DEV Community

Snehasish Konger
Snehasish Konger

Posted on

How to Self-Host n8n on AWS EC2 with Docker (Step-by-Step)?

#aws #webdev #devops

I recently published a detailed guide on my blog about setting up n8n on an AWS EC2 instance. If you’ve ever wanted to run your own automation server—without relying on third-party SaaS—this is one of the most flexible and cost-effective ways to do it.

👉 Here’s the full article on my blog: Self-Hosting n8n on AWS EC2 with Docker

But let me give you a quick breakdown here.

Why EC2 for n8n?

EC2 is Amazon’s go-to compute service. You get:

  • Full control over the instance (OS, storage, network).
  • Flexibility to scale up or down depending on workload.
  • Integration with other AWS services if you want to expand later.

And since n8n runs well in Docker, EC2 is a natural fit.

The Deployment Flow (Short Version)

Here’s the 10,000-foot view of how the process works:

  1. Launch an EC2 instance
    Start with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Even a t3.micro works for testing.

  2. Configure security groups
    Open inbound ports: 22 (SSH), 80, and 443 (HTTP/HTTPS). If you’re testing without SSL, you can expose port 5678 directly, but it’s not secure.

  3. Install Docker & Docker Compose

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
   sudo apt install docker.io docker-compose -y
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

  1. Set up n8n with Docker Compose
    Create a simple docker-compose.yml file mapping port 5678 (or use a reverse proxy like Nginx/Caddy for SSL).

  2. Secure with HTTPS
    Point a domain to your EC2 Elastic IP, then use Let’s Encrypt (Certbot) or Caddy to generate certificates automatically.

  3. Configure environment variables
    For example:

   N8N_HOST=n8n.example.com
   N8N_PROTOCOL=https
   WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.example.com/
   N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 24)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Restart Docker Compose after editing.

Common Pitfalls

From my own setup and feedback from others, here are the usual snags:

  • Browser says site is unsafe → That’s because there’s no SSL. Add HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt or Caddy.
  • Container keeps restarting → Check your .env file for missing keys like N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY.
  • Can’t SSH into EC2 → Use the correct username (ubuntu@ for Ubuntu), ensure your key pair is added, and security group allows port 22.
  • Workflows disappear after reboot → Mount a Docker volume or connect n8n to PostgreSQL instead of relying on SQLite.

Want the Full Walkthrough?

This is just the short version. I’ve written the full step-by-step tutorial with detailed commands, screenshots, and a troubleshooting section on my blog. You can check it out here:

👉 Self-Hosting n8n on AWS EC2 with Docker

✍️ If you try this setup, let me know how it goes—or share what other cloud providers you’ve deployed n8n on.

Top comments (0)