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Every growing business hits the same wall: too many manual tasks, not enough hands. n8n vs Zapier vs Make is the question most teams ask once they decide to fix that with automation. All three are workflow automation tools that connect your apps and move data between them, but they differ sharply in price, technical skill required, and how they bill you.
Picking the wrong one costs weeks of rebuilding workflows later. This guide compares n8n, Zapier, and Make on the factors that actually decide which one fits your business.
Zapier is best for non-technical teams that want the fastest setup across 9,000+ apps. Make suits growing businesses that need visual, multi-step workflows at a lower cost. n8n is best for technical teams that want full control, a free self-hosted option, and the lowest cost at scale.
Key Takeaways
Zapier is a cloud-based automation platform that connects apps through simple triggers and actions, called Zaps. It is built for speed and ease of use over deep customization.
Make (formerly Integromat) is a visual automation builder where you design workflows, called scenarios, on a drag-and-drop canvas. It supports more complex branching logic than Zapier at a lower entry price.
n8n is an open-source workflow automation tool that runs in the cloud or self-hosted on your own server. It gives developers full control over logic and custom code, and pairs well with broader low-code and no-code development services when a team wants to extend it into a fuller internal tool.
The billing unit matters more than the sticker price. Here is how each platform charges, verified directly from their official pricing pages.
| Platform | Free Plan | Paid Plans Start At | Billing Unit | Self-Hosted Option |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Yes, 100 tasks/month | $19.99/month (Professional) | Per completed task | No |
| Make | Yes, 1,000 credits/month | $9/month (billed annually) | Per operation credit | No |
| n8n | Yes, free self-hosted Community Edition | €20/month (Starter, cloud) | Per workflow execution | Yes |
A task on Zapier is one completed action step. A credit on Make is one module run. An execution on n8n is one full workflow run regardless of steps, which is why n8n tends to be cheaper for long, multi-step automations.
| Platform | Integrations | Best For | Learning Curve | Open Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | 9,000+ apps | Non-technical teams, fast setup | Low | No |
| Make | 3,000+ apps | Visual, multi-step business logic | Moderate | No |
| n8n | 400+ integrations, plus custom code and API calls | Technical teams, cost control, custom logic | Moderate to high | Yes (fair-code license) |
Your team is non-technical, you need to connect common SaaS apps quickly, and setup speed matters more than subscription cost.
You need visual, branching workflows across marketing, sales, or finance, similar to the practical workflow automation examples many growing businesses run, and you want a lower starting price than Zapier.
You have developer support, run high automation volume, and want to avoid vendor lock-in through self-hosting and full source code access. It also fits teams automating CRM or backend systems that need custom logic Zapier and Make cannot easily replicate.
There is no single winner in the n8n vs Zapier vs Make comparison; only the right fit for your technical skill, budget, and workflow complexity. Choose Zapier for speed and the widest app library, Make for visual multi-step logic at a lower cost, and n8n for full control and the best cost efficiency at scale.
Want help mapping your workflows before committing to a platform? Talk to Wappnet’s automation team.
n8n is better for technical teams that want full workflow control and lower cost at scale, including a free self-hosted option. Zapier is better for non-technical teams that want the fastest setup and the largest app library.
Make’s paid plan starts at $9 a month when billed annually, versus Zapier’s $19.99 a month, and Make’s credit-based billing is usually more cost-effective for multi-step workflows than Zapier’s per-task billing.
Yes. n8n’s Community Edition is free and open source under a fair-code license, and you can self-host it on your own server with no execution limits.
Zapier is the easiest for non-technical users because of its simple trigger-and-action setup and the largest library of ready-made app integrations.
Zapier has more integrations, with 9,000+ connected apps compared to Make’s 3,000+ apps, according to each platform’s official pricing and integration pages.
