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The one pricing fact that decides everything
Every “n8n vs Make vs Zapier” comparison you’ve read gets one thing right and everything else wrong. The right thing: these three tools count usage differently. The wrong thing: stopping there, as if the counting method were trivia.
- The one pricing fact that decides everything
- The 2026 plan lineup
- Scenario 1: Solo operator — 500 lead enrichments a month
- Scenario 2: Growing business — 5,000 pipeline runs a month
- Scenario 3: High volume — 10,000 runs of an 8-step workflow
- The hidden costs nobody puts in the table
- AWL verdict: which should you actually pick?
- FAQ
- Methodology
- Sources
It isn’t trivia. It’s the entire bill.
- n8n counts one execution per complete workflow run — no matter how many steps are inside it. A 10-step workflow that runs 1,000 times costs 1,000 executions.
- Make counts one operation (now called a “credit”) per module that runs. The trigger is free; every module after it costs one. That same 10-step workflow running 1,000 times costs roughly 9,000–10,000 operations.
- Zapier counts one task per action step. Triggers are free. That 10-step workflow running 1,000 times costs roughly 9,000 tasks.
Same workflow. Three bills. The rest of this post is just arithmetic — but it’s arithmetic nobody does for you, so your “cheaper” platform quietly becomes your most expensive line item six months in.
Prices below checked October 2026 on each vendor’s pricing page. Confirm before you buy — all three change packaging regularly.
The 2026 plan lineup
n8n
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Included usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community (self-hosted) | Free | Free | Unlimited executions | You pay for your own server (~$5–15/mo) |
| Cloud Starter | €24/mo | €20/mo | 2,500 executions/mo | Solo operators, first production workflows |
| Cloud Pro | €60/mo | €50/mo | 10,000 executions/mo | Growing businesses, unlimited workflows |
| Business (self-hosted) | €800/mo | €667/mo | 40,000 executions/mo | SSO, Git, environments |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | SSO, SLA, dedicated support |
n8n lists prices in euros (Berlin company, Frankfurt hosting). Annual billing saves about 17%.
Make
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Included usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1,000 credits/mo | 2 active scenarios, 15-min scheduling |
| Core | $10.59/mo | $9/mo | 10,000 credits/mo | Unlimited scenarios — most solos land here |
| Pro | $18.82/mo | $16/mo | 10,000 credits/mo | Adds priority execution, log search |
| Teams | $34.12/mo | $29/mo | 10,000 credits/mo | Team roles, shared templates |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | SSO, audit logs |
Note the trap: Core, Pro, and Teams all include the same 10,000 credits. You’re paying for features, not capacity. Extra credit packs run about $11 per 10,000.
Zapier
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Included usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 100 tasks/mo, 2-step Zaps only |
| Professional | $29.99/mo | $19.99/mo | 750 tasks/mo base, scales up |
| Team | $103.50/mo | $69/mo | 2,000 tasks/mo base |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Professional scales on a task slider (annual billing): 2,000 tasks $49/mo · 5,000 tasks $89/mo · 10,000 tasks $129/mo · 50,000 tasks $289/mo · 100,000 tasks $489/mo.
Scenario 1: Solo operator — 500 lead enrichments a month
The setup: a webhook fires when a new lead arrives. The workflow enriches the lead (5 modules/steps after the trigger), scores it, writes to the CRM, and sends a Slack notification. 500 runs a month. Six steps total including the trigger.
| Platform | How it’s counted | Monthly usage | Plan needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n8n Cloud | 500 executions | 500 | Starter | ~$22/mo (€20 annual) |
| Make | ~2,500 ops (5 modules × 500; trigger free) | 2,500 | Core | $9/mo (annual) |
| Zapier | 2,000 tasks (4 actions × 500; trigger free) | 2,000 | Professional | $49/mo (annual) |
AWL verdict: Make wins this scenario outright — $9 against $22 and $49. At low volume, Make’s generous 10,000-credit Core tier is simply underpriced relative to what a solo operator uses. n8n Cloud is fine but you’re paying for 2,500 executions while using 500. Make
Scenario 2: Growing business — 5,000 pipeline runs a month
The setup: an 8-step order pipeline (trigger + 7 modules). Webhook in, fraud check, inventory lookup, CRM update, email confirmation, analytics event, Slack alert. 5,000 runs a month.
| Platform | How it’s counted | Monthly usage | Plan needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n8n Cloud | 5,000 executions | 5,000 | Pro | ~$56/mo (€50 annual) |
| Make | ~35,000 ops (7 modules × 5,000) | 35,000 | Teams + extra packs | ~$60–70/mo (estimate) |
| Zapier | 35,000 tasks (7 actions × 5,000) | 35,000 | Professional (scaled) | ~$200+/mo |
The Zapier number deserves a pause. At 35,000 tasks you’re between the 10,000-task ($129) and 50,000-task ($289) rungs — call it roughly $200+ a month, every month, for one pipeline. The Make number needs honesty too: 35,000 credits blows past every 10,000-credit tier, so you’re buying ~25,000 in extra packs on top of a base plan. Confirm pack pricing on make.com before you commit — this is the scenario where Make’s “cheap” reputation starts wobbling.
