n8n Uptime Monitoring: How to Keep Your Instance Running 24/7

There are two levels of "is n8n working?" First: is the n8n process running? Second: are the workflows inside it actually executing? Most people only monitor the first one and assume the second follows. It doesn't always.

Level 1: Process uptime

This is the simpler problem. You want to know if the n8n web interface is reachable. Tools like Uptime Kuma, Better Stack, or even a simple curl health check can ping your n8n URL every minute and alert you when it goes down.

Set up a health check against https://your-n8n.example.com/healthz (n8n exposes this endpoint). If it returns a non-200 response or times out, your process monitoring tool alerts you. This catches Docker crashes, server outages, and network issues.

Level 2: Workflow execution uptime

Here's the harder problem. Your n8n server can be perfectly healthy — 100% uptime, green status page — while half your workflows haven't run in hours. A credential expired. A cron trigger misconfigured. An API rate limit hit. The server is fine; the work isn't getting done.

This is where RootBrief comes in. It checks whether your workflows are actually executing — not just whether the server is responding to health checks. If a workflow that should run every hour hasn't produced an execution in three hours, RootBrief flags it. No manual checking required.

The practical setup

Use Uptime Kuma (free, self-hosted) for Level 1 — process health checks. Use RootBrief (free to start, Pro at $19/mo and Pro Max at $100/mo) for Level 2 — workflow execution monitoring. Together, they give you full-stack uptime coverage for under $20/month. The only thing you won't have is a fancy dashboard with 47 graphs you'll never look at.

Process uptime isn't enough. RootBrief monitors whether workflows are actually running — not just whether n8n is online. start free.