n8n vs Zapier vs Make: which one to choose

Zapier, Make and n8n all connect apps: a form submission creates a CRM record, an invoice is generated, a Telegram alert fires. Choosing between them comes down to three questions — how many operations per month, where the data must live, and whether anyone can run a server.

Short answer

• Zapier — low volume, need it working today, no technical team.
• Make — branching scenarios on a mid-size budget: more operations per euro than Zapier.
• n8n — high volume, sensitive data, or an automation bill above €40–50 a month.

The comparison that matters

	n8n	Zapier	Make
Billing	server (self-hosted) or executions (cloud)	per task	per operation
Bill at 10× volume	barely moves	scales linearly	scales linearly
Data location	your server	vendor cloud	vendor cloud
Custom code	JavaScript, Python	limited	limited
Prebuilt integrations	hundreds + any HTTP API	thousands	thousands
Learning curve	steep: server required	gentle	medium
Who updates it	you	vendor	vendor

Where each one breaks

Zapier breaks on price. Five zaps and a couple of thousand tasks is fine. At tens of thousands of tasks the subscription becomes the largest line in your automation budget.

Make is cheaper per operation and handles branching better, but your data still sits in the vendor cloud and complex logic eventually hits the limits of the available modules.

n8n breaks on maintenance. The server needs updates, monitoring and backups. With nobody watching, a workflow eventually fails silently — and you find out through missing leads.

When migrating to n8n pays off

Take your current Zapier or Make invoice. A VPS for n8n costs €5–20 per month, and migrating ten production workflows takes about a week. Above roughly €40–50 per month, the difference covers the migration within one to two months; after that you only pay for the server.

The second trigger is data residency. If customer personal data flows through your workflows, self-hosted n8n removes the third-party transfer question entirely.

Can you run both?

Yes, and many teams do: rare scenarios with exotic apps stay in Zapier while the heavy traffic moves to n8n. The goal is a smaller invoice, not a pure stack.

FAQ

Is n8n harder than Zapier?

The canvas looks familiar, but n8n gives more control — and more ways to get it wrong. A first workflow takes an evening; a production chain with error handling takes experience.

What happens to my workflows if I change contractor?

In n8n they export to JSON and move anywhere. On closed platforms you rent the logic too.

What does a migration cost?

About a day per workflow, roughly a week for ten including tests — see n8n automation agency.

Want to know whether switching pays off for you? Send us your numbers and we will do the maths. New to the tool? Start with what n8n is.