Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links for n8n and Make. If you sign up through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you — it keeps the lights on and keeps these comparisons honest and price-checked. Prices checked November 3, 2026.
If you've ever tried to pick between n8n vs Make vs Zapier, you know the feeling: three pricing pages, three completely different billing units, and not a single straight answer about which one costs less for a real workload. I spent the last two weeks mapping all three against actual scenarios — the solopreneur with 5 workflows, the small agency with 40 clients, the developer who self-hosts everything — and the answer is less obvious than any of their marketing pages admit.
TL;DR — The 30-Second Answer
- Pick n8n if you're technical (or willing to learn), want the cheapest serious automation on the market, or self-host. Starter at €20/mo for 2,500 executions; the self-hosted Community edition is free forever.
- Pick Make if you want the best balance of price, power, and ease. $9/mo (annual) for 10,000 credits is genuinely the best deal in automation right now for non-technical users.
- Pick Zapier if you need the widest app library, the simplest interface, and premium support — and your volume is low enough that $19.99/mo for 750 tasks doesn't sting.
- The rule of thumb: under ~1,000 runs/month, Zapier is fine. Past that, you're lighting money on fire unless you move to Make or n8n.
How I Compared Them (So You Can Trust This)
No paid placements here — n8n and Make have affiliate programs I'm in the process of joining, which I disclose above, but the rankings come from the numbers, not the commissions. Here's my process:
- Pricing: verified against official pricing pages, checked by multiple independent reviewers in September–October 2026, and re-checked by me on November 3, 2026. I quote annual-billing equivalents first (that's what most businesses actually pay), with monthly-billing prices alongside.
- Features: compared the things that actually decide outcomes — metering model, free tier, app count, logic capabilities, error handling, and self-hosting.
- Real workloads: I ran the math on three realistic scenarios instead of comparing headline prices, because headline prices are where these companies hide the bodies.
The Pricing Math Nobody Shows You
Here's every plan side by side, all current as of November 3, 2026:
| n8n Cloud | Make | Zapier | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 14-day trial only (no permanent free cloud tier); Community edition self-hosted = free forever | 1,000 credits/month, 2 active scenarios | 100 tasks/month, two-step Zaps only |
| Entry paid | Starter: €20/mo billed annually (€24 monthly) — 2,500 executions, 5 concurrent runs | Core: $9/mo billed annually ($10.59 monthly) — 10,000 credits | Professional: $19.99/mo billed annually ($29.99 monthly) — 750 tasks |
| Mid tier | Pro: €50/mo billed annually (€60 monthly) — 10,000 executions, 20 concurrent | Pro: $16/mo billed annually ($18.82 monthly) — 10,000 credits + priority execution | Professional 2,000 tasks: $49/mo billed annually |
| Team tier | Business: €667/mo billed annually — 40,000 executions (self-hosted only) | Teams: $29/mo billed annually ($34.12 monthly) — 10,000 credits + roles | Team: $69/mo billed annually ($103.50 monthly) — 2,000 tasks, 25 users |
| Enterprise | Custom quote | Custom quote | Custom quote |
Look at that table for a second. Make's Core gives you 10,000 credits for $9 a month. Zapier's Professional gives you 750 tasks for $19.99 a month. Same order of magnitude of money, more than 13x the usage. That's not a typo — that's the entire story of this comparison in two rows.
n8n in 2026 — The Builder's Choice
n8n is the odd one out, and honestly it's the one I root for. It's a Berlin-based company selling workflow automation that bills by workflow executions — one execution is one complete run of a workflow, no matter how many steps it has. And here's the part the other two can't match: every paid plan includes unlimited users and unlimited active workflows. Your cost scales with usage, not seats. For a team of ten automating everything in sight, that's enormous.
What you actually get
The Starter plan at €20/mo (annual) covers 2,500 executions a month, 5 concurrent runs, and workflows up to 5 minutes. The Pro plan at €50/mo jumps to 10,000 executions, 20 concurrent runs, and 40-minute workflows. Both run on n8n's own cloud in Frankfurt. The Community edition — self-hosted, free, no execution cap beyond your hardware — remains the best deal in all of automation software for anyone comfortable with a server. I've run it on a $6 VPS without breaking a sweat.
The honest downsides
Two things to know before you commit. First, there's no permanent free cloud tier — just a 14-day trial (no card required on Starter and Pro). If you want free, you're self-hosting. Second, n8n's learning curve is real. The node-based canvas is more powerful than Zapier's linear Zap builder, but power comes with complexity. Non-technical teammates will need hand-holding, and error messages sometimes read like they were written for the developer who built the node, not for you.
