Zapier AI automation vs n8n vs Make, priced

The short answer: Make is the cheapest paid entry at $12 a month billed annually. Zapier is the easiest to set up and has the most app connections, from $19.99 a month billed annually. n8n costs €20 a month for its cloud Starter plan, but its self-hosted Community Edition is free, which makes it the cheapest at high volume if someone on your team can run a server. If nobody on your team is technical, start with Zapier or Make.

Prices from Zapier, Make and n8n official pricing pages, verified 7 August 2026. All three scale by volume, so your price depends on how much you run. Side-by-side table: Zapier vs Make vs n8n.

How each one counts usage

This matters more than the headline price.

• Zapier counts tasks. Each action step that runs is a task. A five-step Zap run once uses several tasks.
• Make counts credits. Plans are sold by monthly credit volume with a slider. The entry paid tiers include 10,000 credits a month.
• n8n counts executions. One whole workflow run is one execution, however many steps it has. Long workflows get relatively cheaper.

Prices at entry level

Zapier

• Free: 100 tasks a month, 1 user, 15-minute polling
• Professional: from $19.99 a month billed annually ($29.99 monthly) at 750 tasks
• Team: from $69 a month billed annually, up to 25 users
• Enterprise: custom

Make

• Free: 1,000 credits a month, 2 active scenarios
• Core: $12 a month billed annually, 10,000 credits
• Pro: $21 a month billed annually, 10,000 credits, priority execution
• Teams: $38 a month billed annually, team roles
• Enterprise: custom

n8n (official prices are in euros)

• Community Edition: free, self-hosted
• Starter: €20 a month billed annually, 2,500 executions
• Pro: €50 a month billed annually, 10,000 executions
• Business: €667 a month billed annually, 40,000 executions, self-hosted

AI features

All three let you add an AI step (summarise, classify, draft) and build agent-style workflows that decide which step to take next. The differences are practical:

• Zapier has the most ready-made app connections and the gentlest setup for non-technical staff.
• Make shows workflows as a visual map, which makes branching logic easier to follow.
• n8n gives developers the most control, including custom code steps and running everything on your own server, which matters if your data cannot leave your infrastructure. Paid n8n cloud plans include AI credits.

Which one to pick

• No technical staff, fewer than a few hundred runs a month: Zapier. You pay more per run but save setup hours.
• Budget matters and workflows have branches: Make.
• A developer on the team, high volume, or strict data rules: n8n, self-hosted.
• Not sure: build your first workflow on each free plan and see which one your team can maintain without you.

The cost people forget

A workflow is only cheap if it keeps working. Apps change their APIs, prompts drift, and someone has to notice when a run fails. Whichever tool you pick, set up failure alerts and check the run history weekly.

For what to automate first, see AI automation for small business: where to start and AI agents for business. If you would rather have someone build it, see the custom engagement (from $1,000, quoted and invoiced directly), or what AI automation services cost.

Sources: Zapier pricing, Make pricing, n8n pricing