How I Use Elestio + n8n to Automate YouTube Workflows for AIThumbnail.so

About two weeks into my backlink challenge, I realized something:

If I wanted to grow AIThumbnail.so fast, I needed to produce way more content — and I needed a system to do it without burning out.

The Goal

Scrape useful data from YouTube channels
→ Generate AI thumbnails from those titles
→ Turn it into landing pages, blog posts, or creator showcases

Instead of doing it manually, I set up an automated workflow using n8n, hosted on Elestio.
It’s cheap, reliable, and doesn’t require DevOps.

My Automation Stack

Tool	What it does
AIThumbnail.so	Generates thumbnails from YouTube titles in seconds
n8n	Automates scraping, formatting, and triggering workflows
Elestio	Runs my n8n instance with zero maintenance
Google Sheets	Stores scraped data and powers the content layer

It took me ~15 minutes to deploy n8n on Elestio. Haven’t touched it since.

What This Workflow Does

Whenever I want to analyze a YouTube channel — whether a small creator or someone big like MrBeast — I trigger a workflow that:

Finds the channel’s ID and uploads playlist
Scrapes the latest videos: titles, thumbnails, views, likes, dates
Saves the data to Google Sheets
Triggers AIThumbnail.so to generate thumbnails using the scraped titles
Outputs everything to be used in a blog post, showcase, or landing page

One simple input → multiple content assets.

Not Just for Small Creators

This workflow works for everyone — including top YouTubers.

I can easily:

Create style pages for creators like MrBeast or Marques Brownlee
Show the evolution of their thumbnails
Use their video titles to generate AI-powered versions
Turn everything into SEO content or inspiration for users

Example:
👉 How to Achieve a 10% CTR Using MrBeast Thumbnails

It was fully automated — I just input his channel, and the system did the rest: scrape → generate → publish.

The Workflow (Visual)

Here’s the actual n8n workflow I use:

Each step handles a different part of the process:
Scraping → Parsing → Saving → Generating → Aggregating

And because it’s hosted on Elestio, I don’t worry about uptime, updates, or maintenance.

Why I Use Elestio

Here’s why Elestio was the obvious choice:

✅ No server management
✅ Automatic SSL + backups
✅ One-click redeploy if something breaks
✅ Flat pricing — perfect for solo builders

They have ready-to-deploy templates for tools like n8n.
I run everything from a single instance — no stress, no scaling issues.

What I’ve Gained from This Setup

Since setting it up:

I’m saving hours each week on research
I’ve created auto-updating blog posts and landing pages
I now get content ideas every day from real channels
Creators love seeing their stats turned into clean, AI-generated visuals
My SEO content continues to grow with very little effort

This workflow is now part of my growth loop.

Want to Build Something Similar?

Here’s what I’d recommend:

Use n8n to handle scraping and logic
Host it on Elestio to avoid DevOps
Plug the output into your product or blog

If you’re building a SaaS that involves content, creators, or automation — this setup is incredibly effective.

TL;DR

I built an automated YouTube scraping + thumbnail generation system using:

n8n for logic and scheduling
Elestio for no-maintenance hosting
AIThumbnail.so for AI-generated outputs

Now I can generate style pages, creator showcases, and SEO posts — even for creators like MrBeast — with almost zero manual work.

Want to build something similar?
👉 DM me on X (@dumay_sacha) — happy to share the workflow or help you get started.