Who it's for
Developers, technical founders, data folks, and anyone running high-volume workflows who can either self-host or justify €20–50 a month. If your automations touch APIs, need custom code steps, or process thousands of runs a day, n8n is almost always the cheapest serious option.
Try n8n free for 14 days
Make in 2026 — The Sweet Spot for Most People
Make (the platform formerly known as Integromat) is what I'd recommend to my non-technical friends, and it's not close. The visual scenario builder is genuinely pleasant — you drag modules onto a canvas, draw the connections, and watch little bubbles show data flowing through in real time. It's the first automation tool I used where debugging felt fun instead of forensic.
What you actually get
The Free plan gives 1,000 credits a month with 2 active scenarios — enough to automate one real workflow and get hooked. Core at $9/mo (annual) unlocks 10,000 credits, unlimited scenarios, 1-minute scheduling, and API access. Pro ($16/mo annual) and Teams ($29/mo annual) keep the same 10,000-credit bucket but add priority execution, custom variables, full-text log search, and team roles. That's Make's one weird quirk worth knowing: the credit allowance doesn't grow with the tier. You're paying for features and priority, not capacity; extra credits are bought separately.
One terminology note, because it'll confuse you against older guides: in August 2025, Make renamed "operations" to "credits" (a 1:1 conversion). One credit is one module action in a scenario. Every tutorial written before 2026 says operations and still applies.
The honest downsides
The credit model punishes sloppy scenario design — a 10-module scenario running 500 times costs 5,000 credits, not 500, because Make meters per module execution, not per scenario run. AI modules can burn extra credits based on token usage, which can surprise you on AI-heavy builds. And the free plan's 15-minute minimum interval means time-sensitive triggers need a paid tier.
Who it's for
Solopreneurs, freelancers, marketers, and small teams who want serious automation without writing code — and without Zapier's prices. At $9/mo for 10,000 credits, Make is the value king for visual builders.
Start free on Make (1,000 credits/month)
Zapier in 2026 — The Safe Default That Charges for It
Zapier is the Kleenex of automation — the name people use for the whole category. There's a reason: 8,000+ app integrations (still the biggest library by a wide margin), the simplest builder of the three, and onboarding so smooth your least technical employee can build a working Zap in ten minutes. Every new account gets a 14-day Professional trial with no credit card, which is a genuinely good way to test it.
What you actually get
Free covers 100 tasks a month with two-step Zaps — enough to taste it, not enough to live on. Professional starts at $19.99/mo billed annually ($29.99 monthly) for 750 tasks, unlocking multi-step Zaps, premium apps, webhooks, and 2-minute polling. Need more? The task slider runs from 750 all the way to 2 million tasks a month, with prices climbing at every step — 1,500 tasks costs $39/mo annual, 2,000 tasks $49/mo annual. Team starts at $69/mo annual ($103.50 monthly) for 2,000 tasks with 25 users, shared Zaps, and SSO.
The honest downsides
Price, obviously — but the deeper problem is how Zapier counts a task. Every action step in a Zap uses tasks, and since a 2026 change, AI steps, code steps, and SDK calls burn tasks at multiplied rates (1x/3x/5x depending on model tier). A "simple" 5-step Zap running 200 times a month isn't 200 tasks — it's 1,000+, and AI steps multiply it further. Zapier's own help pages have disagreed with its pricing page about what counts as a task, which tells you everything about how fun the billing surprises are.
Who it's for
Teams that value the biggest app library and the gentlest learning curve over price, and whose volumes stay small. If you run under ~1,000 tasks a month and every integration you need exists in Zapier's catalog, the premium is defensible. Past that volume, do the math below before you renew. Try Zapier's free 14-day Pro trial
The Metering Trap — Why Headline Prices Lie
This is the section that would have saved me real money two years ago, so read it twice. The three tools don't just charge different prices — they charge for different units, and the unit decides everything:
- n8n: executions. One full workflow run = one execution, whether it has 3 steps or 30. Long, complex workflows are cheap here. n8n rewards complexity.
- Make: credits (per module). Every module that fires in a scenario costs one credit. A 12-module scenario costs 12 credits per run. Make rewards lean, efficient scenario design.
- Zapier: tasks (per step). Every action step costs tasks, and AI steps multiply. Zapier punishes both complexity and AI usage.
Here's what that means in practice. Take a realistic workflow: new form submission → enrich with an AI summary → create CRM record → send Slack message → log to spreadsheet. That's 5 steps.
- On n8n Starter: 1 execution per run. 2,500 runs/month for €20. Cost per run: under a cent.
