Capability · Self-hosted orchestration
Self-hosted process orchestration, with data inside your perimeter
Your documents, orders, and requests move automatically between systems, with the engine and data under your control, on n8n in your own cloud or data center.
Advantages
Four advantages this architecture brings to your business
These advantages involve trade-offs. The full analysis — including scenarios where each platform falls short — is in the criterion-by-criterion comparison of Power Automate and n8n.
- Data residency: information remains under your security, retention, and audit policies.
- Cost control: the budget is sized by execution volume rather than headcount.
- Vendor independence: your critical processes use open, portable standards.
- Verifiable traceability: every execution can be reconstructed in full.
The architecture principle
The engine runs within your perimeter
The orchestrator is deployed in containers in your cloud or data center; credentials and logs stay within your organization.
- No per-user licensing: the self-hosted engine does not charge for each person involved in the workflow.
- Portability from day one: workflows export as standard JSON files.
- Connects to existing systems through native connectors or APIs. See systems integration.
The first process to move to the orchestrator is prioritized using the nine most commonly automated processes ranked by volume, cost of errors, and risk, and its current cost is estimated with the ROI calculator.
Frequently asked questions
What IT wants to know
What are the platform's licensing costs?
How do you ensure continuity outside business hours?
Does the organization retain full control?
Put the engine where your policy requires it
An executive assessment of your actual process, its volume, and the appropriate architecture.