- automation-tools
- make
- zapier
- n8n
Make vs Zapier vs n8n: Which One Actually Fits Your Business
A practical, cost-based comparison of Make, Zapier, and n8n for small and mid-size businesses, with real pricing math and guidance on when each tool makes sense.
Kamal Farooqi4 min read
The question we get asked most
Every week someone asks us "should we use Zapier or Make?" and now increasingly "what about n8n?" The honest answer is that all three can do the job. The differences show up in cost at scale, how much control you need, and who's going to maintain the thing after we leave.
This post skips the marketing comparisons and just walks through the numbers and tradeoffs we actually weigh with clients.
The three tools, in plain terms
Zapier — easiest to learn, biggest app library, priced per task. Great for simple, low-volume workflows and non-technical teams.
Make (formerly Integromat) — visual flow builder, more logic and branching than Zapier, priced per "operation" instead of per task, which is usually cheaper for complex workflows.
n8n — open-source, can be self-hosted, most flexible for custom logic and code steps, but requires more technical setup and upkeep.
Cost comparison at real volume
Here's a rough picture based on a workflow that runs about 20,000 actions a month — a common volume for a business with active CRM, invoicing, and lead-routing automations running together.
| Tool | Pricing model | Approx. monthly cost at 20k actions | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Per task | $300–$600+ | Simple 1-2 step workflows, fast setup |
| Make | Per operation (often 1 op = several steps) | $100–$250 | Multi-step workflows with branching logic |
| n8n (self-hosted) | Server cost, not per-task | $20–$50/month (VPS cost) | High volume, custom logic, technical team |
| n8n (cloud) | Flat tiers | $50–$150 | Middle ground, no hosting hassle |
The gap widens fast as volume grows. A workflow that costs $150/month on Make can cost $500+/month on Zapier once you add multiple steps per zap, because each step often counts as a separate task.
A concrete example
Say a business runs an order-processing automation: new order comes in, inventory gets checked, a confirmation email goes out, and the shipping system gets updated. That's four actions per order.
At 2,000 orders a month, that's 8,000 actions.
- On Zapier, four steps per zap at that volume typically lands in the $250–$350/month range depending on plan tier.
- On Make, the same workflow, because operations are counted differently and bundled, often runs $50–$90/month.
- On n8n self-hosted, the cost is basically the server — usually under $30/month — but someone needs to know how to build and maintain the workflow without a no-code interface holding their hand.
Over a year, that's roughly a $2,000–$3,000 difference between Zapier and Make for the exact same result. That's real money for a workflow that isn't doing anything exotic.
Where each one wins
Choose Zapier when:
- You need something running this week, not this month
- Volume is low (under a few thousand actions/month)
- The team maintaining it has zero technical background
- You value the largest app integration library on the market
Choose Make when:
- You have multi-step workflows with conditional logic
- Volume is moderate to high
- You want a visual builder but need more control than Zapier gives you
- Cost efficiency matters and you can handle a slightly steeper learning curve
Choose n8n when:
- Volume is high enough that per-task pricing becomes a real cost problem
- You need custom code steps, complex data transformations, or self-hosting for compliance/data reasons
- You have (or are hiring) technical support to maintain it
- You want to own your infrastructure instead of renting it
The maintenance question nobody asks upfront
Cost isn't just the monthly subscription. It's also who fixes it when an API changes or a workflow silently fails at 2am.
- Zapier and Make both have decent error notifications and a support team behind them.
- n8n, especially self-hosted, puts that responsibility on you or whoever you hire. It's more powerful, but if nobody on the team can read a workflow's node structure and debug it, a broken automation can sit broken for days.
We've seen businesses save money switching to n8n on paper, then lose that savings in downtime because nobody could fix a failed workflow quickly. Match the tool to the skill level actually maintaining it, not just the one that looks best in a spreadsheet.
A simple decision rule
If you're automating under 5,000 actions a month with simple logic, Zapier's convenience is worth the premium. Between 5,000 and 50,000 actions with moderate complexity, Make usually wins on cost and flexibility. Above that, or if you need custom logic and have technical support, n8n starts to make sense — but only if someone owns it.
The tool matters less than most people think. The bigger cost driver is almost always poor workflow design — too many unnecessary steps, no error handling, or automations built for a process that should have been simplified first. Pick the tool that fits your volume and your team's skill level, then focus the real effort on getting the workflow logic right.
If you're not sure which tool fits your setup, or you want someone to run the actual cost numbers for your specific workflows, get in touch and we'll walk through it together.