Hostinger + n8n: Save that Zapier money

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I’m cheap, very cheap. My clients like cheap. So I always look for cheap solutions. A lot of times cheap solutions mean learning something a little more complex but the payoffs well…pay off. Here’s a quick tip for anyone who prefer low coding their automation.

If you’re sick of seeing your Zapier invoice climbing faster than your WU overages, here’s a weekend move (depends on you) that can slash your automation bill to pocket-change: self-host n8n on a Hostinger VPS.

Note that hosting n8n in your own server (cloud or on premises) is free. Here’s the price difference:

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TLDR

Even after 2 years KVM 8 with Hostinger, you’re still paying less than 2k tasks on Zapier.

Here’s an AI made comparison table for you:

n8n on Hostinger Zapier
:ocean: Unlimited workflows + executions (no “task tax”) (n8n Community) Hard caps (100 free → 1 500 Pro → 2 000 Team) (PriceTimeline)
:high_voltage: 2 vCPU / 8 GB RAM VPS for US $6.99 covers most Bubble projects (Hostinger) Need pricier tiers or task top-ups the moment you grow
:hammer_and_wrench: Docker-based, so you can version-control, plugin custom code, run cron-like triggers SaaS “black box” – limited to whatever Zapier exposes
:locked: Keep user data inside your own VPS (great for GDPR / PDPA worries) Third-party US cloud, pay extra for audit logs & SSO
:man_juggling: Integrates with Bubble via plain webhooks or GraphQL – no premium-app tax Premium Bubble connection is behind paywall
:joy: Emoji-level fun because you’re not sweating the bill every run :hot_face: Every extra step is a new “task” line item

Downsides

  • Server upkeep: update docker images monthly (you can automate).
  • Learning curve: UI is visual, but debugging bad node wiring is still on you (Use AI to learn dummy)
  • Webhooks – you’ll use generic HTTP/Webhook nodes (you can just use the API Connector).
  • Fitting - just make sure you pick the right plan for your use case. It’s still way cheaper in the long run.

In Conclusion

Learn a bit more to save more. There are cheaper ways to this (Cloudflare Workers cough cough) but it’s code stuff. I came across this cause I wanted to do a side hustle to my side hustle which also happens to be a personal project for my personal AI assistant.

As always, I shared this for my own notes and may it help somebody else. Don’t ask me for a tutorial. There are better people than me who do this.

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Hey everyone, I love Hostinger’s low prices and user-friendly interface, but it’s worth checking out Hetzner Cloud as well, depending on your region, you can sometimes pay even less. For example, their shared CPU CX32 plan (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 80 GB NVMe SSD, 20 TB transfer) runs at €6.80/month max, whereas Hostinger’s comparable plan is $6.99/month only for the first two years before jumping to $12.99.

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The one caveat is latency—Hetzner’s data centers are mainly in Europe—so if your audience is elsewhere, make sure you test ping times. Other than that, it’s a fantastic budget-friendly alternative!

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This is actually gold @carlovsk.edits

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That’s quite a price bump for lower specs :thinking:

It’s mostly cause a pound costs a lot more than a dollar where I’m at.

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This is also a factor: the euro can be more expensive in some regions. However, there’s something I forgot to mention that’s also worth considering, Hetzner charges by the hour of machine usage, so you wouldn’t necessarily pay the full €6.80 unless you ran the machine constantly. For example, let’s say you have an automation that runs one hour every day, totaling 30 hours in a month. If that’s all the time you use the machine, you’d only pay ≈ €0.35.

Meanwhile, Hostinger charges you the full monthly fee regardless of how many hours you actually use.

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With Hetzner, aren’t you paying for a server? It’s not serverless? In which case if you were running an automation one hour every day you’d have to switch it on/off to benefit from that.

DigitalOcean is also another decent provider to throw into the mix.

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