
- Fly Machines — Firecracker microVMs. Start in <1s. Run any Docker image.
- Fly Postgres — Managed Postgres via Supabase partnership (2024). Also legacy self-run Postgres …
- fly-replay headers — Route request to another region at app level.
- Fly Volumes — Persistent SSD attached to a Machine. Encrypted at rest.
- Global Anycast — Single IP routes to the closest region automatically.
- LiteFS — Distributed SQLite with primary/replica across regions.
- Private Networks — 6PN WireGuard mesh. Connect machines across regions privately.
- Secrets — Encrypted env vars propagated to all regions.
- Tigris (partner) — S3-compatible storage for Fly apps. By partner.
- Upstash Redis (partner) — Managed Redis via Upstash.
n8n · 19 features
- 500+ Integration Nodes — Apps, SaaS, DBs, cloud services, AI models.
- AI / LangChain Nodes — AI Agent, Chain, Memory, Vector Store nodes out of box.
- Audit Logs — Enterprise compliance logging.
- Code Nodes (JS + Python) — Drop-in custom code nodes with full data access.
- Credentials Vault — Encrypted credentials per service.
- Environments — dev/staging/prod environments.
- Error Workflows — Global + per-workflow error handlers.
- Execution History — Full run log with inputs/outputs per node.
- Expression Editor — JavaScript expressions for data mapping.
- External Secrets — HashiCorp Vault + AWS Secrets + Azure Key Vault integrations.
- Git Version Control — Version workflows in Git (Business+).
- HTTP Request Node — Full-featured HTTP client node (any REST API).
- Queue Mode — Redis-backed execution queue for scaling.
- Schedule Triggers — Cron-based triggers down to the minute.
- SSO + SAML + LDAP — Business+ authentication.
- Sub-Workflows — Reusable child workflows.
- Variables — Global variables + per-workflow variables.
- Visual Editor — Drag-and-drop flow builder. Node-based canvas.
- Webhooks — Webhook triggers + responses.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Fly.io | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | flyctl CLI | n8n CLI |
| REST | Machines API | n8n REST API |
| GRAPHQL | Fly GraphQL API | — |
| MCP | — | n8n MCP |
| OTHER | Fly Postgres (wire) | n8n Editor UI, Webhook Triggers |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to Fly.io and n8n are plain references to their official websites. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.
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