People usually don’t believe me when I say this: “I’m using all the features of n8n completely for free.” The first reaction is always the same 👇 “n8n Cloud is expensive.” “It won’t scale.” “You’ll hit limits.” And honestly… I believed that too for a long time. Until I tested it myself. I wanted an automation engine for AI agents and workflows, but I didn’t want: Zapier limits paid plans usage caps vendor lock-in So I tried something simple. What if I self-host n8n instead of paying for the cloud? Turns out — it works. And it works really well. 🔹 Why this setup actually makes sense Once you see it clearly, it’s obvious: n8n → the automation brain Self-hosted → no artificial limits Render → free infrastructure Put together, you get a production-ready automation engine for $0. Perfect for: AI agents SaaS MVPs DM automation internal tools No Zapier. No paid plans. No friction. 🛠 How I set it up (step by step) Step 1: Create a Render account Go to 👉 render.com Create an account (GitHub login works best). Once inside the dashboard: Click New Select Web Service Step 2: Deploy n8n using Docker On the “Deploy a Web Service” screen: Choose Docker In the Image URL, paste: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n This pulls the official n8n Docker image. Step 3: Keep the config simple You don’t need anything fancy: Environment: Docker Instance type: Free Service name: anything you like Then hit Deploy 🚀 Step 4: Open your n8n instance Wait ~2–3 minutes. Render gives you a live URL. Open it → you’ll see the n8n setup screen. This is usually the moment people realize: “Okay… this is actually real.” Step 5: Activate n8n Create your n8n account You’ll be asked for an activation key n8n generates it automatically Paste it in → done. 🎉 You now have n8n running for free. ⚙️ What this unlocks With this setup, you can build: AI agents (RAG, DM bots, assistants) Lead qualification workflows DM / email automation Internal company tools SaaS MVP backends

Drop a comment below and share: 1) A career goal you're working toward 2) A personal goal that matters to you 3) Your favorite music artist right now Let's get to know the people behind the profiles. I'll go first in the comments! 👇

Hey guys, I’m Amrit, a Computer Science student. Lately, I’ve been seeing how AI can build full websites in like 10 minutes. Web dev jobs are changing fast, and honestly, it feels unreal that just a few prompts can do so much. Instead of getting scared, I decided to build something. I built my own Second Brain using Lovable — a place to track your Habbits and finances and think more clearly about it instead of keeping it in my head. This made me realize: AI isn’t here to replace us — it’s here to amplify people who build, think, and experiment. Curious to know — are you building anything with AI right now? Or does this whole AI wave excite or scare you? Disclaimer ***-- I am still making changes in the app like payment and a few setting are not done yet. Rest assured, feel free to navigate through it check the app out here:-https://ur-2ndbrain.lovable.app