You’re Not Stuck—Here’s Your Way Out
So you’re done with n8n Cloud. Maybe you’ve spun up a self-hosted instance and realized you don’t need to drop money on a monthly subscription anymore. Maybe you’re cutting back on SaaS bloat. Or maybe you just want to see if running the open-source version yourself makes sense for what you’re actually building.
The scary part? When you go to cancel, the immediate panic sets in: Will everything I’ve automated just vanish?
It won’t. I’m going to walk you through exactly where the cancel button hides, what happens to your workflows when you pull the trigger, and how to back up your automations in about five minutes. No mystery, no trapped data.
TL;DR:
- Where to cancel: Admin Panel → Manage → Cancel Plan → Type “CANCEL” → Confirm (seriously takes 2 minutes)
- Your workflows don’t disappear immediately: They stick around until your billing cycle ends (not deleted on day one)
- Backing up is stupid easy: Select all nodes with Command+A, copy with Command+C, paste into your new instance with Command+V
- One thing won’t transfer: Your API keys and credentials need to be manually reconnected—they don’t copy over for security reasons
The Cancellation Process (Seriously, It’s Not Hidden)
Let’s rip the band-aid off. The cancel button exists. It’s just not flashing neon signs at you.
Go into your n8n Cloud dashboard and look at the left sidebar. Click Admin Panel. You’ll see your workspace basics—nothing complicated, just your instance info and some execution stats.
Now click the Manage tab at the top.
Your current plan shows up there—whatever tier you’re paying for. Next to it sits a button labeled Cancel plan. Click it.
A popup appears demanding you type “CANCEL” to confirm. Yeah, it’s one of those friction-based confirmations. They really do want to be sure you’re serious. Type it, hit the button, and you get one more screen asking you to click Cancel subscription (the button that actually does the thing).
Then comes the exit survey. “Why are you leaving?” You can fill it out, skip it, or do what everyone does—blur through it. One last “thanks for using us” message appears, and boom, you’re done.
The entire process takes two minutes, tops.
What Actually Happens to Your Data (The Part You Care About)
Here’s where everyone freaks out: you just canceled, but you open your instance and everything’s still there.
This is intentional, and it’s honestly smart. n8n doesn’t torch your account immediately. Instead, they mark your workspace for deletion at the end of your current billing cycle. So if you canceled on December 1st and your cycle ends December 22nd, your workflows stay active and fully accessible for three weeks.
Your Manage page will show a yellow warning: “Set for removal on 22 Dec. 2025” or whatever your actual date is. That’s your window to grab everything you need.
The logic is solid—you get breathing room to export your work without sprinting against a clock, and if you change your mind and want to resubscribe, everything’s still there waiting for you.
Critical Understanding:
Once that billing cycle ends, n8n wipes the entire workspace—workflows, credentials, execution history, the lot. So if you’re moving to self-hosted or another platform, don’t procrastinate on backing things up.
How to Back Up Your Workflows (It’s Borderline Stupid Easy)
Forget clunky export wizards. n8n’s workflow copy-paste system is actually one of the cleanest things about the platform.
Open your n8n instance. Pick any workflow you want to save—your lead scraper, your customer notification bot, whatever you’ve built. The workflow editor loads with all your nodes and connections visible.
Do this:
- Hit Command+A (Mac) or Ctrl+A (Windows)—selects your entire workflow
- Hit Command+C (Mac) or Ctrl+C (Windows)—copies it
You’ll see a green notification pop in the bottom right: “Copied to clipboard.” Your entire workflow—every node, every connection, every single setting—is now in your clipboard.
Now jump to your new n8n instance (self-hosted, different Cloud workspace, whatever). Create a blank workflow by clicking the + and selecting “Workflow.”
Then press Command+V (Mac) or Ctrl+V (Windows).
Watch it happen: your entire workflow materializes on the canvas. All the nodes are there. All the connections are wired up. Ready to go.
Repeat for every workflow you want to keep. Genuinely takes five minutes per workflow because there’s zero file format nonsense or import dialog gymnastics.
The One Thing That Won’t Transfer (Credentials)
Here’s the catch: your API keys, passwords, and authentication tokens stay behind.
This is actually by design, and it’s the right call. n8n separates credentials from workflows for security. When you paste a workflow into a new instance, it references the credential names—but those credentials don’t exist in your new environment yet.
Open a pasted workflow in your new instance and you’ll see nodes with warnings like “No credential selected for Stripe” or similar. The workflow structure is perfect. The automation logic is intact. But it’s not connected to anything yet.
