Zapier vs Make vs n8n: Which Should a Small Business Use?

We build automations in Zapier, Make and n8n, and sometimes in plain code, so we don’t have a horse in this race. Here’s how we choose for clients, explained without the marketing.

The quick answer

	Zapier	Make	n8n
Best for	Simple workflows, non-technical teams	Branching logic, moderate volume	High volume, custom code, AI agents, data control
Ease of use	Easiest	Moderate (visual canvas)	Steepest
App library	Largest	Large	Smaller, plus HTTP/code for anything with an API
How usage is counted	Tasks (each successful action)	Operations / credits (each module run)	Workflow executions (Cloud). Unlimited when self-hosted
Self-hosting	No	No	Yes
Code steps	Limited	Limited	Full JavaScript/Python

Always check the current pricing pages. All three change plans regularly.

Zapier: the easiest way to start

Choose it when: you want a few reliable workflows running this week, the people maintaining them aren’t technical, or you use niche apps that only Zapier connects to.

Strengths

• The largest library of app integrations, often with the most polished triggers.
• Very approachable editor. A non-technical team member can follow and edit a “Zap”.
• Good built-in AI features for adding classification, summarisation or drafting steps.

Watch out for

• Cost at volume. Zapier counts tasks: each action step that runs counts. A 5-step workflow running 1,000 times a month uses about 4,000–5,000 tasks.
• Complex branching and looping are possible, but they get unwieldy compared to Make or n8n.

Make: more logic for the money

Choose it when: your workflows have branches (“if the order is international, do X, otherwise Y”), loops over lists (each line item, each attachment), or moderate volume where Zapier gets expensive.

Strengths

• Visual canvas that shows the whole flow, including branches, routers and error handlers.
• Powerful data handling: iterators, aggregators and built-in functions.
• Usually better value than Zapier for multi-step workflows at moderate volume.

Watch out for

• Make counts every module execution, including within loops, so a loop over 50 items multiplies usage. Design workflows to filter early.
• A steeper learning curve than Zapier. Handing over to non-technical staff needs good documentation.

n8n: flexibility and control

Choose it when: you have high volume, sensitive data you want on infrastructure you control, workflows that need real code, or AI agents with tools and memory.

Strengths

• Self-hosting. Run it on your own server or cloud account. You pay for hosting rather than per step, which makes high-volume workflows dramatically cheaper.
• Execution-based pricing on n8n Cloud. A workflow run counts once no matter how many steps it has.
• Code when you need it. JavaScript and Python nodes sit alongside visual nodes.
• Strong AI building blocks. Agents, vector stores and retrieval workflows are first-class features.

Watch out for

• Self-hosting means owning maintenance: updates, backups, security and uptime. Budget for it, or use n8n Cloud.
• Licensing. n8n uses a “fair-code” licence (the Sustainable Use License). It’s free for internal business use, but there are restrictions on offering n8n itself as a service. Read it if you’re an agency.
• Fewer pre-built integrations, though its HTTP node can call any app with an API.

A worked example: same workflow, three tools

Hypothetical example. A 6-step “new order” workflow (new order → look up the customer → add a row to a sheet → create the invoice → send a WhatsApp confirmation → notify Slack), running 1,500 times a month:

• Zapier: around 7,500–9,000 tasks a month, depending on filters.
• Make: around 9,000 operations a month (more if any step loops).
• n8n Cloud: 1,500 executions a month.
• n8n self-hosted: unlimited executions, plus the cost of a small server and someone to maintain it.

Put those numbers into each tool’s current pricing page and the right choice usually becomes obvious.

How we decide for clients

1. Who will maintain it? If it’s a non-technical owner, we lean towards Zapier, or Make with good documentation.
2. How much volume, and how many steps? High volume or many steps pushes us towards Make or n8n.
3. How sensitive is the data? Health, legal or financial data often justifies self-hosted n8n or custom code, so we control where data goes.
4. Is it customer-facing and speed-critical? Chatbots and real-time APIs are often better as custom code (for example on Cloudflare Workers), with the automation tool handling back-office steps.
5. What’s already in place? We don’t rip out working workflows without a clear reason.

The tool matters less than the design

Whichever you choose, the same rules prevent most automation failures: map the process first, filter early, handle errors with alerts to a named person, document each workflow, and review them quarterly. A clean workflow in any of these tools beats a messy one in the “best” tool.

Not sure what your workflows would cost on each platform? Our ROI calculator helps you size the savings, and the free audit suggests which workflows to start with.