Zapier vs Make vs n8n

Short version: Zapier is the easiest of the three and connects the most apps, but the bill climbs quickly once your workflows have several steps. Make has the lowest entry price for multi-step workflows, if you're happy building on a visual canvas. n8n charges per workflow run instead of per step, and it's the only one of the three you can host yourself for free.

All three connect your apps, so something that happens in one, like a new form entry, sets off actions in others, like adding a CRM contact and posting in Slack. The big difference is what each one counts when it bills you.

What you pay

Plan	Zapier	Make Affiliate link: we may earn a commission	n8n
Free	$0: 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps only	$0: 1,000 credits a month	No free cloud plan. Self-hosted Community Edition is free
Entry paid	Professional, from $19.99/mo billed yearly ($29.99 monthly) for 750 tasks	Core, $12/mo billed yearly ($16 monthly) for 10,000 credits	Starter, $20/mo billed yearly ($24 monthly) for 2,500 executions
Next tier	Professional, $39/mo billed yearly for 1,500 tasks	Pro: see Make's pricing page	Pro, $50/mo billed yearly ($60 monthly) for 10,000 executions
Teams	Team, from $69/mo billed yearly ($103.50 monthly), up to 25 users	Teams: see Make's pricing page	Unlimited users on every plan
Billed on	Tasks: 1 per successful action step	Credits: 1 per module action, in most cases	Executions: 1 per full workflow run, any number of steps
Trial	14-day Professional trial, no card	Start on the Free plan	Cloud trial with 1,000 executions, no card

Prices are in US dollars, before tax. Checked October 21, 2026. Make's Core price is for 10,000 credits a month, and the price changes as you add or remove credits. For Make's Pro and Teams prices and each plan's limits, see Make's pricing page. Sources for Zapier's 750 tasks: Zapier's pricing page (opens in a new tab), Zapier's help article on pay-per-task billing (opens in a new tab) and Zapier's guide to tasks (opens in a new tab).

What the same workflow costs

The billing units don't line up one to one, so here's one example. Say a workflow has a trigger and four actions, and it runs 1,000 times a month.

• Zapier: triggers don't count, so that's 4,000 tasks. The smallest tier that covers it is 5,000 tasks on Professional, at $89 a month billed yearly or $133.50 monthly.
• Make: each module action counts, the trigger included, so it's at least 5,000 credits. If the trigger polls on a schedule, every check uses a credit too, even when there's nothing new, so 5,000 is the floor. With an instant trigger, that fits inside the 10,000 credits on Core, at $12 a month billed yearly or $16 monthly.
• n8n: 1,000 executions, however many steps the workflow has. That fits inside Starter's 2,500, at $20 a month billed yearly.

This assumes plain steps. AI steps can use more than one task on Zapier or credit on Make. Zapier's built-in tools, like Filter, Formatter and Paths, don't use tasks at all.

Where Zapier wins

• The most apps. Zapier says it connects more than 9,000.
• The simplest setup. Pick a trigger, pick an action, map the fields. Copilot can also build a Zap from a plain-English request.
• Zaps can keep running when you go over. On paid plans, pay-per-task billing (on by default for newer accounts) bills extra tasks instead of stopping your Zaps. Zapier puts that rate at 1.25 times your base rate on yearly billing and 2.5 times on monthly.
• Tables and Forms are included. Zap steps that use Zapier Tables and Forms don't count toward your tasks.

Watch out for: the free plan only runs two-step Zaps. Multi-step Zaps, webhooks and premium apps need Professional. Every plan gets basic access to Zapier Agents and Chatbots, but fuller use is a separate add-on.

Where Make wins

• The lowest entry price for multi-step work. Core is $12 a month billed yearly for 10,000 credits. Zapier starts at $19.99 billed yearly for 750 tasks.
• A visual builder. You lay out scenarios on a drag-and-drop canvas, with routers to split a scenario into branches.
• AI agents on every plan. Make AI Agents, in beta, run on Make's AI provider on every plan. Paid plans can also use your own model key.

Watch out for: a scenario that checks for new data on a schedule uses a credit on every check. If you run out of credits before your next billing cycle, your options are to upgrade, buy extra credits or turn on auto-purchasing. Extra credits cost 25% more than the ones in your plan and expire at the end of the billing cycle. On yearly Core, your credits, extra ones included, reset every month. For each plan's run limits, see Make's pricing page.

Where n8n wins

• You pay per run, not per step. A 20-step workflow uses one execution, the same as a 2-step one.
• Free to self-host. The Community Edition runs on your own server at no cost, with almost the full feature set.
• Unlimited users and workflows on every plan, Starter included.
• Room for technical teams. Code steps in JavaScript or Python, custom API requests, and agent, MCP and AI nodes come with every plan.

Watch out for: there's no free cloud plan, only a trial. If you self-host, you run, update and secure the server yourself, and features like SSO, Git version control and shared credentials need a paid license. n8n Cloud keeps your data in the EU, on servers in Frankfurt.

Which one should you pick?

• You've never automated anything and want the simplest start: Zapier Free.
• Your workflows have three or more steps and you're watching cost: Make Core.
• You run high-volume or long workflows: n8n, since a run counts once however many steps it has.
• You're comfortable running a server and want to pay nothing: n8n's self-hosted Community Edition.
• The app you need is obscure: check Zapier first, since it lists the most apps.
• Your whole team will build workflows: n8n includes unlimited users on every plan. Zapier Team covers up to 25.

Want more than these three? Our Zapier alternatives page adds Lindy, Bardeen and Composio, with what each one costs.

Each one has a free way in, so build the same small workflow in two of them and keep the one you still understand a week later. For more tools, see our lists of the best AI tools for automation and scheduling and the best AI tools for building AI agents.