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Zapier is the easiest to start with and the first one you'll outgrow. Make gives you branching logic and a lower cost per action once you're past its free tier. n8n is the only one of the three you can self-host for free, which is what matters most once your monthly task count is high enough that per-task pricing starts to hurt. The right pick comes down to two questions: how many automation runs do you need a month, and are you willing to host your own server to avoid paying for each one. Here's the verdict, then the pricing math and the honest limitations of each.
| Platform | Best for | Free tier | Cheapest paid plan | Billing unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Quick, simple automations and the widest app library | 100 tasks/month, 2-step Zaps only | $19.99/mo billed annually, 750 tasks | Per task |
| Make | Visual, branching workflows at a lower cost per action | 1,000 credits/month, 2 active scenarios | $12/mo, 10,000 credits | Per operation (“credit”) |
| n8n | Self-hosters and high-volume workflows | Self-hosted Community Edition: free, no listed execution cap | Cloud Starter: EUR 20/mo billed annually, 2,500 executions | Per workflow execution |
This comparison focuses on cost, since that's the biggest differentiator once you're past each platform's free tier, plus the practical limitations that only show up once you're building real workflows rather than a demo.
How the pricing actually works
"Per task" doesn't mean the same thing on all three platforms, and that difference matters more than the sticker price. Zapier counts every individual step that runs as a task — a five-step Zap that fires once uses five tasks. Make counts in its own unit called credits, which roughly track operations (each module that runs in a scenario), but the credit cost of a given module varies by app, so two scenarios with the same number of steps can burn credits at different rates. n8n counts neither steps nor modules — it bills per full workflow execution, so a twenty-step n8n workflow costs the same as a two-step one each time it runs. That structural difference is why a workflow with a lot of steps gets progressively more expensive on Zapier and Make but not on n8n.
Self-hosting removes the billing question for n8n entirely. The Community Edition is free software with no listed execution limit — you're paying with your own server time and setup effort instead of a subscription.
What 100, 1,000, and 10,000 tasks a month actually cost
| Monthly volume | Zapier | Make | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 runs/mo | Free — inside the 100-task free tier, but limited to 2-step Zaps | Free — well under the 1,000-credit free allotment | Free if self-hosted; EUR 20/mo (annual) for Cloud Starter if you’d rather not manage a server |
| 1,000 runs/mo | Above the 750-task Professional bracket ($19.99/mo annual) — you’d land in a higher tier than that; check Zapier’s live pricing page for the exact number, since Zapier doesn’t publish a bracket at exactly 1,000 tasks | Likely still inside the Core plan’s 10,000-credit ceiling ($12/mo), depending on how credit-hungry your specific modules are | Comfortably inside Cloud Starter’s 2,500-execution cap (EUR 20/mo annual), or free self-hosted |
| 10,000 runs/mo | Well past every published bracket. Zapier’s own pricing page is explicit that task-based billing scales steeply with volume — at this volume, expect it to be the most expensive of the three by a wide margin | Right at the Core plan’s 10,000-credit ceiling; Pro ($21/mo) is the safer bet to avoid overage | Needs Cloud Pro (EUR 50/mo, 10,000 executions) — or stays free if self-hosted, since volume doesn’t change the price there |
Treat the 1,000- and 10,000-task rows as directional, not exact — none of the three publish a price at every possible volume, and Make's credit cost depends on which apps you're connecting. The pattern that holds regardless: Zapier's cost curve is the steepest, Make's is gentler, and n8n's disappears entirely once you self-host.
A concrete example: pricing one real workflow
Say the workflow you're automating is simple: a new form submission triggers a Slack notification and adds a row to a spreadsheet. That's three steps from trigger to finish, run 500 times a month.
On Zapier, each run counts as 3 tasks, so 500 runs is 1,500 tasks a month — above the 750-task Professional bracket, meaning you'd be paying more than $19.99/mo annual for this one workflow alone. On Make, the same three modules per scenario at roughly 1 credit each puts you around 1,500 credits a month, comfortably inside the Core plan's 10,000-credit allotment at $12/mo, with room for several more workflows like it. On n8n, the whole three-step run counts as a single execution, so 500 runs is 500 executions a month — well inside Cloud Starter's 2,500-execution cap for EUR 20/mo annual, or free if self-hosted. The same workflow, three very different cost pictures, purely because of how each platform counts a "run."
