# n8n vs Make vs Zapier: how to choose in 2026 > Zapier bills tasks, Make bills credits, n8n bills whole workflow runs. A side by side table, pricing at three volumes with the arithmetic, and how to choose. - Author: Pranav Mahaveer, Founder, SBD - Updated: 2026-10-29 - Level: Beginner. Time to do: One to two weeks - For: Operations leads and founders choosing an automation platform, or weighing Zapier alternatives - You will end with: A platform choice backed by your own workflow volumes, a costed shortlist and a two-workflow pilot - Canonical: https://smallbaydigital.com/guides/n8n-vs-make-vs-zapier/ ## Steps 1. **List the workflows and count the steps.** Write down every workflow you plan to run, how often it runs each month and how many steps each run takes. 2. **Convert volume into each billing unit.** Turn runs and steps into Zapier tasks, Make credits and n8n executions, then price each at its published tier. 3. **Check the hard constraints.** Data residency, self-hosting, licence terms, the apps you need and who will build and maintain the workflows. 4. **Pilot two real workflows.** Build one simple and one awkward workflow on your top two platforms, including failure handling, and compare. 5. **Decide, document and set a review date.** Pick the platform, write down why, set an owner and revisit the choice when volume or needs change. > **The short answer.** Pick **Zapier** if non-technical staff will build their own simple automations and you need the widest app catalogue. Pick **Make** if you want a visual builder for longer, branching scenarios at a lower price per step. Pick **n8n** if your workflows have many steps, you want code where it helps, or you need to self-host or keep data in the EU. Price all three on your own volumes before deciding: the billing units differ, so headline prices mislead. All three tools connect apps and move data between them. The real differences are in what they charge for, who can build on them comfortably, and where your data runs. We build on all three at SBD, and pick per client, so this guide sets out the trade-offs as we see them rather than arguing for one. Prices below were checked on 29 October 2026 and change often. Treat them as a starting point and check the live pricing pages before you commit. ## At a glance | | Zapier | Make | n8n | | ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Billing unit | Task: each successful action step | Credit: most module actions, some AI features use more | Execution: one full workflow run, however many steps | | Free tier | 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps only | 1,000 credits a month | No free cloud plan; free trial, and the self-hosted Community Edition | | Entry paid plan | Professional from $19.99 a month billed annually, 750 tasks | Core, 10,000 credits (price: see note below) | Starter €20 a month billed annually, 2,500 executions | | Integrations | 9,000+ apps | 3,000+ native apps | Fewer native nodes; HTTP requests and code cover the rest | | Self-hosting | No | No | Yes, Community Edition under the Sustainable Use License | | Hosting region | Zapier cloud | Make cloud | n8n cloud stores data in Frankfurt, or anywhere you self-host | | What does not count | Triggers, polling, Formatter, Filter, Paths, failed actions | Error handler and Router modules | Steps within a run | | Best suited to | Simple automations built by business users | Visual, branching scenarios at moderate cost | Multi-step, technical or data-sensitive workflows | A note on Make prices: Make's pricing page did not show plan prices in a form we could read when we checked. Third-party summaries from September 2026 report Core at about $9 a month billed annually for 10,000 credits. We use that figure below but flag it as less certain; check the slider on Make's page. ## Pricing at three example volumes The same workflow is counted differently on each platform. Take a typical workflow with **one trigger and five action steps**: - **Zapier:** the trigger is free, each of the five actions is a task, so **5 tasks per run**. - **Make:** each module run uses a credit, including the trigger module, so roughly **6 credits per run**. - **n8n:** **1 execution per run**. | Volume | Runs a month | Zapier tasks | Make credits | n8n executions | | ------ | ------------ | ------------------ | ------------------ | -------------- | | Small | 300 | 300 × 5 = 1,500 | 300 × 6 = 1,800 | 300 | | Medium | 1,500 | 1,500 × 5 = 7,500 | 1,500 × 6 = 9,000 | 1,500 | | Large | 8,000 | 8,000 × 5 = 40,000 | 8,000 × 6 = 48,000 | 8,000 | Priced at published annual rates (Zapier