n8n vs Zapier vs Make: An Engineer's Honest Comparison for SMB Automation
- written by
Yahya QarniCo-Founder & Lead Engineer- published
- updated
- reading time
- 5 min read
- topic
- Automation
Zapier is the fastest way to connect two tools, and it's fine at low volume. Make offers more complex logic per dollar. Self-hosted n8n wins on cost and control once you run serious volume, need custom logic or AI steps, or want your data to stay in your own environment. The crossover point is usually a few thousand tasks per month. Past that, per-step billing (Zapier tasks, Make credits) gets increasingly expensive, while self-hosted n8n's cost stays roughly flat.
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What's the real difference between the three?
- Zapier has the largest app catalog and the simplest builder. It bills per task, meaning each successful action step; triggers and built-in tools like Filter, Formatter, and Paths don't count. Best for non-technical teams with light automation.
- Make gives you a visual scenario builder with branching and iteration. It bills in credits, usually one per module action, and costs much less per step than Zapier. Best for mid-complexity workflows on a budget.
- n8n is fair-code (source-available under its Sustainable Use License), free to self-host, and code-friendly, with JavaScript functions, webhooks, and custom nodes. Its cloud plans bill per whole workflow execution, not per step. Best when volume, custom logic, AI steps, or data residency matter.
| Feature | Zapier | Make | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per task (each successful action step) | Per credit (usually one per module action) | Per workflow execution on Cloud; unmetered when self-hosted |
| Free tier | 100 tasks / month, two-step Zaps | 1,000 credits / month, two active scenarios | Community Edition, self-hosted, no execution limit |
| Entry paid plan | $19.99 / month annual, 750 tasks | $9 / month, 10,000 credits | €20 / month annual, 2,500 executions |
| Self-hosting | No | No | Yes (Sustainable Use License) |
| Builder | Linear steps, simplest | Visual scenarios with branching and iteration | Visual nodes plus JavaScript, webhooks, custom nodes |
| AI steps | AI actions and app connectors | AI modules and app connectors | First-class AI, agent and RAG nodes with your own models |
| Best for | Non-technical teams, light volume | Mid-complexity workflows on a budget | High volume, custom logic, AI, data residency |
What do Zapier, Make, and n8n cost in 2026?
- Zapier: free for 100 tasks a month on two-step Zaps. Professional starts at $19.99 a month billed annually ($29.99 monthly) for 750 tasks, and Team at $69 a month billed annually for 2,000 tasks. Prices rise with task volume.
- Make: free for 1,000 credits a month with two active scenarios. Core is $9 a month, Pro $16, and Teams $29, each including 10,000 credits a month, with about 15% off for annual billing.
- n8n Cloud: Starter is €20 a month billed annually for 2,500 executions, and Pro €50 a month for 10,000 executions. Business, at €667 a month billed annually, is a self-hosted plan with 40,000 executions and team features.
- n8n Community Edition: free to self-host with no execution limit. You pay only for the server, often a small VPS, and for someone to maintain it.
Prices were checked against each vendor's pricing page on September 30, 2026. All three change their plans often, so confirm current tiers before you budget.
When does self-hosted n8n pay for itself?
Per-step billing is the quiet budget killer. An email triage flow handling 200 messages a day runs about 6,000 times a month. If each run has three action steps, say classify, create a Trello card, and draft a reply, that's roughly 18,000 Zapier tasks or Make credits a month from one workflow. On n8n Cloud it's 6,000 executions, and on self-hosted n8n there's no meter at all. Once a few workflows run at that volume, the subscription line item outgrows the cost of a small server running n8n. Self-hosting also removes per-task anxiety entirely. You stop designing workflows around your bill.
| Tool | What gets counted | Monthly usage |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Tasks | ≈ 18,000 tasks |
| Make | Credits | ≈ 18,000 credits, plus the trigger module |
| n8n Cloud | Executions | ≈ 6,000 executions |
| n8n self-hosted | Nothing | Server cost only |
This is exactly the migration we did for Safa Solutions, a Canadian services firm. We moved their existing Zapier automations onto self-hosted n8n, then built new workflows connecting Gmail, Google Sheets, Trello, OpenAI, and webhook forms. Lead capture and enrichment, permit status tracking with conditional date logic, AI email triage with OpenAI classification routed into Trello, and category-based auto-reply drafts. Ten-plus workflows, no per-task fees, and their data stayed in their own environment.
Where do Zapier and Make still win?
- You have no one to maintain a server. Hosted tools are genuinely zero-ops.
- Volume is low, and a handful of light workflows will never justify migration effort.
- You need an obscure SaaS connector that only Zapier's catalog covers.
- Non-technical staff need to build and edit automations themselves.
What about AI in automations?
All three can call AI APIs now, but n8n is where AI-in-the-loop workflows get serious. Classification, drafting, routing, and RAG steps run as first-class nodes, with your own prompts and models. The Safa Solutions email triage flow is a small example. OpenAI classifies each incoming email, and n8n routes it to the right Trello list and drafts an acknowledgment matched to the category. That pattern, classify, route, draft, notify, fits almost any operations team.
Where do the pricing figures come from?
- Zapier pricing (checked September 30, 2026) (opens in a new tab)
- Make pricing (checked September 30, 2026) (opens in a new tab)
- n8n pricing (checked September 30, 2026) (opens in a new tab)
- n8n Sustainable Use License (opens in a new tab)
Frequently Asked Questions
The self-hosted Community Edition is free to use for your own internal business purposes under n8n's Sustainable Use License, with no execution limit. You still pay for a server and for someone to keep it updated, backed up, and monitored. It isn't open source in the strict sense: you can't resell n8n itself as a hosted service without a commercial agreement.
For a small business, a modest VPS is usually enough to start, plus the time to maintain it. The larger cost is the setup: building the workflows, adding error alerts, and documenting them. Bitlogs typically quotes $80 to $200 for a single workflow and $200 to $800+ for a multi-workflow system, fixed-price.
No. Zapier counts a task each time an action step completes successfully. Triggers, and built-in tools like Filter, Formatter, Paths, and Delay, don't count, and failed actions aren't billed. A Zap with one trigger and three actions therefore uses three tasks every time it runs. Make works differently: most module actions use one credit each.
There's no one-click import, so each Zap gets rebuilt as an n8n workflow. Most are simple to recreate because the same apps have n8n nodes or can be reached through webhooks and HTTP requests. Run the old and new versions side by side for a short period, compare outputs, then switch off the Zap.