Calculator · Automation
Automation cost calculator.n8n, Make, and Zapier — same workflow, very different bills.
Automation cost calculator
Enter your workflow volume and find the cheapest platform. n8n, Make, and Zapier price very differently.
Workflow runs per month2,500runs
10050,000
Include VPS cost for n8n self-hostAdds ~$6/month for a basic VPS
Why the billing model changes everything
Zapier charges per task — every step in a workflow counts. n8n charges per execution — the whole run is one unit. A 10-step workflow running 1,000 times costs 10,000 Zapier tasks but only 1,000 n8n executions.
10×
Cost gap: n8n vs Zapier
A 10-step workflow at 1,000 runs/month: ~€20/mo on n8n Cloud Starter vs ~$50–100/mo on Zapier. The gap grows with workflow complexity.
Free
n8n self-hosted
n8n community edition is free beyond VPS cost (~$6–15/mo). For high-volume production workloads, self-hosting is almost always the cheapest option.
30–50%
Make cheaper than Zapier
Make uses the same per-operation billing model as Zapier but includes significantly more operations per plan tier at every price point.
| Platform | Billing unit | Entry plan | Self-host |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Per task (each step) | $19.99/mo | No |
| Make | Per operation (each step) | $9/mo | No |
| n8n | Per execution (full run) | €20.00/mo | Free |
Frequently asked questions
When should I switch from Zapier to n8n?
When your workflows have more than 4–5 steps running more than 300 times per month, n8n is almost always cheaper. The cost gap grows with workflow complexity. At 1,000 runs of a 10-step workflow, n8n Cloud costs around €20/month vs Zapier at $50–100/month.
Is n8n self-hosting worth it?
Yes for most technical teams running more than 5,000 workflow runs per month. Self-hosted n8n is free beyond VPS cost (~$6–15/month on DigitalOcean or Hetzner). No execution limits, no per-step billing, full control over your data.
What is the difference between Make operations and Zapier tasks?
Both charge per action inside a workflow. Make calls them operations, Zapier calls them tasks. At equivalent volume, Make typically costs 30–50% less than Zapier and includes more credits per plan tier.
Prices updated daily · Last fetch: Mar 27, 2026
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