Every "n8n vs Zapier" post online is written by someone earning an affiliate commission. This one is not. I run all three, and here is what they actually cost a small team.
The setup I priced
Five typical business workflows: lead routing, invoice processing, a support triage flow, a content repurposing pipeline, and a daily report. Realistic volume: a few thousand operations a month.
The numbers
- Zapier: at that task volume you are on a paid Professional plan. Roughly 200 dollars a month, and multi-step "Zaps" eat your task quota fast.
- Make: cheaper per operation, but the same setup still runs around 100 dollars a month once you add the operations these flows consume.
- Self-hosted n8n: the software is free and open source. Your only cost is a VPS, which runs 5 to 20 dollars a month and does not meter your executions.
Over a year that is roughly 2,400 dollars on Zapier versus a couple hundred on n8n. And the gap compounds: every new workflow on Zapier costs more tasks, while on n8n it costs nothing extra.
Where Zapier still wins
I am not going to pretend it does not. Zapier is genuinely better if you want zero setup, no server to maintain, and the widest library of pre-built integrations. For a non-technical solo user with two simple Zaps, it is the right call.
Where n8n wins
- Cost at scale — flat, not metered.
- Data control — everything runs on your infrastructure. This is non-negotiable for finance and customer data.
- No lock-in — you own the workflows as JSON files you can export, version, and move.
- Real logic — code nodes, proper branching, custom functions without hitting a paywall.
Switching is easier than you think
You do not have to migrate everything at once. Most teams I work with move their highest-volume flows to n8n first (the ones burning the most Zapier tasks) and leave the trivial ones alone. The expensive 20 percent is usually where all the savings are.