Zapier, Make, and n8n all do the same basic job: connect two or more apps so something happens automatically without you touching it. A new lead in your form software shows up in your CRM, a Slack message gets sent when an order comes in, that kind of thing. Pick any one of the three and you could build most simple automations without much trouble.
Where they pull apart is pricing, how much they ask of you to get set up, and what happens when something breaks. We've dug into all three properly, and here's where each one actually stands.
The quick version
| Zapier | Make | n8n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.5 |
| Starting paid price | $19.99/month | $9/month | €20/month |
| Billing model | Per step | Per step | Per workflow run |
| Best for | Beginners, short automations | Visual, branching automations | Multi-step automations, avoiding per-step costs |
How each one actually bills you
Zapier and Make both charge you for every single action inside an automation. Add a step, use a task or an operation. A 10-step automation on either one costs 10 times what a 1-step automation costs, every time it runs.
n8n works differently. It counts a full workflow run as one execution, no matter how many steps are inside it. A 20-step workflow and a 2-step workflow cost exactly the same to run on n8n.
We've written about this in more depth elsewhere, but the short version holds here too: if what you're building has more than a couple of steps, that difference in billing model matters more than almost anything else on this list.
n8n
n8n links your apps and AI tools together so tasks that used to take manual work happen on their own. You set it up once, visually or with code, then it runs in the cloud or on your own server.
Visit n8nZapier's overage pricing is worth knowing about upfront
Zapier deserves a specific callout here, not just a line in a pricing table. If you go over your monthly task allowance, you get billed extra tasks at a real markup over your normal rate, not a small rounding-up fee. Combine that with per-step billing and it's easy to end up paying more than expected on a month where your automations simply ran more often than usual.
Billing and cancellation are also a genuine weak spot for Zapier, worth knowing about before you hand over a card number, not after. The core product is solid, this is specifically about the money side of things being more of a hassle than it should be.
Ease of use: Zapier and Make are genuinely easier to pick up
We'll give credit where it's due. Zapier is the easiest of the three to actually learn, a simple, guided builder that gets a beginner to a working automation fast, and it now has an AI feature that can build the automation for you from a plain description instead of you assembling every step by hand. Make isn't far behind, its visual canvas lays a whole automation out like a flowchart, which makes branching logic easier to follow at a glance than a flat list of steps would be.
n8n asks more of you. Setting things up and fixing mistakes takes more know-how, and when a step fails, it often just shows nothing rather than explaining what went wrong, so you're left digging for the cause yourself. That's the real tradeoff for n8n's better pricing: it's the most powerful of the three, but also the least forgiving to learn.
Zapier
Zapier watches for something happening in one app, like a new email or form entry, then automatically completes a task in another, connecting over 9,000 apps without any code.
Visit ZapierSupport: the surprising twist
You'd expect the self-hosted, more technical option to have the worst support experience, and we expected that too going in. It's actually the opposite. n8n scores the highest of the three on support, ahead of both Zapier and Make. Make sits in the middle, and Zapier, despite being the most beginner-friendly product, scores the lowest here. Ease of use and quality of support clearly aren't the same thing.
App libraries and AI-native features
Zapier wins on raw coverage, over 9,000 apps built in, more than either competitor, so if you're connecting something obscure, Zapier's the most likely to already support it without extra setup. Make lists over 3,000. n8n lists over 2,000 built-in, plus the ability to connect to almost anything else yourself through its code node.
On AI specifically, Zapier and n8n both lean into it in different ways. Zapier's AI can build an entire automation for you from a description, useful if you'd rather describe the outcome than assemble the steps. n8n leans toward AI agents, built-in memory and tools for connecting to AI models directly inside a workflow, aimed more at building something closer to an AI assistant than a simple trigger-and-action automation.
Make
Make links your apps together so tasks happen automatically, and lays out every step as a flowchart you can see and rearrange, instead of a plain list.
Visit MakeHow they score, category by category
| Category | Zapier | Make | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Output Quality | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| Ease of Use | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.0 |
| Features | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.8 |
| Value for Money | 3.6 | 4.6 | 4.8 |
| Customer Support | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.2 |
The pattern here is consistent: Zapier and Make win on ease of use, n8n wins on nearly everything else, especially value for money, which tracks with the per-step versus per-execution billing difference running through this whole comparison.
Our verdict
n8n, our pick for most people. It does take a bit more effort to learn than the other two, the first hour of getting your head around triggers and nodes can feel like more than you bargained for, but it's genuinely simple once it clicks. The per-execution pricing means your cost doesn't climb with every extra step you add, and if you're building anything with real complexity, several steps, run often, this is the one we'd point you toward.
Make, as the middle ground. Cheap entry price, a genuinely easier way to understand branching, multi-path automations than either competitor, and a reasonable choice if n8n feels like more than you want to take on right now.
Zapier, if you're completely new to automation, want the largest possible app library, and your automations are going to stay short, 2 or 3 steps rather than long chains. You'll pay more per step than the other two, but you'll get there fastest with the least friction.