Professional, Make Core, n8n cloud): | Volume | Zapier | Make | n8n cloud | | ------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | | Small | 1,500 tasks is above the 750 tier; the 2,000 task tier is $49 a month | 1,800 fits in 10,000 credits, about $9 a month | 300 fits in Starter (2,500), €20 a month | | Medium | 7,500 tasks needs the 10,000 tier, $129 a month | 9,000 fits in 10,000 credits, about $9 a month | 1,500 fits in Starter, €20 a month | | Large | 40,000 tasks needs the 50,000 tier, $289 a month | 48,000 credits needs a higher credit tier or extra bundles; price it on Make's slider | 8,000 fits in Pro (10,000), €50 a month | What this shows: - **Step count drives Zapier and Make bills, not n8n cloud.** Double the steps and the Zapier and Make columns double; n8n stays the same. - **Make is often cheapest at low and medium volume** for the same number of steps, if the reported price holds. - **Zapier's Team plan costs more** for the same tasks ($69 for 2,000, $169 for 10,000, $399 for 50,000 billed annually) and is what you need for shared workspaces and more than one seat. - **Monthly billing costs more.** Zapier states annual billing is 33% off the monthly rate. - **AI steps and agents can be metered separately.** On Zapier, AI and Code steps count as tasks and some actions cost more than one; Make says some AI features use more than one credit. See [the Zapier tax in 2026](/blog/the-zapier-tax-in-2026/) for a worked bill including AI steps. ## When to pick each **Zapier** suits teams where people across the business build their own small automations. The builder is the easiest of the three, the app catalogue is the largest, and Filter, Formatter and Paths do not use tasks. It gets expensive as workflows get longer or busier. **Make** suits teams who want a visual canvas for scenarios with routers, iterators and error handlers, without writing code. Routers and error handlers do not use credits, which helps for branching logic. It is cloud only. **n8n** suits teams with some technical confidence: you can drop into JavaScript or Python, call any API, and run AI agent workflows with your own model keys. It is the only one of the three you can self-host, and its cloud plans store data in the EU. Whether self-hosting is worth it for a small team is a separate question, covered in [n8n self-hosted or cloud for a team under 50](/blog/n8n-self-hosted-vs-cloud-for-a-team-under-50/). If you are weighing an AI agent instead of any of them, read [does an AI agent still need Zapier?](/blog/does-an-agent-still-need-zapier/) first. For most businesses the answer is that agents and workflow tools do different jobs. More detail on each platform: [Zapier](/integrations/tools/zapier/), [Make](/integrations/tools/make/) and [n8n](/integrations/tools/n8n/). ## 1. List the workflows and count the steps Write down every workflow you expect to run in the next year, not just the first one. For each, note: - what triggers it, - how many times it runs a month (use real numbers from the source system where you can), - how many action steps it has, including any AI steps. This list is the input for every number that follows. Without it, you are comparing headline prices that measure different things. ## 2. Convert volume into each billing unit Using the method above, convert your list into Zapier tasks, Make credits and n8n executions. Then price each at the smallest published tier that covers it, with headroom for growth. Note the date you checked, and price AI and agent usage separately where a platform meters it separately. Our free [build vs buy tool](/tools/build-vs-buy/) helps frame the wider choice, and the [ROI calculator](/tools/roi-calculator/) shows whether the workflows pay for themselves on any of the three. ## 3. Check the hard constraints Some factors rule a platform out regardless of price: | Constraint | Question to answer | | -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Data residency | Must data stay in a region? n8n cloud stores data in Frankfurt; self-hosting puts it where you choose. Check Zapier's and Make's current hosting terms against your requirement. | | Self-hosting | Do you need to run it on your own infrastructure? Only n8n offers this. | | Licence | If self-hosting n8n, the Sustainable Use License allows internal business use but not reselling n8n as a service. Some enterprise features need a paid licence key. | | Apps | Is every app you need a native integration? If not, can you reach it by HTTP request or webhook? | | Builders | Who will build and maintain workflows: business users, an operations team or developers? | ## 4. Pilot two real workflows Build two workflows on your top two platforms: one simple and one awkward, with branching, a loop over records and a step that can fail. Compare: - **Time to build** and how readable the result is to someone else. - **Error handling.