Zapier vs Make vs n8n: how each one counts your work, AI steps and self-hosting
Zapier bills tasks, Make bills credits, n8n bills executions. The same workflow priced in all three units, how AI steps are charged, and when self-hosting n8n fits.
You want each new form submission to land in your CRM, post to a chat channel and get a reply drafted by an AI model, and three tools keep coming up: Zapier, Make and n8n. Their pricing pages use three different words for what you pay for, so the cheapest plan on the page may not be the cheapest for your workflow. All three are hosted services you rent, the model explained in What is SaaS?, and n8n can also run on your own server.
This comparison works from the vendors’ own pricing and help pages, checked in October 2026. Prices change often, so treat every figure as dated and recheck it on the linked page before you buy. For the plumbing underneath, APIs, webhooks and rate limits, see SaaS integration.
Billing units in plain terms
Think of three car parks with several barriers inside. The first charges for each barrier you pass after the entrance. The second charges for every barrier, the entrance included. The third charges once per visit, however many barriers you pass. The same drive costs very different amounts in each.
The three tools bill like that:
- Zapier counts tasks. “A task is any successful action that runs in Zapier.” Triggers, filters, paths, formatter steps and failed actions do not count, and Zapier says polling checks “never use tasks.”
- Make counts credits. “Every time a module in a scenario performs an action, it consumes credits.” Make’s help pages call each module run an operation: a module that processes 10 records (bundles) uses 10 operations, and a trigger uses one operation per check.
- n8n counts executions. “An execution is a single run of your entire workflow.” The number of steps and the data volume do not change the count.
The plans as listed
| Checked October 2026 | Zapier | Make | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps, polling every 15 minutes | 1,000 credits a month | Community Edition, self-hosted |
| Entry paid plan | Professional: $19.99 a month billed annually ($29.99 monthly), 750 tasks | Core: price not shown in the page text | Starter: €20 a month billed annually, 2,500 executions |
| Next plan | Team: $69.00 a month billed annually ($103.50 monthly), 2,000 tasks | Pro, Teams, Business: prices not shown | Pro: €50 a month billed annually, 10,000 executions |
| Self-hosting | No | No | Yes |
Two notes on the table. Make’s pricing page did not show plan prices in its text when checked; it says paid allowances are “proportional to the number of credits that you purchase”, so read Make’s pricing page in your browser. n8n listed its prices in euros when checked, and your region may see another currency.
Example: one workflow on three meters
Example: a form submission starts a workflow with five actions: create a CRM contact, add a tag, post to a chat channel, ask an AI model for a reply draft and save the draft to a document. It runs 100 times a month, then 2,000 times. The trigger is instant (a webhook), each run carries one record, and Make’s trigger is assumed to use one credit per run.
| Runs per month | Zapier tasks (5 actions x runs) | Make credits (1 trigger + 5 modules) x runs | n8n executions (1 per run) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 5 x 100 = 500 | 6 x 100 = 600 | 100 |
| 2,000 | 5 x 2,000 = 10,000 | 6 x 2,000 = 12,000 | 2,000 |
Read the rows against the listed plans:
- At 100 runs: Zapier’s 500 tasks fit Professional’s 750-task tier at $19.99 a month. Make’s 600 credits fit inside its free 1,000. The 100 n8n executions fit Starter’s 2,500 at €20.
- At 2,000 runs: Zapier’s 10,000 tasks are 10,000 / 2,000 = 5 times Team’s entry tier, so you price a larger tier on the page. Make’s 12,000 credits need a paid allowance. The 2,000 n8n executions still fit Starter.
- Add a sixth action: Zapier rises to 6 x 2,000 = 12,000 tasks, up 20%. Make rises to 7 x 2,000 = 14,000 credits. n8n stays at 2,000.
Per-step meters grow with every action you add; a per-run meter grows only with runs. Neither is cheaper in general. Short workflows that run rarely are cheap everywhere, and long workflows that run often favor the per-run count.
Polling changes Make’s number. A trigger that checks for new data every 15 minutes runs 4 x 24 x 30 = 2,880 checks in a 30-day month, and each check uses an operation even when it finds nothing. On Zapier the same polling costs no tasks.
AI steps are charged differently
- Zapier: AI by Zapier is not on the Free plan. The pricing page says AI steps are charged per AI step and per tool call, with the cost depending on the model tier, and it sends you to a separate rates page. Zapier Agents is billed on its own allowance and “does not count as tasks.”
- Make: the pricing page says most actions use one credit, while some features that run on Make’s AI Provider may use more. It does not list the amounts.
- n8n: the pricing page counts one execution per run whatever the steps inside it do.
Whichever tool you pick, check how the AI model in your step is paid for: through the tool’s own credits, or through your own account with the model provider. That second bill does not appear on any of these pricing pages.
Self-hosting n8n: free to run, not free to own
n8n’s Community Edition is self-hosted and free, with its source on GitHub under the Sustainable Use License. That license allows use “only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use.” If you plan to sell hosted automation to clients, read the license before you build on it.
Self-hosting moves the bill from executions to your server and your time. Updates, backups, uptime and security patches become yours. In a hypothetical case, a $20-a-month server plus 3 hours of upkeep a month at $50 an hour costs $20 + 3 x $50 = $170 a month. That is more than n8n’s own Pro plan, so self-hosting tends to pay off for volume or data-location reasons, not to save the first subscription.
How to choose by billing shape
| Your workflows | Unit that tends to fit | Check before you commit |
|---|---|---|
| Few, short, many different apps, no developer | Zapier tasks | Tier price at your real task count; AI step rates |
| Branching scenarios over lists of records | Make credits | Bundles per run and polling frequency |
| Long workflows, high volume, or data that must stay on your servers | n8n executions | Execution limits per plan; license terms if self-hosted |
The table is about how each meter grows, not product quality. Confirm that the apps you need have connectors on the tool you pick. For how per-unit pricing compares with per-seat pricing in general, see SaaS pricing models.
Common mistakes
- Comparing headline prices, not units. A $19.99 plan and a €20 plan look equal until one counts every action and the other counts whole runs. Why it happens: pricing pages lead with the price. Instead: count actions, modules and runs for your real workflow, as in the example.
- Forgetting Make’s polling checks. A 15-minute trigger uses 2,880 operations a month before any data arrives. Why it happens: the trigger feels free because nothing visible happens. Instead: use instant triggers where the app offers webhooks, or poll less often.
- Ignoring AI step charges. An AI step can carry a charge on top of the task or credit it uses. Why it happens: AI pricing sits on a separate rates page. Instead: price the AI step separately, including any bill from the model provider.
- Self-hosting to save money without counting your time. Three hours of upkeep a month can cost more than a hosted plan. Why it happens: the software is free to download. Instead: self-host for volume, control or data location, and budget the hours.
Sources
- Zapier, Pricing and help center article on task usage, checked October 2026.
- Make, Pricing and Operations, checked October 2026.
- n8n, Pricing and Sustainable Use License, checked October 2026.
In three sentences
Zapier bills each successful action as a task, Make bills each module run as a credit, and n8n bills each whole workflow run as an execution. A five-action workflow run 2,000 times a month is 10,000 Zapier tasks, about 12,000 Make credits and 2,000 n8n executions, before any AI step charges. Price your own workflow in all three units on the vendors’ current pages, and count your own hours before you decide to self-host n8n.
