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AI and automation

n8n vs Make vs Zapier: Real Costs for a Small Business

By 1920 Agency Editorial Team · Reviewed by Rana Zain Usman · Published

The short answer

Zapier is the easiest of the three and has the most apps, but it charges for every action step, so it costs the most as volume grows. Make is the cheapest hosted option for multi-step workflows, and n8n charges once per whole workflow run (or nothing in licence fees if you self-host), which makes it the strongest choice for high volume if someone can maintain it. Priced at list rates checked on 25 October 2026, one lead follow-up workflow at 1,000 leads a month comes to about $129 a month on Zapier Pro, $9 on Make Core and €20 on n8n Starter, all billed annually.

Quick verdict by situation

Choose Zapier when ease and app coverage matter more than cost. Choose Make when you want the lowest hosted price for multi-step workflows. Choose n8n when volume is high, workflows are long, or you must control where data lives. The tool matters less than whether someone owns each workflow after it goes live.

Your situation Best fit Why
A non-technical owner automating a few tasks Zapier 9,000+ apps per Zapier's pricing page and the simplest builder; cost climbs fastest with volume
Multi-step workflows on a tight budget Make Core starts at $9 a month (annual) for 10,000 credits; routers and filters use no credits
High volume, or workflows with many steps n8n Cloud One execution per workflow run, however many steps it has
Data must stay on your own servers, or you need custom code n8n self-hosted Free Community Edition, but you run the server, the updates and the security
Your CRM already has automation built in Check the CRM first A lead follow-up may not need a separate tool at all; see our GoHighLevel setup checklist

How each tool bills you

All three charge for usage, but each counts a different thing. That unit decides your bill more than the headline price does.

Zapier: tasks

According to Zapier's pricing page, a task is a successful action step. Triggers, polling, failed actions and built-in tools (Filter, Delay, Formatter, Paths and others) cost nothing. The Free plan gives 100 tasks a month and allows only two-step Zaps. Pro starts at $19.99 a month billed annually ($29.99 monthly) for 750 tasks and covers one user. Team starts at $69 a month annually for 2,000 tasks and 25 users.

If you run out, it depends on the pay-per-task setting. With it on, Zaps keep running and extra tasks are billed at 1.25 times your base task rate on annual plans, or 2.5 times on monthly plans, and everything stops at three times your allowance. With it off, Zaps stop until the next cycle. AI by Zapier steps and Zapier MCP calls draw on the same task pool, and one MCP tool call costs 2 tasks.

Make: credits, formerly operations

Make's pricing FAQ says credits are its billing unit "as of August 27", and Make's help center confirms that for ordinary app modules one operation equals one credit. Every module that runs uses credits, the trigger included: per How features use credits, "Trigger modules use 1 credit per run, regardless of whether they return data." A search module costs one credit per run however many results it returns. Routers, filters and error handlers are free. The Make Code app uses 2 credits per second of run time.

The Free plan gives 1,000 credits a month, two active scenarios and a 15-minute minimum interval between scheduled runs. Core costs $9 a month billed annually ($10.59 monthly) for 10,000 credits; Pro and Teams cost $16 and $29 at the same tier. If credits run out, scenarios stop until you add more. Since 6 November 2025, Make's announcement prices extra credits at 25% more than plan credits and caps Core at 300,000 credits a month.

n8n: executions

n8n's documentation defines an execution as "a single run of a workflow". A webhook trigger counts one execution per request. A schedule trigger counts every time it fires. Polls that find nothing, manual test runs, sub-workflows and error workflows don't count.

On n8n's pricing page, prices are in euros:

  • Starter: €20 a month billed annually (€24 monthly) for 2,500 executions.
  • Pro: €50 a month annually (€60 monthly) for 10,000 executions, or €1,450 a year (€145 monthly) for 50,000.
  • Business: €667 a month annually for 40,000 executions. It is self-hosted only and aimed at companies with fewer than 100 employees.

n8n Cloud has a free trial but no permanent free plan.