** What happens when a step fails: can you retry, route the failure, and get alerted? Zapier does not charge for failed actions; Make has error handler modules that do not use credits; n8n lets you set a dedicated error workflow. - **Actual usage** after a week, against your estimate from step 2. ## 5. Decide, document and set a review date Pick the platform and write down why, with the numbers. Name an owner for the account and for failure alerts. Set a review date, and revisit sooner if volume doubles or you add AI steps at scale. ### Migration notes If you are moving between platforms: - **There is no direct import between them.** Each workflow is rebuilt, so start with an inventory and migrate the busiest or most expensive workflows first. - **Run old and new in parallel** for a short period, writing to a test destination or with the old one paused per workflow, so nothing is processed twice. - **Re-create credentials** in the new platform; they do not transfer. - **Check trigger behaviour.** Polling intervals and webhook handling differ, so a workflow that ran every few minutes may behave differently after the move. - **Recheck usage after a month** against the estimate, then cancel the old plan. ## Checklist - [ ] Every planned workflow listed with runs a month and steps per run - [ ] Monthly volume converted into tasks, credits and executions - [ ] Each platform priced at its current published tier, with the date you checked - [ ] AI steps and agent usage priced separately where the platform meters them separately - [ ] Required apps confirmed as native integrations, or an HTTP or API route agreed - [ ] Data residency requirement written down and checked against each option - [ ] If self-hosting n8n: licence terms read, and an owner named for updates and backups - [ ] Pilot includes at least one workflow with branching, retries and a failure path - [ ] Failure alerts go to a named person or channel, not an unwatched inbox - [ ] Decision and reasons documented, with a review date ## Sources - Zapier, [Plans and pricing (Free, Professional, Team, task tiers, what counts as a task, 9,000+ apps), checked 29 October 2026](https://zapier.com/pricing) - Make, [Pricing page (Free plan 1,000 credits, how credits are counted, extra credit bundles, 3,000+ apps), checked 29 October 2026](https://www.make.com/en/pricing) - Jet Admin, [Make.com pricing in 2026: plans, costs and limits explained (third-party summary of Make plan prices)](https://www.jetadmin.io/blog/make-pricing/) - n8n, [Pricing (Starter, Pro, Business, executions, EU hosting in Frankfurt), checked 29 October 2026](https://n8n.io/pricing/) - n8n on GitHub, [Sustainable Use License](https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/blob/master/LICENSE.md) ## Questions ### Which is cheapest: n8n, Make or Zapier? It depends on how many steps your workflows have. Zapier counts each successful action step as a task and Make counts most module actions as a credit, so long workflows cost more. n8n cloud counts one execution per workflow run regardless of steps, so it is usually cheapest for multi-step workflows. Self-hosted n8n has no licence fee for internal use, but you pay for the server and the time to run it. ### What is the best Zapier alternative? Make and n8n are the two most common. Make keeps a visual, no-code builder and prices by credits, which suits teams who like Zapier but run longer scenarios. n8n suits teams with some technical skill who want per-run pricing, code where needed, or self-hosting. ### Make vs n8n: what is the main difference? Make is cloud only and bills per credit, which roughly means per module action. n8n can run on its cloud or on your own servers and bills cloud plans per workflow execution. Make is often quicker for non-technical builders; n8n gives more control and suits more complex or code-heavy work. ### Can I self-host n8n for free? The Community Edition is available on GitHub under the Sustainable Use License, which allows use for internal business purposes and non-commercial or personal use. It does not allow you to sell n8n as a hosted service to others. Some enterprise features need a paid licence key. ### Is n8n hosted in the EU? n8n says data on its hosted plans is stored in the EU, in Frankfurt, Germany. Self-hosting lets you choose any region.