Where each platform breaks down
Zapier. The free plan only allows 2-step Zaps, so anything with real branching logic requires a paid plan immediately. Task-based billing means a workflow that touches a lot of steps gets expensive fast, and Zapier's own automations live in a proprietary format you can't export elsewhere. It's also the platform most likely to surprise you on a bill once a workflow grows past what it looked like on day one.
Make. The visual scenario builder is more powerful than Zapier's linear editor, but that power comes with a steeper learning curve — branching, routers, and iterators take longer to learn than a simple trigger-then-action Zap. Credit consumption is also harder to predict up front than a flat per-task count, since different modules cost different amounts, so budgeting for a new scenario means more guesswork than Zapier's flat per-task math.
n8n. Self-hosting is free but it isn't zero-effort — you're responsible for keeping a server running, applying updates, and troubleshooting without a vendor support line behind you. The Cloud plans price in euros, which adds a currency-conversion step for anyone budgeting in dollars, and community support means answers come from forums rather than paid support staff. If you don't already have somewhere to host it and don't want to learn, that setup cost is real, even though the software itself is free.
Which one should you pick?
- Occasional, simple automations, no interest in servers: Zapier’s free plan. You’ll hit its limits fast if your workflows get complex, but for a handful of 2-step tasks it costs nothing, and its setup is the fastest of the three to learn.
- Dozens of workflows a month with real branching logic, comfortable with a learning curve: Make. The Core plan’s per-credit cost beats Zapier’s per-task cost at most volumes once you’re past the free tier, and the visual canvas makes multi-branch logic easier to follow than a list of linear steps.
- High volume, already comfortable running a VPS: n8n self-hosted. Execution-based, unlimited-volume free software is the only option here that doesn’t get more expensive as you automate more — the tradeoff is that you own the uptime.
- Want n8n’s pricing model without managing a server yourself: n8n Cloud. You still avoid Zapier’s and Make’s per-step cost curve, and you’re not on the hook for hosting, at the cost of a euro-denominated subscription with a lower ceiling than self-hosting.
If you're not sure which bucket you're in yet, start with whichever platform's free tier covers your current volume, build one real workflow end to end, and let the actual task count over a month tell you whether you'll outgrow it.
Is n8n free?
The self-hosted Community Edition costs nothing in software fees and carries no listed execution cap — but you're running it on your own infrastructure, so hosting and maintenance become your responsibility. The hosted Cloud version isn't free: Cloud Starter runs EUR 20/mo billed annually for 2,500 executions.
Which is cheapest at low volume?
At around 100 tasks a month, Zapier and Make are tied for cheapest — both cover that volume on their free tiers at no cost. n8n only matches that price if you're willing to self-host, since its Cloud plans start at EUR 20/mo regardless of how light your usage is.
Can you switch later?
Not without rebuilding. Each platform stores workflows in its own format, and there's no supported way to export a Zapier Zap into Make or n8n, or the reverse. Decide based on where your monthly task volume is likely to land in a year, not just where it sits today — moving platforms later means rebuilding every automation from scratch, not migrating it.
Do you need to know how to code?
No. All three are built as visual, no-code editors — you connect steps in a UI rather than writing a script for each integration. n8n also includes an optional code node for anyone who wants to drop in custom JavaScript for edge cases a visual step can't handle, but it's an option, not a requirement to get a basic workflow running on any of the three.
If you haven't set up any automations yet and want concrete starting points before committing to a platform, 15 Workflow Automations That Save Solopreneurs 5 Hours a Week is a good place to start. And if part of what you're automating includes your own notes and project tracking rather than just app-to-app tasks, How to Use Obsidian: A Beginner’s Guide to Linked Notes pairs well with whichever platform you land on here.
Evidence and verification
Last verified: July 18, 2026. This guide was checked against the official pricing and product documentation from Zapier, Make, and n8n. Interfaces, plan limits, pricing, and feature availability can change. Confirm any feature or cost that determines your setup before relying on it, and test the workflow with a non-critical example first.
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