How to Disable Telemetry in n8n

Before disabling telemetry, understand what is collected. n8n sends anonymous diagnostics including: which nodes and triggers are used (by type, not content), execution counts and success rates, n8n version and Node.js version, operating system type, and error types (without error details). It does not collect workflow content, credentials, API keys, personal data, or any data processed by your workflows. This information helps the n8n team prioritize bug fixes and feature development. If your organization allows anonymous analytics, keeping it enabled helps improve the product.

The primary environment variable to disable all telemetry is N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED. Set it to false in your environment configuration. For Docker deployments, add it to the environment section of your docker-compose.yml. For npm-based installations, add it to your .env file. For systemd services, add it to the service's Environment directive. This single setting disables all diagnostic data collection.

1# docker-compose.yml
2services:
3  n8n:
4    image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n
5    environment:
6      - N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED=false
7      - N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY=${N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY}
8    volumes:
9      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n
10    ports:
11      - '5678:5678'
12
13# .env file (for npm installations)
14N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED=false
15
16# systemd service override
17# /etc/systemd/system/n8n.service.d/override.conf
18# [Service]
19# Environment=N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED=false

Beyond the main diagnostics toggle, n8n has additional telemetry-related settings you may want to disable for complete coverage. N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_POSTHOG_API_KEY can be cleared to prevent PostHog event tracking. The external telemetry consent can also be managed through the UI on first setup. For air-gapped environments where n8n cannot reach external servers at all, blocking outgoing connections to telemetry endpoints at the firewall level provides an additional layer of assurance.

1# Complete telemetry disable in docker-compose.yml
2environment:
3  - N8N_DIAGNOSTICS_ENABLED=false
4  - N8N_VERSION_NOTIFICATIONS_ENABLED=false
5  - N8N_TEMPLATES_ENABLED=false

Restart n8n to apply the new environment variables. After restart, verify that telemetry is actually disabled by checking the startup logs. n8n logs its configuration at startup, including whether diagnostics are enabled. You can also monitor outgoing network connections to confirm no data is being sent to n8n's telemetry endpoints. Use docker compose logs to check for any telemetry-related log messages.

1# Restart n8n
2docker compose down && docker compose up -d
3
4# Check logs for diagnostics configuration
5docker compose logs n8n | grep -i diagnostics
6
7# Monitor outgoing connections (optional, Linux only)
8# ss -tnp | grep n8n