Let's Set Up n8n on Oracle Cloud Free Tier — Step-by-Step

🚀 Let’s Set Up n8n on Oracle Cloud Free Tier (Step-by-Step)

🔧 What You’ll Get (Free Forever)

• 2 AMD/ARM VPS (VM.Standard.A1.Flex) with:
  • 1–4 CPU cores
  • 6 GB RAM (shared)
  • 200 GB block storage
• Always-on (no surprise naps).
• Perfect for running Docker apps like n8n.

🪜 Step-by-Step Guide

🥇 Step 1: Create Oracle Cloud Free Account

1. Go: https://www.oracle.com/cloud/free/
2. Click Start for Free, fill phone/email and card (ID check).

🥈 Step 2: Create a VM Instance

Open the Oracle Cloud Console → Compute → Instances → Create Instance.

Basic Info

• Image: Ubuntu 24.04 (or latest).
• Shape: VM.Standard.A1.Flex (1–2 OCPU, 4–6 GB RAM).
• Boot Volume: 50 GB+ recommended.

🥉 Step 3: Connect via SSH

In your Mac terminal:

mv ~/Downloads/oracle-ssh-key.key ~/.ssh/
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/oracle-ssh-key.key
ssh -i ~/.ssh/oracle-ssh-key.key ubuntu@<your-public-ip>

🧱 Step 4: Install Docker + Docker Compose

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install Docker
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

# Optional: add your user to docker group
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

# Docker Compose
sudo apt install docker-compose -y

🧩 Step 5: Run n8n Using Docker Compose

Create a folder and docker-compose.yml:

mkdir n8n && cd n8n
nano docker-compose.yml

Paste:

version: "3.1"
services:
  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - 5678:5678
    environment:
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE=true
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER=admin
      - N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD=<yourpassword>
      - N8N_SECURE_COOKIE=false
      - TZ=Asia/Kolkata
    volumes:
      - ./n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n

Replace <yourpassword>, then start:

docker-compose up -d

🌍 Step 6: Open Port in Oracle Firewall

Oracle requires you to add an ingress rule:

1. Console → Networking → VCN → Security Lists
2. Add ingress rule:
   • Source: 0.0.0.0/0
   • Port: 5678

✅ Done!

Open in browser:

http://<your-public-ip>:5678

Login with your admin credentials.

🛠️ If n8n throws a tantrum

cd ~/n8n
docker-compose down
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 ./n8n_data
docker-compose up -d

🚀 You now have a free Oracle VM running n8n.

If this guide helped, follow me on LinkedIn: Anup Gupta.