The self-hosted Community Edition has no licence fee, and n8n's docs apply execution quotas only to paid plans. It is not open source in the usual sense. Its Sustainable Use License lets you "use or modify the software only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use". Running workflows for your own business is fine. Selling access to n8n as a service is not.

Zapier Make n8n
Billing unit Task: each successful action step Credit: each module run, trigger included Execution: one whole workflow run
Free option 100 tasks/month, two-step Zaps 1,000 credits/month, 2 active scenarios Self-hosted Community Edition; Cloud trial only
Entry paid plan Pro, $19.99/mo annual for 750 tasks Core, $9/mo annual for 10,000 credits Starter, €20/mo annual for 2,500 executions
Users 1 on Pro, 25 on Team Unlimited on every plan Unlimited on every plan
Self-hosting No No Yes
Long waits Delay up to one month Sleep up to 300 seconds; longer waits need a second scenario Wait node in seconds, minutes, hours or days
When you hit the limit Overage billing (if on) or pause Scenarios stop; webhooks queue Business plan keeps running with overage billing

One lead workflow, priced on all three

A website lead goes into the CRM, gets an instant email and a text, and triggers a Slack alert; two days later, anyone who hasn't replied gets a follow-up email. On list prices checked on 25 October 2026, this costs $9 to $489 a month depending on tool and volume. These are our estimates; your workflow will differ.

Counting the billable units

Step Zapier tasks Make credits n8n
1. Form submission arrives (webhook trigger) 0 1 1 execution covers the whole run
2. Create or update the CRM contact 1 1 included
3. Send the instant email 1 1 included
4. Send the SMS or WhatsApp message 1 1 included
5. Post the Slack alert 1 1 included
6. Wait two days 0 (Delay) 1 (save the lead to a data store) included (Wait node)
7. Look up the contact in the CRM 1 1 included
8. Continue only if there is no reply (filter) 0 0 included
9. Send the follow-up email 1 1 included
10. Clear the waiting record none 1 none
Per lead 6 tasks 9 credits 1 execution
Fixed per month 0 720 credits (hourly check) 0

Make needs the extra steps because its Sleep module waits at most 300 seconds. For longer pauses, Make's help center suggests two scenarios: the first saves the lead to a data store, and the second checks the store on a schedule. Checking hourly costs 24 × 30 = 720 credits a month even when no lead is due. Zapier's Delay holds a task for up to one month at no task cost. n8n's Wait node pauses the execution, stores it in the database, and continues the same execution when the time is up.

Monthly cost at three volumes

Each cell shows the usage, the plan that covers it, and the price billed annually / billed monthly.

Leads a month Zapier Make n8n Cloud n8n self-hosted
100 600 tasks: Pro 750, $19.99 / $29.99 1,620 credits: Core 10k, $9 / $10.59 100 executions: Starter, €20 / €24 €0 licence + server
1,000 6,000 tasks: Pro 10,000, $129 / $193.50 9,720 credits: Core 10k, $9 / $10.59 1,000 executions: Starter, €20 / €24 €0 licence + server
10,000 60,000 tasks: Pro 100,000, $489 / $733.50 90,720 credits: Core 150k, $99 / $116.47 10,000 executions: Pro 10K, €50 / €60 (no headroom; Pro 50K is €120.83 / €145) €0 licence + server

