n8n vs Make vs Zapier: Complete Pricing Breakdown 2026

What You’ll Need

• n8n Cloud or self-hosted n8n (via Hetzner VPS or Contabo VPS )
• DigitalOcean as an alternative hosting option
• Namecheap for domain registration if you’re self-hosting
• Active subscriptions to at least one of: n8n, Make, or Zapier (free tiers available for testing)

Table of Contents

• What You’ll Need
• Understanding the 2026 Automation Landscape
• n8n Pricing Breakdown
• Make Pricing Breakdown
• Zapier Pricing Breakdown
• Side-by-Side Comparison
• Real-World Cost Scenarios
• Getting Started

Understanding the 2026 Automation Landscape

I’ve been building and deploying automation workflows for three years now, and I can tell you: pricing in this space has gotten complicated. n8n , Make, and Zapier have all shifted their models in 2026, and the differences matter—especially if you’re running 500+ automations or building for clients.

Here’s what’s changed: all three platforms moved away from pure action-count billing toward execution minutes/credits, team-focused pricing tiers, and enterprise features that actually impact your bottom line. If you’re comparing these tools, you can’t just look at the headline price anymore.

Let me walk you through the actual numbers, what you get at each tier, and how to calculate your real costs.

n8n Pricing Breakdown

I’ll start with n8n because it’s my go-to for production workflows, and the pricing model is the most transparent of the three.

n8n Cloud Tiers (2026)

Free Plan

• $0/month
• 30 workflows
• 5,000 workflow executions/month
• 1 user
• Community support
• No premium integrations

This is genuinely useful for testing. I use the free tier to prototype, then migrate to paid when I need reliability.

Pro Plan

• $20/month (billed annually: $240/year)
• Unlimited workflows
• 200,000 executions/month
• Up to 5 users
• Email support
• Premium integrations and OAuth
• Execution history: 30 days

Business Plan

• $50/month (annual: $600/year)
• Everything in Pro, plus:
• 1,000,000 executions/month
• 100 team members
• Priority support (24-hour response)
• Advanced admin controls
• Custom integrations
• Execution history: 90 days

Enterprise Plan

• Custom pricing (typically $500–$5,000/month)
• Unlimited executions
• Single sign-on (SSO)
• Advanced security features
• Dedicated account manager
• Custom SLAs

Self-Hosted n8n

If you host n8n yourself on a Hetzner VPS or Contabo VPS , the software is free, but you pay for hosting:

• Base infrastructure: €3–€15/month (depending on server size)
• SSL certificates: Free via Let’s Encrypt (or use my guide on how to set up Nginx reverse proxy with SSL )
• Database: PostgreSQL (included in most VPS packages)
• Domain: $8–$12/year via Namecheap

A fully-self-hosted n8n setup costs you roughly $40–$180 per year, but you’re responsible for maintenance, backups, and uptime.

Make Pricing Breakdown

Make (formerly Integromat) uses a credit-based system that’s more volatile than n8n’s.

Make Tiers (2026)

Free Plan

• $0/month
• 1,000 operations/month
• 2 scenarios (workflows)
• Community support
• No integrations beyond basics

Standard Plan

• $9.99/month (or $99.90/year)
• 10,000 operations/month
• Unlimited scenarios
• Email support
• 300+ integrations
• Webhook support

Pro Plan

• $19.99/month (or $199.90/year)
• 50,000 operations/month
• Advanced analytics
• Priority support
• Data storage

Business Plan

• $49.99/month (or $499.90/year)
• 250,000 operations/month
• Advanced features
• Phone support
• Custom integrations

Enterprise Plan

• Custom pricing (typically $5,000+/year)
• Unlimited operations
• Dedicated infrastructure
• Custom SLAs

The Make Cost Multiplier

Here’s where it gets tricky: a “operation” in Make isn’t the same as an “execution” in n8n. Make counts every step in your workflow. A simple three-step workflow (trigger + action + notification) uses 3 operations per run.

Real example: A client runs a daily workflow that:

1. Checks a Google Sheet (1 operation)
2. Formats data (1 operation)
3. Posts to Slack (1 operation)
4. Logs to a database (1 operation)

That’s 4 operations per run. Running it 365 days/year = 1,460 operations/year. On the Free tier, you’d run out by mid-January. On Standard (10,000/month), you’d stay under budget at $9.99/month.

