We rank none of them. Which tool suits you depends on how many steps your workflows have, how often they run, whether you want a hosted service or your own server, and who will keep them working.
Every figure below comes from a vendor page read on 12 November 2026, and is the vendor's published figure, not our price. Check the page before you buy.
How does each tool count usage?
This is the difference that matters most, because it changes what the same workflow costs.
- Zapier counts tasks. Its pricing page says a task is counted whenever Zapier successfully completes a unit of work, that failed actions are not counted, and that triggers, polling and built-in data tools such as Formatter and Paths do not count. Some actions use more than one task, depending on step type and AI model tier.
- Make counts credits. Its pricing page says credits are the billing unit, that each action a scenario performs consumes credits, with most using one and some AI features using more, and that router and error-handler modules use none. Credits expire at the end of the term.
- n8n counts executions. Its pricing page says pricing is based on monthly workflow executions regardless of complexity, and an execution is a single run of the entire workflow. Step count and data volume do not change the count.
What does that mean for the same workflow?
Take a workflow with ten steps that runs 1,000 times a month. By the vendors' own definitions, Zapier could count up to nine tasks a run, fewer if some steps are built-in tools, so up to 9,000 tasks. Make could count up to ten credits a run, so up to 10,000 credits, fewer where modules are free. n8n would count 1,000 executions. This is arithmetic from their definitions, and not a price or a benchmark. It shows why a long workflow that runs often can cost very different amounts on each tool, and why you should count your own steps before comparing.
What do they publish about price?
Zapier's page (source date 12 November 2026) lists a Free plan at $0 with 100 tasks a month, Professional from $29.99 a month (750 tasks), or $19.99 a month billed annually, Team from $103.50 a month or $69.00 billed annually (2,000 tasks), and Enterprise on request. Task limits and prices rise by tier. n8n's page shows prices in euros: Starter at €20 a month billed annually (2.5K executions), Pro at €50 (10K) and Business at €667 (40K), with Enterprise on request.
Make's page defines credits and lists a Free plan with 1,000 credits a month, but the plan prices did not load in the text we could read, so we quote none. Check Make's page for current figures. All of these are the vendors' published prices, not ours, and they change.
Hosted or self-hosted?
Zapier and Make are hosted services: you use them in the vendor's cloud. n8n offers a hosted cloud plan, and n8n's pricing page also says a standard self-hosted version is available on GitHub. Self-hosting gives you control of where the data runs, and makes you responsible for the server, updates, backups and security.
n8n's license matters. Its GitHub license file says you may use or modify the software only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use, and may distribute it only free of charge for non-commercial purposes. Files marked as enterprise need a separate n8n Enterprise License. n8n's documentation says the Community edition includes almost the complete feature set and leaves out features such as single sign-on, projects, sharing, environments, external secrets, log streaming and Git version control, which come with paid plans. If you plan to build automations for clients on n8n, read the license first, or ask n8n.
What about templates and connections?
All three publish libraries of ready-made workflows. n8n's library states 14,205 workflow automation templates. Zapier's template page and Make's template page list AI, lead, email and support examples. Make's pricing page says it offers integrations with more than 1,000 third-party apps and lets you connect any service with a public API. A library shows what has been built, and not that it will work for you. Zapier also describes AI agents and a customer chatbot on its AI page. Our guide to AI automation examples goes through several.
Who might each one suit?
This is our reading of the published facts, and no tool here is ranked or recommended.
- Zapier: teams that want a hosted service with a published task-based price scale and no server to run.
- Make: teams that want a hosted visual builder billed in credits, who will check how many credits a run uses.
- n8n: teams with technical help who want the option to self-host, and whose use fits the license for internal business purposes.
What should you check before you choose?
- Your steps and volume: steps per run and runs per month, then the vendor's unit for each.
- Where data runs: hosted cloud or your own server, and what that means for your customers' data and the laws that apply.
- Who maintains it: a person or a partner who will fix a broken workflow.
- The apps you need: check that each connection exists and does what you need.
- The exit: how you would export workflows if you moved.
- Limits and overage: what happens when you pass your allowance. n8n's page says workflows keep running and overage charges may apply.
Do you need a tool at all?
Sometimes a direct connection between two systems, using their own API, is simpler and cheaper than a platform. Our API integration page covers when that makes sense. For AI-specific work, see our AI automation page and the guide on AI workflow automation.
Conclusion
n8n, Zapier and Make are built on different billing units and hosting choices, so the right one depends on your workflows. Count your steps and volume, read the license if you self-host, and compare on facts the vendors publish.
PromotEdge International is an international strategy, technology, marketing and design company, and our delivery team is in India. We have no partner arrangement with any of these tools. See our AI automation page.
Facts we rely on: see our company facts for what we state about ourselves and where each fact comes from.