Blog · Automation · Updated · By the FitMySaaS team
Zapier vs Make vs n8n pricing for small teams (2026)
Short answer: For the same workflow, Zapier usually costs the most, Make the least on list price, and n8n sits between them unless you self-host. The reason is the billing unit. Zapier charges per action step (task), Make per module run (credit), and n8n per whole workflow run (execution). A three-step workflow run 1,000 times is 3,000 Zapier tasks but only 1,000 n8n executions.
How does each tool charge?
The billing unit decides your bill more than the headline price.
| Tool | Billing unit | What counts | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Task | Each action step that runs successfully. Triggers, filters, paths and failed steps are free. | Zapier task guide |
| Make | Credit | Each action a scenario performs. Most actions use 1 credit; some AI features use more. Routers and error handlers are free. | Make pricing |
| n8n | Execution | One run of the entire workflow, no matter how many steps. | n8n pricing |
So step count matters a lot on Zapier and Make, and hardly at all on n8n.
What do the plans cost in 2026?
Prices below are list prices from each vendor's own pages, checked October 2026. n8n prices its plans in euros.
| Plan | Price | Included usage | Users |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier Free | $0 | 100 tasks/mo, two-step Zaps only | 1 |
| Zapier Professional | $19.99/mo yearly, $29.99 monthly | 750 tasks/mo | 1 |
| Zapier Team | $69/mo yearly, $103.50 monthly | 2,000 tasks/mo | Up to 25 |
| Make Free | $0 | 1,000 credits/mo | Not stated |
| Make Core | From $9/mo | 10,000 credits/mo | Not stated |
| Make Pro | From $16/mo | 10,000 credits/mo | Not stated |
| Make Teams | From $29/mo | 10,000 credits/mo | Team features |
| n8n Starter (cloud) | €20/mo billed yearly | 2,500 executions/mo | Unlimited |
| n8n Pro (cloud) | €50/mo billed yearly | 10,000 executions/mo | Unlimited |
| n8n Business (self-hosted) | €667/mo billed yearly | 40,000 executions/mo | Unlimited |
| n8n Community (self-hosted) | Free | No execution fee | Your server |
Zapier figures are from zapier.com/pricing. Make figures are from Make's own comparison page. n8n figures are from n8n.io/pricing, which says all n8n plans include unlimited users and workflows.
What does the same workflow cost on each?
Take one common workflow: a new web form lead creates a CRM contact, posts a Slack alert and adds a task in your project tool. That is one trigger and three actions.
Assume 1,000 leads a month. This is an illustration, not a benchmark.
| Tool | Usage per month | Plan that fits | List price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | 3,000 tasks | Professional 5,000 tier (1 user) or Team 5,000 tier | $89/mo or $119/mo yearly |
| Make | At least 3,000 credits | Core, 10,000 credits | From $9/mo |
| n8n Cloud | 1,000 executions | Starter, 2,500 executions | €20/mo yearly |
| n8n self-hosted | 1,000 executions | Community | Free, plus your server and time |
On list price alone, Zapier costs roughly ten times Make for this one workflow. Add a fourth action and Zapier jumps to 4,000 tasks, while n8n still counts 1,000 executions.
What is not in the price?
Each tool has a cost that the plan table hides.
- Zapier overage. Extra tasks cost 1.25x your normal rate on yearly plans and 2.5x on monthly plans. Zaps pause at 3x your limit, per Zapier's pricing page. Professional is one user, so a team that shares Zaps lands on Team.
- Make extra credits. Credits bought beyond your plan carry a 25% surcharge, according to Make's help center. Auto-purchase buys them in blocks of 10,000.
- n8n self-hosting. n8n's own Docker Compose guide says self-hosting requires technical knowledge and recommends it for expert users, warning that mistakes can lead to data loss, security issues and downtime.
- n8n Community edition gaps. The free edition does not include sharing of workflows and credentials, projects, SSO or Git version control, per n8n's docs. For a team of more than one builder, that matters.
- Everyone's time. All three need someone to build flows, fix them when an app changes, and reconnect accounts when logins expire. That person's hours are the biggest cost for most small teams.
Which one should a small team pick?
- Pick Zapier if nobody on the team is technical, you have a handful of low-volume flows, and speed of setup matters more than price.
- Pick Make if you run higher volumes or longer flows and someone has time to learn its scenario builder.
- Pick n8n Cloud if your workflows have many steps, since you pay per run rather than per step.
- Pick n8n self-hosted only if you have a developer who already runs servers.
- Pick none of them if the two apps already integrate directly. Asana for Slack and Calendly's HubSpot integration are examples that need no automation tool at all.
When one system makes more sense
Automation tools are the right answer when you have a few stable tools that need to talk. If you are comparing automation platforms because the number of flows keeps growing, the stack itself may be the problem: the same lead, ticket or project is living in four places.
FitMySaaS builds teams of 10 to 40 one system that holds those records once, which removes most of the glue. Our guide to custom software vs SaaS covers the trade-offs honestly, and the SaaS cost calculator shows what your current tools cost.
Questions
Is n8n really free?
The self-hosted Community edition has no license fee, per n8n's hosting docs. You still pay for the server and for someone to install, secure, update and back it up.
Is Make cheaper than Zapier?
On list price, yes, by a wide margin for multi-step flows. Make's Core plan lists 10,000 credits from $9 a month, while Zapier's 750-task plan is $19.99 a month billed yearly.
Why does n8n count executions instead of steps?
That is its pricing choice. n8n says an execution is one run of the whole workflow regardless of complexity, so a 10-step workflow costs the same as a 2-step one.
Can you try these before paying?
Yes. Zapier and Make both have free plans. n8n Cloud offers a trial with no credit card, limited to 1,000 executions, per its pricing page.