Assumptions

  • Upper bound. Nobody replies, so every lead runs every step. Replies cut Zapier and Make usage slightly but don't change n8n's count.
  • List prices only, excluding tax. Zapier and Make are in US dollars and n8n in euros, as each vendor shows them. We did not convert currencies.
  • Not included: SMS, email, CRM and Slack fees, and the time to build and maintain the workflow. Texting US leads also needs consent and, for 10-digit numbers, A2P 10DLC registration.
  • Zapier. We picked the next tier up rather than overage, since Zapier doesn't publish its base task rate as a number. Pro covers one user; Team at 10,000 tasks is $169 a month annually.
  • Make. At 1,000 leads, only 280 credits are spare. If you check for due follow-ups once a day instead of hourly, the fixed cost drops to about 30 credits. Then 100 leads use 930 credits, which fits the Free plan's 1,000 and its two-scenario limit.
  • Make's prices. Make's pricing page blocks automated readers. The tier prices above come from the price data in that page as archived on 6 October 2026. The $9 entry price matches what Make's own Make vs n8n page shows today.
  • n8n Cloud. Its plans cap how long one execution may run: 5 minutes on Starter and 40 on Pro. n8n's docs don't say whether a two-day Wait counts toward that cap. If you use an hourly scheduled follow-up workflow instead, add 720 executions a month. That gives 820, 1,720 and 10,720 executions, which fall on Starter, Starter and Pro 50K.
  • Self-hosted n8n. You still pay for a server. For example, Hetzner lists shared cloud servers from €5.99 a month excluding VAT. You also pay in your time for updates, backups and monitoring.

The pattern matters more than the totals. Zapier multiplies every step by every lead. Make is cheap, but scheduled checks cost credits and scenarios stop when credits run out. n8n ignores step count. For designing the follow-up itself, see how to automate lead follow-up.

Hosting and data control

Only n8n can run on your own servers. Zapier and Make are cloud-only, and they differ in where that cloud is.

  • Zapier hosts on AWS in the United States, with TLS 1.2+ encryption in transit, AES-256 at rest, and SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports, per its security page. Its MCP security docs name the region as AWS US-East 1 and say "Region-specific data residency is not available unless otherwise agreed."
  • Make lets each organization choose a US or EU data center. Per the Make help center, "You cannot change the location of the data center after you create the organization." Pick EU at sign-up if you serve UK or EU customers and want their data processed there.
  • n8n Cloud stores data in the EU, on servers in Frankfurt, according to its pricing FAQ. Self-hosted n8n keeps data wherever you run it. On the paid Business and Enterprise plans, the licence key pings n8n's licence server daily, and the ping includes your production execution count. Telemetry is on by default and can be turned off.

Self-hosting gives you control, and with it full responsibility for security.

AI features in each tool

All three now offer AI steps, AI agents and an AI helper that builds workflows from a chat. The real difference is how AI usage is billed.

  • Zapier has AI by Zapier steps on paid plans, billed in tasks at rates that vary by model tier. Copilot builds Zaps from chat, with a daily message limit on Free and unlimited messages on paid plans. Zapier Agents is a separate add-on billed in "activities": 400 a month on Free and 1,500 on Pro, from about $33.33 a month billed annually. Chatbots and Zapier MCP are also available (pricing page).
  • Make offers Make AI Agents (beta) and the Make AI Toolkit. They run on Make's AI Provider or your own model key. Make's credit rules charge AI Provider usage by tokens; for example, its Large tier (GPT-5 mini) allows 3,616 input tokens per credit. A third-party AI module such as OpenAI or Anthropic Claude costs 1 credit per operation, plus your own provider bill. Maia by Make builds scenarios through conversation, and Make also offers an MCP server.
  • n8n includes AI Agent nodes, an MCP client and server trigger, human approval for tool calls, and hosted chat (pricing page). On Starter and Pro Cloud, Gateway credits run supported models without your own API keys. n8n Assistant is in preview and builds, tests and debugs workflows from chat. It gets 1,600 credits a month on Starter and up to 9,600 on Pro, and has no credit limit when self-hosted with your own key.

On Zapier and Make, each AI step adds to the meter. On n8n, an AI step stays inside the same execution, though the model's tokens still cost money. Whichever tool you use, keep a human approval step before AI-written text reaches a customer.

Learning curve and maintenance

Zapier is the easiest to learn, Make is moderate, and n8n is the hardest. Upkeep follows the same order, and self-hosting n8n adds a server to look after.

