What you need

• A VPS with Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 or 26.04 (64-bit). 1 vCPU and 2 GB RAM is a reasonable start for light use; more for heavy workflows.
• A domain or subdomain you can point at the server.
• Ports 80 and 443 open in your provider’s firewall.
• Some hosts, including Hostinger, offer an n8n template that does these steps for you.

Install Docker Engine

Use Docker’s own apt repository rather than the distro’s docker.io package:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.sources <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu
Suites: $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}")
Components: stable
Architectures: $(dpkg --print-architecture)
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
EOF

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
docker --version
docker compose version

Point a subdomain at the server

Create an A record such as n8n pointing to your server’s IP address. Wait for it to resolve before starting, so Traefik can get a Let’s Encrypt certificate.

Create the Compose files

mkdir n8n-compose && cd n8n-compose
mkdir local-files

Create .env with your own values:

DOMAIN_NAME=example.com
SUBDOMAIN=n8n
GENERIC_TIMEZONE=Asia/Manila
SSL_EMAIL=you@example.com

SSL_EMAIL is the address Let’s Encrypt uses for certificate notices; use your own.

Create compose.yaml. This is n8n’s published configuration; check their page for updates before you use it.

services:
  traefik:
    image: "traefik"
    restart: always
    command:
      - "--api.insecure=true"
      - "--providers.docker=true"
      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entryPoint.to=websecure"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.tlschallenge=true"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.email=${SSL_EMAIL}"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.mytlschallenge.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - traefik_data:/letsencrypt
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro

  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:5678:5678"
    labels:
      - traefik.enable=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.rule=Host(`${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}`)
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.tls=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.entrypoints=web,websecure
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.tls.certresolver=mytlschallenge
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.SSLRedirect=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSSeconds=315360000
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.browserXSSFilter=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.contentTypeNosniff=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.forceSTSHeader=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.SSLHost=${DOMAIN_NAME}
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSIncludeSubdomains=true
      - traefik.http.middlewares.n8n.headers.STSPreload=true
      - traefik.http.routers.n8n.middlewares=n8n@docker
    environment:
      - N8N_ENFORCE_SETTINGS_FILE_PERMISSIONS=true
      - N8N_HOST=${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}
      - N8N_PORT=5678
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - N8N_WEBHOOK_URL=https://${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN_NAME}/
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=${GENERIC_TIMEZONE}
      - TZ=${GENERIC_TIMEZONE}
      - N8N_RESTRICT_FILE_ACCESS_TO=/files
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
      - ./local-files:/files

volumes:
  n8n_data:
  traefik_data:

N8N_WEBHOOK_URL needs n8n 2.30.0 or newer; older versions use WEBHOOK_URL.

Start and update

sudo docker compose up -d
# later, to update to the newest image:
sudo docker compose pull
sudo docker compose up -d

Open https://n8n.example.com (your own subdomain) and create the owner account straight away, before anyone else finds the URL.

Keep it safe

• Back up the n8n_data volume: it holds the database and the encryption key for your credentials.
• Keep Ubuntu and the images updated, and use SSH keys for server logins.
• Allow only ports 22, 80 and 443 in your provider’s cloud firewall.

Sources (checked 13 Nov 2026): n8n Docker Compose docs, Docker Engine on Ubuntu.