You have to manually reconnect each service:
- Click the node that needs credentials
- Go to the credentials section
- Plug in your API key, OAuth token, or whatever that service needs
- Select it for the workflow
It’s grunt work, yeah. But it’s also a feature—you can’t accidentally copy someone else’s API keys when you’re moving automations around.
n8n integrates with over 400 services, so depending on how complex your workflows are, you might have a bunch of credential resets waiting. But the actual workflow logic transfers perfectly.
| Element | Transfers in Copy-Paste? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Workflow nodes | ✓ Yes | All node configurations transfer perfectly |
| Node connections | ✓ Yes | All wiring and data flows remain intact |
| Node settings | ✓ Yes | Every parameter and configuration copies over |
| API keys & tokens | ✗ No | Must be manually re-entered for security |
| OAuth connections | ✗ No | Need to re-authenticate with the service |
| Execution history | ✗ No | Not included in workflow data; must be manually exported |
Before You Cancel: Do This First
Don’t just yolo into the cancellation without a plan. Here’s what actually matters:
DO These Things
- Back up every workflow you might need
- Document which services each workflow connects to
- Save execution history if you need audit trails
- Test one workflow transfer before canceling
- Plan transition timing carefully
DON’T Do These Things
- Cancel without backing up workflows first
- Cancel on the last day of your grace period
- Assume credentials will transfer automatically
- Skip testing workflows in the new environment
- Expect automatic recovery after deletion
Key Actions Before Canceling
- Back up every workflow: Go through your instance and grab everything you might want again. Even workflows you think you won’t use—grab them anyway. Five minutes per workflow, and storage in your new instance is basically unlimited.
- Document your credentials: Not the actual keys (never screenshot those), but write down what services each workflow connects to. “Stripe → OAuth connection” or “Gmail → Service account JSON file.” Makes reconfiguring way faster.
- Save your execution history if you need it: n8n doesn’t automatically export execution logs, so if you need records of past runs for audits or debugging, grab them before the account gets deleted. That data’s gone after deletion.
- Test one workflow transfer before you cancel: If you’re moving to self-hosted, paste a single workflow over and make sure it actually works. Catch any setup issues before you’re staring at a countdown timer.
- Don’t cancel on day 20 of a 21-day grace period: Plan when these workflows actually need to be live on your new setup. Give yourself actual time to transition before your Cloud account vanishes.
Deletion is Permanent
Once your billing cycle ends, everything’s gone. n8n won’t recover your account, workflows, or anything else after that date. Backups need to happen before then.
Why People Actually Cancel (And Why It Makes Sense)
n8n Cloud costs money. Different tiers run different amounts. For someone running a handful of automations, subscription costs add up fast. Once you realize you’re running the same workflows over and over, self-hosting becomes cheaper—especially if you’ve already got server space sitting around.
The other reason? Control. Self-hosted means your data belongs to you, your infrastructure is your responsibility, and you’re not betting your automations on n8n’s uptime or their next pricing increase.
Neither reason is wrong. Cloud works if you want someone else managing the servers and you’re cool paying for that convenience. Self-hosted works if you’re running things constantly and want to cut costs. Most people don’t cancel because they hate n8n—they cancel because they’ve outgrown the payment model.
Canceling n8n Cloud doesn’t mean you’re abandoning workflow automation—it means optimizing for your actual needs.
Choosing Between Cloud and Self-Hosted
| Factor | n8n Cloud | Self-Hosted |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $25–$1,000+ depending on tier | $0 (after server setup) |
| Uptime responsibility | n8n handles it | You handle it |
| Data location | n8n’s servers | Your servers |
| Setup time | Minutes | Hours to days |
| Execution limits | Tier-dependent caps | Only limited by your hardware |
| Credential security | n8n encrypted | Your responsibility |
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Once the account’s deleted, it’s done. n8n support probably has a backlog and zero guarantees they can pull anything. Back them up while your grace period is active.
Yeah. Execution logs disappear with the account. There’s no built-in export, so if you need audit trails or debugging records, save them before deletion day.
Downgrade to the Free tier instead of canceling. The Free plan typically gives you 1,000 executions per month, which handles light automation loads. Your workflows stay active and you avoid the deletion deadline entirely.
Nope. You’re manually copying workflows via paste. Self-hosted and Cloud are separate worlds. Once you paste something, it’s independent—changes in one don’t touch the other.
Five workflows? 15 minutes, tops. Fifty workflows? Budget two hours. Really it’s just open → select all → copy → paste into new instance. The actual time sink is reconfiguring credentials, not the backup part.
Yeah, if your needs fit. The Free tier covers most features with execution limits. If your automations run constantly or blow past the execution cap, you’ll need paid Cloud or self-hosted. For occasional, simple workflows, the free tier works fine.
Final Thought: Canceling Isn’t Giving Up
Canceling n8n Cloud doesn’t mean you’re abandoning workflow automation. It usually means you’ve figured out what actually works for your situation and you’re optimizing for that.
Whether you’re moving to self-hosted, jumping to a different platform, or just streamlining your SaaS stack, the process is straightforward. Your data’s safe until your billing cycle ends. You’ve got time to back things up. And the copy-paste migration is genuinely the simplest part of the whole move.
The real work is reconfiguring credentials in your new environment. But that’s a one-time setup cost, not something that should keep you on Cloud if you don’t need to be.
If you’re undecided about canceling, ask yourself: Do I want hosted infrastructure or to manage servers myself?
