n8n benchmarking tool

Tool for executing benchmarks against an n8n instance.

Directory structure

``text
packages/@n8n/benchmark
├── scenarios Benchmark scenarios
├── src Source code for the n8n-benchmark cli
├── Dockerfile Dockerfile for the n8n-benchmark cli
├── scripts Orchestration scripts
`

Benchmarking an existing n8n instance

The easiest way to run the existing benchmark scenarios is to use the benchmark docker image:

`sh
docker pull ghcr.io/n8n-io/n8n-benchmark:latest


Print the help to list all available flags

docker run ghcr.io/n8n-io/n8n-benchmark:latest run --help

Run all available benchmark scenarios for 1 minute with 5 concurrent requests

docker run ghcr.io/n8n-io/n8n-benchmark:latest run \
--n8nBaseUrl=https://instance.url \
--n8nUserEmail=InstanceOwner@email.com \
--n8nUserPassword=InstanceOwnerPassword \
--vus=5 \
--duration=1m \
--scenarioFilter=single-webhook
`

$3

It is also possible to create your own benchmark scenarios and load them using the --testScenariosPath flag:

`sh


Assuming your scenarios are located in ./scenarios, mount them into /scenarios in the container


docker run -v ./scenarios:/scenarios ghcr.io/n8n-io/n8n-benchmark:latest run \
--n8nBaseUrl=https://instance.url \
--n8nUserEmail=InstanceOwner@email.com \
--n8nUserPassword=InstanceOwnerPassword \
--vus=5 \
--duration=1m \
--testScenariosPath=/scenarios
`

Running the entire benchmark suite

The benchmark suite consists of benchmark scenarios and different n8n setups.

$3

`sh
pnpm benchmark-locally
`

You can filter to a specific scenario and setup:

`sh


Run only the http-node scenario with the sqlite setup


pnpm benchmark-locally --runDir /tmp/n8n-data --scenarioFilter http-node sqlite
`

$3

`sh
pnpm benchmark-in-cloud
`

Running the n8n-benchmark cli

The n8n-benchmark cli is a node.js program that runs one or more scenarios against a single n8n instance.

$3

Build the Docker image:

`sh


Must be run in the repository root

k6 doesn't have an arm64 build available for linux, we need to build against amd64

docker build --platform linux/amd64 -t n8n-benchmark -f packages/@n8n/benchmark/Dockerfile .
`

Run the image

`sh
docker run \
-e N8N_USER_EMAIL=user@n8n.io \
-e N8N_USER_PASSWORD=password \
# For macos, n8n running outside docker
-e N8N_BASE_URL=http://host.docker.internal:5678 \
n8n-benchmark
`

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Requirements:

- k6
- Node.js v20 or higher

`sh
pnpm build

Run tests against http://localhost:5678 with specified email and password


N8N_USER_EMAIL=user@n8n.io N8N_USER_PASSWORD=password ./bin/n8n-benchmark run
`

Benchmark scenarios

A benchmark scenario defines one or multiple steps to execute and measure. It consists of:

- Manifest file which describes and configures the scenario
- Any test data that is imported before the scenario is run
- A k6 script which executes the steps and receives API_BASE_URL environment variable in runtime.

Available scenarios are located in ./scenarios.

n8n setups

A n8n setup defines a single n8n runtime configuration using Docker compose. Different n8n setups are located in ./scripts/n8nSetups`.