  • Zapier reads top to bottom, one step after another, and Copilot can draft a Zap for you. Upkeep is mostly reconnecting expired app logins and watching your task count.
  • Make uses a visual canvas with routers, iterators and aggregators. To predict credits, you need to understand bundles: how many items flow through each module.
  • n8n passes data between nodes as JSON items, uses expressions, and allows code nodes. That power takes time to learn. Self-hosting adds work that n8n's own guide lists as "Your responsibility", including installation and maintenance. Its security section covers SSL, SSRF protection, encryption-key rotation and security audits, all of which you would own.

When not to use n8n:

  • Nobody can own updates and security patches. Use n8n Cloud, or Zapier or Make, instead.
  • The people who will edit the workflows aren't technical.
  • You have two or three simple, low-volume automations that a free Zapier or Make plan already covers.
  • You plan to sell access to an n8n instance, which the Sustainable Use License doesn't allow.

1920 Agency runs its own operations on automation: daily SEO monitoring, ad performance checks, and reports posted to team channels. The build is the short part. Most of the ongoing work is error alerts, expired credentials and usage limits. If nobody on your team can own that work, our AI and automation services can take it on. For typical market rates for building and maintaining workflows, see what an automation agency costs.

Moving from Zapier or Make to n8n

Moving to n8n means rebuilding, not importing. Do it when your monthly bill or your data rules justify the rebuild time, and never all at once.

n8n's export and import docs cover only n8n's own JSON files and packages, and they don't mention Zapier or Make. App connections don't transfer either, so you set up every credential again.

A safe order:

  1. List every Zap or scenario with its monthly task or credit use. Start with the costliest; that is where the savings are.
  2. Drop what nobody uses. Old automations often run on forgotten triggers.
  3. Rebuild one workflow at a time in n8n and test it with sample data. Manual test runs don't count against n8n's execution quota.
  4. Move the trigger last. Point the form or webhook at n8n only after the new version passes, and keep the old one off but intact for rollback.
  5. Watch the first month of executions and errors, then downgrade the old plan at its renewal date. Make's help center states a no-cash-refund policy, and n8n's Business plan has no pro-rata refunds, so timing matters.

If your current bill is small, the rebuild can cost more than years of savings. If you run on GoHighLevel, check what its built-in workflows already cover; our guide to GoHighLevel setup costs sets out that platform's costs.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheapest, n8n, Make or Zapier?

In our worked example Make and n8n Cloud were close at every volume, and Zapier cost the most each time, for example $129 a month against $9 on Make and €20 on n8n at 1,000 leads (annual billing). Self-hosted n8n has no licence fee, but you pay for the server and the time to maintain it.

Is n8n really free?

The self-hosted Community Edition has no licence fee and no execution quota, under n8n's Sustainable Use License, which allows use for your own internal business purposes. n8n Cloud is paid, starting at €20 a month billed annually for 2,500 executions, with a free trial.

Does Make still charge per operation?

Make now bills in credits. For ordinary app modules one operation equals one credit, while some AI features and the Make Code app use more.

What counts as a task in Zapier?

A task is a successful action step in a Zap. Triggers, polling, failed actions and built-in tools such as Filter, Delay, Formatter and Paths do not count.

Can I import my Zaps or Make scenarios into n8n?

n8n's export and import documentation covers only n8n's own workflow files and mentions no importer for Zapier or Make. Plan to rebuild each workflow and reconnect each app.

Which tool is best for a non-technical small business owner?

Zapier, if you value ease over cost, or Make if budget matters and you are comfortable with a visual canvas. n8n suits teams with someone technical, in-house or hired, who will maintain it.

Where do Zapier, Make and n8n store my data?

Zapier hosts on AWS in the United States, Make lets each organization choose a US or EU data center when it is created, and n8n Cloud stores data in Frankfurt, Germany. Self-hosted n8n stores data wherever you run it.