n8n vs Make vs Zapier | Automation Comparison 2026

Zapier, Make, and n8n offer different ways to connect business systems. There is no universal “easiest”, “most powerful”, or cheapest option: connector coverage, workflow design, billing rules, and the person maintaining it determine the result.

Product details checked on 15 September 2026. The usage example below is a calculation with stated assumptions, not a measured customer result.

Understand the Billing Unit

Zapier generally counts successful action steps as tasks. Triggers, Filters, Paths, and certain built-in tools do not consume tasks. Some products and extended runtimes have different task rates. A failed run can still include successful, billable actions before the failure; replaying actions can add usage. See Zapier’s task accounting.

Make uses credits. The number consumed depends on the module and work performed; AI usage and code execution can have different charging rules. Count the modules and bundles actually processed, rather than assuming each box on the canvas costs one credit per workflow. Its pricing page distinguishes plan features and credit allowances.

n8n Cloud prices plans by workflow executions rather than by every individual step. Its published annual-billing rates include Starter at €20 per month for 2,500 executions and Pro at €50 for 10,000. Check execution accounting and capacity for your workflow, including additional runs and retries. See n8n pricing.

A Comparable Usage Example

Assume a workflow receives a webhook and then runs seven ordinary billable Zapier actions once each. It has no free utility steps, loops, AI surcharges, sub-workflows, failures, or retries. For Make, separately assume the implemented scenario consumes eight credits per completed run. For n8n, assume one production workflow execution per run.

Completed runs per month	Zapier tasks under those assumptions	Make credits under those assumptions	n8n executions under those assumptions
100	700	800	100
1,000	7,000	8,000	1,000
10,000	70,000	80,000	10,000

The same business process may need a different implementation on each platform. A filter, a loop over ten records, or a paid AI step changes these totals. Export usage from a pilot before selecting a plan.

Apply each vendor’s current price to the relevant usage total. Keep billing periods and currencies explicit. A cloud plan and a self-hosted server bill are not equivalent costs.

What Self-Hosting Changes

n8n offers a self-hosted Community Edition under its Sustainable Use License. The source is available, but it is not an unrestricted open-source licence: permitted internal use and commercial embedding or resale are different cases. Read the licence terms for your intended use.

Self-hosting also costs time and infrastructure: application servers, database capacity, backups, monitoring, upgrades, and recovery. Paid features or a commercial licence may be needed. Increasing volume can increase those costs; the bill is not inherently flat.

Hosting the engine in the UK does not keep every workflow’s data in the UK. Connected CRMs, email services, model APIs, and external logs may receive payloads elsewhere. Map those destinations separately.

Test Workflow Complexity

Use one complete workflow from your business as the comparison:

Receive a lead and validate the required fields.
Look up the company and handle an unsuccessful lookup.
Apply qualification rules.
Create or update the CRM record without duplicates.
Notify the owner and record the outcome.

Then introduce an API timeout, a rate limit, and a duplicate delivery. Have the intended operator identify the failure and recover it. That exercise tests connector behaviour, branching, retry controls, visibility, and maintainability more directly than counting integrations.

A visual editor can still produce a workflow that nobody else understands. Custom code can still be appropriate inside a platform, provided someone owns it and its runtime constraints are known.

Reliability and Governance

Distinguish execution history from administrative audit logs. The first helps inspect runs; the second records changes such as access or configuration activity. Availability, retention, SSO, and log export depend on the selected plan. Confirm them during procurement rather than assuming a feature exists at a particular price tier.

Retries need duplicate protection. If creating a CRM record succeeds but sending a notification fails, replaying the whole flow must not create a second lead. Record a stable source identifier and reconcile outcomes before repeating writes.

Decision Framework

Shortlist Zapier if its connectors and editor let the intended team build and maintain the required process. Price the billable actions at expected volume.

Shortlist Make if its scenario model suits the branching and data transformations. Measure credit use with representative bundles and failures.

Shortlist n8n if workflow execution pricing, custom integration work, or self-hosting is valuable and the team can support the deployment.

The recommendation is to test the same workflow on two candidates, including recovery and total cost. Keep custom code as an option where a platform adds unnecessary constraints.

Where Fernside Fits

Advisory is the platform recommendation against your volume, team, and residency constraints. including “stay on Zapier for now.” Building the workflows, especially the n8n and AI systems side, is separate from choosing the logo.

Need automation architecture advice? Book a discovery call and we will cost the same workflow on all three before you migrate anything.