n8n VPS Hosting — Run Your Automation Server with Full Privacy

Step 1: Connect to Your VPS

ssh root@your-server-ip

Step 2: Install Docker & Docker Compose

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Step 3: Create docker-compose.yml

mkdir ~/n8n && cd ~/n8n
cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
version: "3.8"

services:
  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n:latest
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    environment:
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=changeme
      - DB_TYPE=postgresdb
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST=postgres
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT=5432
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE=n8n
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_USER=n8n
      - DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD=n8npassword
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
      - N8N_HOST=your-domain.com
      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://your-domain.com/
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: always
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=n8n
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=n8npassword
      - POSTGRES_DB=n8n
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U n8n"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

volumes:
  n8n_data:
  postgres_data:
EOF

Step 4: Launch n8n

docker compose up -d

Step 5: Access n8n

Open http://your-server-ip:5678 in your browser. Log in with the credentials from your compose file. For production, set up a reverse proxy (Nginx/Caddy) with SSL.