The worst time to think about backups is after you need one. A bad credential update, a broken workflow import, a database hiccup during an n8n version upgrade - any of these can leave your instance in a state where the fastest fix is to roll back to yesterday's snapshot.
FlowEngine runs automatic backups for every n8n instance. This guide covers how the system works, how to trigger a manual backup before a risky change, and how to restore when something goes wrong.
How backups work
Every n8n instance on FlowEngine gets scheduled database backups out of the box. The default schedule is weekly. If you need tighter coverage, you can upgrade to daily backups from the instance detail page.
Each backup is a full PostgreSQL dump of your n8n database - workflows, credentials, execution history, settings, everything stored in the database. Backups are stored on the same server and optionally replicated to S3 for offsite durability. FlowEngine keeps up to 30 backups per instance. Backups older than four weeks are automatically cleaned up.
Step 1: Open your instance
Click Hosting in the sidebar, then click the instance you want to back up. The instance detail page shows status, domain, resource usage, and the backup section.
Scroll down past the domain and deployment sections. You will see an orange Database Backups collapsible section. Click it to expand.
Step 2: Take a manual backup
Inside the expanded backup section you see two things: a status card showing your last and next scheduled backup, and a Backup Now button.
Click Backup Now. FlowEngine SSHs into the server, runs a pg_dump against your n8n PostgreSQL database, and stores the result. The button shows a spinner while it works. A green success banner confirms when it finishes. The whole process takes five to thirty seconds depending on how large your database is.
Manual backups are tagged as "manual" in the backup list so you can tell them apart from scheduled ones.
Step 3: Review your backup list
Below the status card, the All Backups panel lists every completed backup with its date, file size, and type. Each entry shows a green checkmark if the file is still available for restore, or a grey X if it has expired.
Two actions per backup:
- Restore. Replaces your current database with the backup and restarts the instance. A confirmation dialog warns you before it runs.
- Delete. Permanently removes the backup file. Use this to clean up test snapshots you no longer need.
The footer line reads: "Up to 30 backups stored. Backups older than 4 weeks are automatically deleted." You do not need to manage retention yourself.
Step 4: Restore from a backup
Click Restore next to any backup with a green checkmark. A confirmation dialog appears:
Restore from "backup-2026-05-05.dump"? This will replace your current database with the backup data. Your instance will restart after the restore. This cannot be undone.
Confirm, and the restore starts. FlowEngine runs pg_restore on the server, replaces the live database, and restarts the n8n service. The instance shows a "Restarting" badge for about two minutes. After the page refreshes, your workflows, credentials, and execution history are back to the state they were in at the time of that backup.
One thing to keep in mind: restore replaces everything in the database. If you created new workflows after the backup was taken, those will be gone. Take a fresh backup before restoring if you want to preserve the current state as a fallback.
Automatic backups: weekly vs daily
Every instance starts on weekly backups. The cron job runs at 2 AM UTC and checks each instance's backup interval. If seven days have passed since the last backup, it creates a new one automatically.
If weekly is not enough, click the Daily Backups button next to the Backup Now button. This is a paid add-on. After checkout, your instance switches to a one-day interval and the cron job picks it up the next night. If you are already on daily backups, the button does not appear.
For agencies running client workflows in production, daily backups are worth it. One bad import or a credential rotation gone wrong at 4 PM means you lose at most the current day's changes, not an entire week.
What gets backed up (and what does not)
Backed up:
- All workflows and their settings
- All credentials (encrypted at rest in the database)
- Execution history
- n8n settings (timezone, user accounts, webhook configurations)
- Tags, variables, and annotation data
Not backed up:
- Binary data stored outside PostgreSQL (large file attachments if you configured external binary storage)
- Community node packages (reinstalled automatically on restore, but their config is in the database)
- Custom environment variables set in FlowEngine (these live in FlowEngine's config, not in the n8n database, so they survive a restore)
Common mistakes
- Restoring without taking a fresh backup first. If the restore does not fix your issue and you want to go back to the pre-restore state, you need a backup of the current state. Always click Backup Now before clicking Restore.
- Assuming backups include the n8n version. Backups are database dumps, not full system snapshots. If you upgraded n8n and want to roll back the version, that is a separate action (redeploy with the previous version). The backup restores data, not the application.
- Waiting until something breaks. If you are about to import a large batch of workflows, rotate credentials across multiple integrations, or upgrade n8n, take a manual backup first. The 30-second investment pays for itself.
Backups via the FlowEngine API
If you want to trigger backups programmatically, the FlowEngine API exposes the same endpoints the UI uses. Create, list, restore, and delete backups with standard REST calls authenticated by your API key. Useful for agencies that want to script a backup before every deployment.
Try it
If you have a running n8n instance on FlowEngine, open it now and expand the Database Backups section. Click Backup Now to see it in action. The whole round-trip takes under a minute.
If you are not on FlowEngine yet, every paid plan includes automatic weekly backups with no setup. Sign in at flowengine.cloud and deploy your first instance in about 30 seconds. Backups start running from day one.