All three tools connect apps and automate work, but they charge and behave differently. Compare them on the points that decide the choice.
Zapier, Make and n8n solve the same problem: connect your apps and move data between them without writing a full program. The difference is in how they charge, how much control you get and who they suit. Prices and limits change often, so check each vendor's current pricing page before you decide.
| Zapier | Make | n8n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | Very easy, built for non-technical users | Visual and flexible, moderate learning curve | Powerful, a bit more technical |
| How you are billed | By tasks | By operations or credits | Cloud: by workflow executions. Self-hosted: you pay for the server |
| Self-hosting | No | No | Yes |
| Built-in integrations | Largest catalogue | Large catalogue | Smaller catalogue, plus HTTP Request and custom nodes |
| Code and custom logic | Limited | Good | Strong, with Code node and expressions |
| Data control | Vendor cloud | Vendor cloud | You can keep data on your own server |
Zapier counts every successful action as a task, so a workflow with five steps uses several tasks per run. Make counts operations in a similar way. n8n Cloud counts a whole workflow run as one execution, however many steps it has. When you self-host n8n, there is no per-execution fee at all, you only pay for the server. For high-volume or many-step automations this difference can be large.
With Zapier and Make, your data passes through the vendor's cloud. With self-hosted n8n you decide where it runs. This matters for customer data, regional rules and for teams that want to keep credentials on their own infrastructure. Read self-hosted n8n vs n8n Cloud for that decision.
Zapier has the biggest list of ready apps. n8n has fewer, but its HTTP Request node can call almost any API, and the community adds more nodes. If you need a niche app that only Zapier supports, that may decide it for you.
If you outgrow another tool, n8n is a common next step. You will need to rebuild workflows, because there is no one-click import between these tools. Plan the move one workflow at a time. For hosting choices, see our n8n hosting cost comparison, and for ideas on what to build first, 10 n8n workflows every startup should automate.
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