AWL verdict: n8n Cloud Pro takes it — flat €50 for 10,000 executions with headroom to double. This is the exact workload where execution-based pricing pulls away from step-based pricing. n8n
Scenario 3: High volume — 10,000 runs of an 8-step workflow
The setup: same 8-step pipeline, doubled. 10,000 runs a month.
| Platform | How it’s counted | Monthly usage | Plan needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n8n self-hosted | 10,000 executions | Unlimited | Community + VPS | ~$10–15/mo (server only) |
| n8n Cloud | 10,000 executions | 10,000 | Pro | ~$56/mo (€50 annual) |
| Make | ~70,000 ops | 70,000 | Teams + packs | ~$95/mo (estimate) |
| Zapier | 70,000 tasks | 70,000 | Professional (scaled) | ~$350–400/mo |
Read that Zapier line again. $350–400 a month — $4,200+ a year — for a single 8-step pipeline at 10,000 runs. Against $10–15 on a self-hosted n8n box. This isn’t a rounding error; it’s a 30x gap created entirely by the counting method.
AWL verdict: If you’re technical enough to run a VPS, self-hosted n8n isn’t just cheaper — it’s a different sport. If you’re not, n8n Cloud Pro at ~$56/mo is still 6–7x cheaper than Zapier here.
The hidden costs nobody puts in the table
Your time has a price. Self-hosted n8n at $10/mo is the cheapest line on every table in this post — and the most expensive if a Postgres database fills up at 2 AM and you’re the on-call engineer. Price the managed option honestly: n8n Cloud Pro exists so you never think about servers.
Make’s iterator trap. Make counts every item through an iterator as separate operations, per module inside the loop. A scenario that fetches one order and loops over 6 line items through 3 modules costs ~18 operations per order, not 3. Audit every loop before you trust an estimate — this is the single most common Make billing surprise.
Zapier’s step creep. Every “just add one more action” costs you per run, forever. A Zap that grows from 4 steps to 9 steps more than doubles its task consumption at the same volume. Zapier is priced to punish the exact behavior (iterating on workflows) that makes automation valuable.
Migration cost is real. Switching platforms later means rebuilding every workflow, re-mapping every field, and re-testing every edge case. The cheapest platform today that you’ll outgrow in 8 months is the most expensive platform. Pick for the workload you’ll have in a year, not the one you have today.
AWL verdict: which should you actually pick?
- Pick Make if you’re a solo operator or small team running moderate volume, you want the visual builder, and you’d rather not touch a server. It’s the best price-to-simplicity ratio under ~10,000 operations a month. Make
- Pick n8n Cloud if your workflows are complex (many steps per run) or your volume is growing. Execution-based pricing is the only model where adding steps doesn’t raise your bill. n8n
- Pick self-hosted n8n if you’re technical, volume is high, and data staying on your infrastructure matters. Nothing else is close on cost.
- Pick Zapier if you need its 7,000+ app library, your team is non-technical, and your workflows are simple and low-volume. You’re paying a premium for the biggest integration catalog and the smoothest onboarding in the category — that’s a legitimate trade, just know it’s a trade.
Our own stack? We run n8n for anything with real volume and Make for quick visual builds. We don’t run Zapier in production — not because it’s bad, but because at our volume the task meter never stops running.
FAQ
Is n8n really free?
The self-hosted Community Edition is free with unlimited executions — you pay only for your server. n8n Cloud is a separate paid product starting at €24/month.
Why is Make cheaper than Zapier for the same workflow?
Different counting. Make charges per module execution (trigger free); Zapier charges per action step. For typical multi-step workflows, Make delivers roughly 3–5x more automation per dollar at mid-range volumes.
Does Make still call them “operations”?
Make renamed operations to “credits” in 2026. Same unit, new word. Older tutorials saying “operations” still apply.
Which is best for AI agent workflows?
n8n — it has 70+ native AI/LangChain nodes, code nodes, and execution-based pricing, which matters because agent workflows are step-heavy by nature. Step-based billing punishes exactly what agents do.
Can I switch later without rebuilding everything?
No — there’s no reliable cross-platform migration. Treat this as a 12-month decision, minimum.
Methodology
We pulled list prices from n8n.io/pricing, make.com, and zapier.com in October 2026 and modeled three fixed workloads rather than comparing plan names (plan names are marketing; workloads are money). Usage math: n8n = runs; Make = modules-per-run × runs (trigger excluded); Zapier = actions-per-run × runs (trigger excluded). Extra-pack pricing for Make above included tiers is estimated from current pack rates — confirm on make.com. Currency: n8n bills in euros; dollar figures are approximate.
Sources
- n8n pricing (n8n.io/pricing) — checked October 2026
- Make pricing (make.com) — checked October 2026
- Zapier pricing (zapier.com) — checked October 2026
- CloudZero: “n8n pricing in 2026: every plan and the execution math” — https://www.cloudzero.com/blog/n8n-pricing/
- Toolradar: “Zapier Pricing 2026: Real Per-Task Cost, vs Make + n8n” — https://toolradar.com/blog/zapier-pricing-2026
- DEV: “Make.com Pricing 2026: What Operations Actually Cost” — https://dev.to/trackstack/makecom-pricing-2026-what-operations-actually-cost-and-the-math-most-guides-skip-50bn
