If you’re evaluating workflow automation platforms, you’re probably comparing Zapier, Make.com (formerly Integromat), and n8n. Here’s our honest take after years of using all three.
Zapier
Best for: Non-technical users who need simple two-step automations fast.
Pricing: $19-$799+/month. Charges per task execution, which gets expensive fast.
Limitations: Limited logic, no self-hosting, expensive at scale, hard to build complex multi-step workflows.
Make.com
Best for: Technical users who want more power than Zapier at a lower cost.
Pricing: $9-$299+/month. Also charges per operation.
Limitations: Still cloud-only (you don’t control your data). Can get expensive with high volume.
n8n
Best for: Businesses serious about automation that need unlimited scale, full control, and AI integration.
Pricing: Self-hosted = $20-50/month VPS cost for unlimited executions. Cloud plan also available.
Advantages: Open source, self-hostable, no per-task cost, integrates natively with AI models including Claude, active community with hundreds of templates.
Our Recommendation
If you’re doing more than 10,000 tasks per month or need AI integration, n8n is the clear winner. For simple one-off connections, Zapier is fine.
How to Decide Which Platform Fits Your Team
Who Will Maintain the Workflows?
The best platform is the one someone on your side can understand when a workflow breaks. Zapier is easiest for a non-technical owner to edit. n8n rewards a technical person or a partner who manages it for you. Be honest about who will be fixing things at four on a Friday before choosing.
Count Your Tasks Before Comparing Prices
Pricing pages are hard to compare until you know your volume. List the workflows you plan to run, estimate how many times each fires per month, and multiply by the number of steps. Per-task billing that looks cheap for a single automation can grow quickly once lead follow-up, reminders and reporting all run together.
Where Your Customer Data Lives
With Zapier and Make, your data passes through their cloud. Self-hosted n8n keeps it on a server you control, which matters for businesses handling health, legal or financial information. Either can be acceptable; the point is to know where customer records travel and make that choice on purpose.
Moving From Zapier to n8n Without Breaking Things
Do not migrate everything in one weekend. Rebuild one workflow in n8n, run it alongside the old Zap for a week, compare results, then switch off the Zap. Repeat for the next. Our n8n automation service handles migrations this way so nothing customer-facing goes quiet during the move.
When Self-Hosting Is Not Worth It
If you run only a handful of simple automations and nobody wants to look after a server, n8n's own cloud plan or even Zapier may be the sensible choice. Self-hosting pays off as volume and complexity grow. Our list of five n8n workflows for service businesses is a good gauge of whether you are there yet.