Zapier vs Make vs n8n: What Each One Costs at Your Volume

Quick answer: the three platforms meter different things. Zapier charges per successful action step, Make charges per module run, and n8n charges per whole workflow run no matter how many steps it has. For short, simple workflows at low volume Zapier is the easiest and the price difference is small. As workflows get longer and volume climbs, Make usually costs less than Zapier, and n8n usually costs less than both. Past a certain point, a small piece of custom code costs less than any of them.

All prices below come from each vendor's own pricing page as of October 1, 2026. Check them before you buy; all three change their plans regularly.

How does each one count usage?

Sources: Zapier pricing and how Zapier counts tasks; Make pricing and Make credits; n8n pricing. Make replaced operations with credits on August 27, 2025, converting one to one, and AI modules now use a variable number of credits.

The same workflow on all three

Take a common one: a web form comes in, the lead is created in your CRM, tagged, assigned to a salesperson, sent a welcome email, and posted to your team chat. That is one trigger and five actions, plus a filter to drop spam.

• Zapier: the trigger and filter are free, the five actions are five tasks. At 300 leads a month that is 1,500 tasks, double the Professional plan's 750.
• Make: each module uses a credit, so about six or seven credits per lead, roughly 2,000 a month. That fits comfortably inside the 10,000 credits on Core.
• n8n: each lead is one execution regardless of steps, so 300 a month, well inside Starter's 2,500.

The difference grows with the length of the workflow. A ten-step process costs ten times as much per run on Zapier as a one-step process; on n8n it costs the same. If your automations are long and run often, that is the number to look at first.

What the price does not show

Zapier has the largest app library and the easiest editor. Someone on your team can build and fix a zap without help, and that is worth real money. Its weakness is cost at volume and long workflows. We wrote about the warning signs in Signs You've Outgrown Zapier.

Make is more visual and handles branching, loops and data reshaping better, at a lower price per step. The editor takes longer to learn, and complex scenarios can be hard for the next person to read.

n8n is the most developer-friendly, can run custom code inside a workflow, and can be self-hosted. Its self-hosted Community edition is under the Sustainable Use License, which allows use for your own internal business purposes. Self-hosting removes the execution bill but makes you responsible for the server, updates, backups and security.

When custom code wins

A workflow that runs thousands of times a month, has not changed in a year, and touches only two or three systems is a good candidate to move into a small piece of code you own. It runs on hosting you already pay for, has no per-step bill, and can be tested like any other software. The trade is that changing it needs a developer. Keep the platforms for workflows that change often or that non-developers need to edit, and move the stable, high-volume ones into code.

How we decide for a client

We list every automation, how often it runs, how many steps it has, and who needs to be able to change it. Most businesses end up with a mix: Zapier or Make for the long tail, and one or two high-volume flows moved somewhere cheaper. That inventory is the first part of our automation sprint, a one-time $1,500 engagement that builds three to five automations in the tools you already use.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Make cheaper than Zapier?

Usually, once workflows have several steps or run often. Zapier bills each successful action step as a task, starting at $19.99 a month billed yearly for 750 tasks. Make bills each module run as a credit, and its Core plan is listed at $12 a month for 10,000 credits. For short workflows at low volume the difference is small.

How does n8n pricing work?

n8n Cloud charges per execution, meaning one full run of a workflow regardless of how many steps it has. The Starter plan is 24 euros a month, or 240 euros a year, for 2,500 executions. The self-hosted Community edition is free under the Sustainable Use License for internal business use, but you run and maintain the server yourself.

Do Zapier filters and formatters count as tasks?

No. According to Zapier, trigger steps, Filter, Paths, Formatter, Delay and several other built-in utilities do not use tasks. Only successful action steps count, plus a few special cases such as AI steps and Zapier MCP calls, which have their own rates.

Should I switch from Zapier to Make or n8n?

Only for the workflows where the math says so. Moving everything at once trades a known bill for a migration project. Start by listing each automation with its run count and step count, move the most expensive few, and leave the simple ones where your team can maintain them.