n8n vs Make vs Zapier: Which Automation Tool Is Right for Your Business?

A 10-step workflow running 1,000 times per month costs 10,000 tasks on Zapier, 10,000 operations on Make, but just 1,000 executions on n8n. Same work, wildly different bills. Pricing pages don't make this obvious — they're designed to look comparable when the underlying billing models are fundamentally different.

We've deployed all three platforms for clients across different scales. This analysis breaks down what each one actually costs, where each wins, and how to pick without regret.

How Each Platform Counts (and Charges)

The billing model is the single biggest factor in total cost. Each platform measures “work” differently, and the gap compounds with complexity.

Zapier charges per task. Every action a Zap performs — creating a contact, sending an email, adding a spreadsheet row — counts as one task. A 5-step Zap triggered 200 times uses 1,000 tasks. The Professional plan starts at £15.23/month for 750 tasks. The Team plan runs roughly £55/month for 2,000 tasks. Per-task cost at entry level: approximately £0.24.

Make charges per operation. Every trigger, filter, action, or router step in a scenario costs one operation. A 10-step scenario running 1,000 times uses 10,000 operations. The Core plan offers 10,000 operations for $9/month. Pro adds priority execution at $18.82/month for 40,000 operations. Roughly one-third of Zapier's cost for equivalent throughput.

n8n charges per execution. One execution equals one complete workflow run, regardless of how many nodes it contains. A 20-node workflow costs the same as a 2-node workflow. Self-hosted Community Edition is free with unlimited executions. Cloud plans start at $24/month for 2,500 executions.

The Real Cost at Scale

The gap between these models becomes dramatic at volume.

Self-hosted n8n runs on managed one-click hosting for $3–7/month with unlimited executions — services like InstaPods and PikaPods handle updates, SSL, and backups automatically. At 7,020 monthly executions across four workflows, ExpressTech calculated annual savings of $636–684 versus n8n's own Cloud Pro tier.

For enterprises processing 200,000+ monthly executions, Trigi Digital estimates the spend at $20,000+ annually on Zapier versus near-zero on self-hosted n8n. Their analysis across enterprise deployments shows 40–60% cost savings when migrating from task-based platforms to n8n.

The savings translate beyond licensing. One n8n enterprise case study showed invoice processing costs dropping from $15–40 per invoice to $2–5 — a 75–85% reduction. Customer onboarding platform pxtra reduced their onboarding cycle from 2–3 months to days after switching to n8n, doubling service revenue within six months.

Integration Depth vs Breadth

Each platform makes a different trade-off between how many apps it connects and how deeply it connects them.

Zapier wins on breadth. If you need to connect a niche SaaS tool, Zapier's 6,000+ integrations give you the best odds of finding a pre-built connector. Its linear Zap structure means anyone can build a working automation in minutes.

Make wins on visual power. Its drag-and-drop canvas makes complex branching, conditional routers, and error handling genuinely intuitive. Integrations go deeper per app — more endpoints, more configuration — at roughly a third of Zapier's price.

n8n wins on technical flexibility. Nearly 70 dedicated AI nodes with native LangChain support let teams build RAG systems, autonomous agents, and custom LLM workflows that neither Zapier nor Make can replicate. Full JavaScript and Python execution inside workflows isn't a workaround — it's a first-class feature.

The Decision Framework

The right tool depends on three variables: your team's technical depth, your monthly volume, and your data requirements.

Choose Zapier if your team is non-technical, you need the widest app coverage, and you process fewer than 1,000 tasks per month. The premium is the cost of convenience — and for small-volume use cases, convenience is worth paying for.

Choose Make if you have semi-technical users who want visual workflow building with real branching logic. Make delivers 10,000 operations at $9/month — a fraction of Zapier for equivalent complexity. It's the sweet spot for marketing teams, operations leads, and agencies managing client workflows.

Choose n8n if you have developers on the team, need GDPR-compliant data processing on your own infrastructure, or run high-volume automations where task-based billing becomes punitive. Self-hosted n8n is the only option in this comparison that doesn't penalise growth.

UK context matters here. DSIT research from January 2026 found that only 16% of UK businesses currently use AI technology. Most teams reading this are at the starting line, not optimising an existing stack. Start with the platform that matches your team's current capability — not the one that looks best on paper.

The billing model is the decision. Zapier charges per action, Make per operation, n8n per workflow run. At low volume, the difference is negligible. Past 10,000 workflows a month, n8n self-hosted is the only option that doesn't punish scale. At SOHOB, we default to n8n for client automation — not because it's cheapest, but because it scales without surprises.