Zapier, Make and n8n count usage in completely different ways, so their price lists can’t be compared side by side. Enter how often your automations run and how many steps they have, and this calculator works out the plan you would need on each platform and what it costs per month. It uses the official prices checked on 28 October 2026.
How each platform counts usage
| Platform | What you pay for | What is free |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Tasks: each action step that completes successfully | The trigger, polling and built-in tools such as Filter, Formatter, Paths and Delay |
| Make | Credits: each module that runs, including the trigger | Routers and error handlers |
| n8n | Executions: one per complete workflow run, whatever its length | Every step inside the run, polls that find nothing, manual test runs, sub-workflows and error workflows |
Three things that change your bill
1. The number of steps
Zapier and Make charge for every step, n8n charges for the whole run. With 1,000 runs a month of an 8-step workflow, that is 8,000 tasks in Zapier (the Pro plan with 10,000 tasks, $129 a month billed yearly), 9,000 credits in Make (Core, $9) and 1,000 executions in n8n (Starter, €20). The longer your workflows, the more n8n’s model pays off.
2. Polling versus instant triggers
A Make scenario that checks for new data every 15 minutes runs about 2,880 checks a month, and each check costs one credit even when it finds nothing. That alone is almost three times the 1,000 credits of Make’s free plan. Zapier and n8n don’t charge for those checks. If the app you connect offers an instant trigger (a webhook), use it.
3. Team seats
Zapier Pro has a single seat. A team needs the Team plan, which starts at $69 a month billed yearly for 2,000 tasks. Every n8n plan includes unlimited users, and Make adds team roles in its Teams plan.
Which one should you choose?
- Zapier if you want the quickest setup, run few automations and nobody on the team is technical. You pay more per step for that simplicity.
- Make if you want the lowest monthly price at low and medium volumes and are comfortable with a visual editor. Watch out for polling triggers.
- n8n Cloud if your workflows have many steps or run AI agents, because the price doesn’t grow with the length of the workflow.
- Self-hosted n8n if someone can look after a server. It is the cheapest option at almost any volume, but updates, backups and security are your job. This site’s own publishing workflow runs on a self-hosted n8n instance.
How this calculator works
- Prices come from the official pricing pages of Zapier, Make and n8n, checked on 28 October 2026. The counting rules come from Make’s help center and n8n’s documentation.
- For each platform it picks the cheapest plan that covers your usage. In Make it also checks whether a smaller plan plus extra credits is cheaper than the next tier.
- It assumes each run processes one item. If a run loops over 50 rows, Zapier and Make charge for each of them, so multiply the steps accordingly.
- Zapier and Make bill in US dollars and n8n in euros. Conversions use the European Central Bank reference rate of 27 October 2026 (1 € = 1.115 $).
- Not included: taxes, Zapier’s pay-per-task overage, Zapier Agents and Chatbots, AI features that use extra credits in Make, and the Enterprise plans.
If you notice a price that has changed, please tell us through the Contact page and we will update the calculator.
Related guides
- Zapier vs n8n vs Make: which is best for small business automation?
- n8n vs Zapier pricing: is n8n really cheaper?
- Make vs Zapier for small business
Looking for a workflow to import? Explore our n8n template library for community examples.