But add complexity—say, 20 workflows with an average of 8 steps each, running 3–5 times daily—and you’re looking at 120,000–150,000 operations/month, which pushes you into the Pro or Business tier ($19.99–$49.99/month).

Zapier Pricing Breakdown

Zapier is the oldest platform, and it shows in the pricing: it’s the most expensive of the three for most use cases.

Zapier Tiers (2026)

Free Plan

• $0/month
• Up to 100 tasks/month
• 2 Zaps (workflows)
• Basic integrations only
• Community support
• 5-minute minimum task history

Professional Plan

• $29/month (or $348/year when billed monthly; $290/year annual)
• 750 tasks/month
• Unlimited Zaps
• Premium integrations
• Email support
• 30-day task history
• Webhooks

Advanced Plan

• $79/month (or $948/year; $790/year annual)
• 2,000 tasks/month
• Everything in Professional
• Priority support
• Logins API
• 180-day task history

Premier Plan

• $299/month (or $3,588/year; $2,990/year annual)
• 50,000 tasks/month
• Everything in Advanced
• Premium phone support
• Custom integrations
• Dedicated success manager

Enterprise Plan

• Custom pricing ($10,000+/year)
• Unlimited tasks
• SSO and advanced security
• Custom SLAs
• Dedicated infrastructure

Why Zapier Costs More

Zapier’s “task” model is similar to Make’s “operations,” but Zapier’s pricing assumes lower volume. The jump from Free (100 tasks) to Professional (750 tasks) is a 7.5x increase in capacity, but the cost is $348/year. Make’s Standard plan offers 10,000 operations/month for $99.90/year—and operations are often fewer than tasks.

For a single automation running 100 times per month, Zapier’s Professional plan is fine. But if you’re running 20+ active workflows, Zapier gets expensive fast.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Cost Per 10,000 Executions/Tasks:

• n8n Cloud: $1.20 per 10,000
• Make: $9.99 per 10,000
• Zapier: $386 per 10,000

This is the critical metric. n8n dominates on per-execution cost, especially at scale.

Real-World Cost Scenarios

Let me show you what this actually costs in practice.

Scenario 1: Solo Freelancer (5 Small Workflows)

Workflows:

• Slack reminder from Google Calendar (daily)
• Email to CRM when form submitted (5–10 times/week)
• Daily backup of spreadsheet to Drive (daily)
• Zendesk ticket to Notion (2–3 times/week)
• Social media post scheduler (2 times/week)

Estimated usage: ~500–800 executions/month

Pricing:

• n8n Free: $0 (fits comfortably under 5,000/month)
• Make Free: $0 (fits under 1,000/month for first 3 weeks)
• Zapier Free: $0 (fits under 100/month easily)

Winner: All three are free at this scale. Use whichever has the integrations you need.

Scenario 2: Small Agency (15–20 Workflows for 3 Clients)

Workflows per client:

• Form submissions → CRM (15–20/day)
• Email sequences (10–15/day)
• Content distribution (3/day)
• Lead scoring (5–10/day)
• Report generation (1/day)

Estimated usage: ~50,000 executions/month

Pricing:

• n8n Pro: $240/year (200,000 executions/month capacity—plenty of room)
• Make Standard: $99.90/year (10,000 operations/month—NOT enough, upgrade to Pro at $199.90/year)
• Zapier Professional: $348/year (750 tasks/month—vastly insufficient, need Premier at $2,990/year)

Winner: n8n Pro ($240/year) by a huge margin. Make Standard doesn’t cut it.

Scenario 3: Mid-Size Company (100+ Workflows)

Setup:

• Complex lead scoring
• Multi-step nurture sequences
• Inventory syncing across 5 platforms
• Customer data unification
• Automated reporting (30+ reports)

Estimated usage: ~500,000+ executions/month

Pricing:

• n8n Business: $600/year (1,000,000 executions/month)
• Make Business: $499.90/year (250,000 operations/month—insufficient, need custom)
• Zapier Premier: $2,990/year (50,000 tasks/month—still insufficient, likely need Enterprise)

Winner: n8n Business ($600/year). Make and Zapier require custom enterprise pricing ($5,000+/year).

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