- On Make Core: ~5 credits per run. 2,000 runs/month for $9. Cost per run: under half a cent.
- On Zapier Professional: ~5 tasks per run (more with AI steps). 750 tasks = ~150 runs/month for $19.99. Cost per run: about 13 cents.
Same workflow, same 150 runs a month: n8n charges roughly $1.20, Make charges roughly $0.68, Zapier charges $19.99. Scale it to 2,000 runs and Zapier needs the $49–69 tier while Make and n8n haven't blinked. I ran these numbers three times because I didn't believe them either.
Which One Should YOU Pick? (Four Real Scenarios)
1. The solopreneur automating a freelance business
You've got maybe 5–10 workflows: lead capture, invoicing reminders, content repurposing, client onboarding. Volume is low, technical skill is medium. My pick: Make's free plan to start (1,000 credits covers a surprising amount), then Core at $9/mo when you outgrow it. Zapier's free 100 tasks will frustrate you within a week; n8n's learning curve isn't worth it at this volume.
2. The small agency running client automations
40 clients, dozens of workflows, some team members non-technical. My pick: Make Pro or Teams — the visual builder keeps everyone productive, shared templates and roles keep it organized, and 10,000 credits at $16–29/mo beats Zapier's equivalent by 3–5x. If one person on the team is technical, n8n Pro at €50/mo for 10,000 executions is worth a serious look too.
3. The developer / technical founder
You live in APIs, you want version control, custom code, and zero per-seat nonsense. My pick: n8n, self-hosted Community if you're comfortable with a server (free forever, limited only by your hardware), Cloud Starter at €20/mo if you're not. Nothing else in this price range gives you this much control.
4. The enterprise team with compliance requirements
You need SSO, audit logs, SLAs, and a vendor your security team has heard of. My pick: honestly, talk to all three — Zapier Team/Enterprise has the brand recognition and the biggest integration catalog, n8n Business/Enterprise has the data-control story (self-hosted option), and Make Enterprise is the value play. At this level the per-unit math matters less than the security review.
My Honest Verdict
After two weeks with all three, here's where I land: Zapier is the best product and the worst deal. It's the easiest to learn, has the most integrations, and charges like it knows you won't leave. Make is the best deal for most humans — $9/mo for 10,000 credits is the kind of pricing that makes you wonder what Zapier is doing. And n8n is the best deal, period, for anyone technical — free self-hosting or €20/mo cloud with unlimited users and workflows is genuinely disruptive pricing.
If you're choosing today and you don't write code: start with Make's free plan. If you write code or run serious volume: start with n8n. Choose Zapier only if its app library has something the others don't and your volume stays small — and re-check that math every quarter, because Zapier's pricing has a way of growing while you're not looking.
One more thing: if you're coming from a simpler tool and want the broader landscape, my breakdown of 7 Relay.app alternatives covers n8n and Make alongside five other options with the same price-checked approach. And if you're deal-hunting, the Affitrove discounts page tracks current promos — including a Make offer worth grabbing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is n8n really free?
The self-hosted Community edition is free forever — no execution cap beyond your own hardware. n8n Cloud has no permanent free tier, only a 14-day trial; paid cloud plans start at €20/mo billed annually.
Why is Make so much cheaper than Zapier?
Different business models. Zapier monetizes its brand, its 8,000+ app library, and its simplicity. Make competes on price with a visual builder that's arguably better, and its credit model is far more generous at the entry tier (10,000 credits for $9 vs 750 tasks for $19.99).
Can I migrate my Zaps to Make or n8n?
There's no magic import button — you'll rebuild them. The good news: rebuilding 10–20 Zaps in Make typically takes an afternoon, and most people end up with cleaner, cheaper automations. Budget a weekend for n8n if you're learning the node model fresh.
Which has the most integrations?
Zapier, by a wide margin — 8,000+ apps. Make has 2,000+ and covers nearly every mainstream tool. n8n has 400+ built-in nodes but adds unlimited custom HTTP/API integrations, so anything with an API is fair game.
Do prices include tax?
The figures above are list prices from the official pricing pages, checked November 3, 2026. VAT/GST may be added at checkout depending on your country — always confirm the checkout total before paying.
References
- n8n official pricing page (n8n.io/pricing) — figures cross-checked via independent reviews of the page, October 2026
- Make official pricing page (make.com/en/pricing) — verified August–October 2026
- Zapier official pricing page (zapier.com/pricing) — verified September–October 2026
Prices checked November 3, 2026. Automation pricing changes often — confirm the plan details on the official site before you buy.
