Three tools keep coming up every time someone asks “what should I automate with?” – n8n, Make, and Zapier. They look similar from the outside. The prices are not. And the question I see most often is the one nobody answers cleanly: is n8n actually free, and how does its cost compare to Make and Zapier once you run real workflows?
I have run all three. The short version: they bill on three completely different models, and which one is cheapest depends entirely on how much you automate. Here is the real math for 2026, free tiers included.
The three pricing models, side by side
The reason these tools are hard to compare is that none of them charge the same way.
- Zapier charges per task. Every action a workflow takes is a task. 750 tasks a month, then you pay more.
- Make charges per operation. Similar idea, but more granular and usually cheaper per unit than Zapier.
- n8n charges per execution on its cloud plan, or nothing at all if you self-host it. One workflow run is one execution, no matter how many steps it has.
That last difference is the whole game. On Zapier a 10-step workflow burns 10 tasks. On self-hosted n8n it burns nothing.
| Tool | Billing model | Free tier | Paid starts at | Self-host option |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n8n | Per execution (cloud) or free (self-hosted) | Trial only on cloud, free forever self-hosted | ~$24/mo (cloud Starter) | Yes – free, open source |
| Make | Per operation | 1,000 ops/mo | ~$9/mo (Core) | No |
| Zapier | Per task | 100 tasks/mo | ~$20/mo (Starter) | No |
Is n8n free?
This is the question that sends most people down the rabbit hole, so let me answer it directly.
n8n is free to self-host. It is fair-code licensed and the source is open. You can run it on your own server forever without paying n8n a cent. What costs money is the server it runs on, and that can be as little as $3/mo.
n8n Cloud is not free. The official hosted version has a trial, then starts around $24/mo. There is no permanent free tier on n8n Cloud the way Make and Zapier offer one. So when someone says “n8n is free,” they mean self-hosted n8n, not the managed cloud product.
That is the fork in the road. If you want zero maintenance and will pay for it, n8n Cloud competes with Make and Zapier on price. If you are willing to run it yourself, self-hosted n8n is far cheaper than all three.
Make’s free tier and where it stops
Make has the most generous free tier of the three: 1,000 operations a month. For a couple of light workflows that is genuinely usable. The Core plan at ~$9/mo bumps you to 10,000 operations, and it scales from there.
Make’s per-operation model is cheaper than Zapier’s per-task model for most workflows, which is why people who outgrow Zapier’s free tier often switch to Make rather than paying Zapier’s $20/mo.
Zapier’s free tier and the cliff
Zapier’s free tier is 100 tasks a month with two-step workflows only. It is enough to test the waters and not much more. The moment you need multi-step workflows or more than 100 tasks, you are on the Starter plan at ~$20/mo for 750 tasks, and the Professional plan at ~$49/mo unlocks the features most real automations need.
Zapier has the most integrations and the most polished experience. You pay for both. For a few thousand tasks a month, Zapier is comfortably the most expensive of the three.
The real cost at scale
Here is where the models diverge hard. Say you run 5 workflows that fire 2,000 times a month, each doing a few steps.
| Setup | What you pay | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier Professional | ~$49/mo | ~$588/yr |
| Make (mid tier) | ~$16-30/mo depending on ops | ~$192-360/yr |
| n8n Cloud | ~$24-60/mo | ~$288-720/yr |
| Self-hosted n8n | $3-7/mo flat | ~$36-84/yr |
Self-hosted n8n wins on raw cost by a wide margin because the execution model does not punish multi-step workflows and there is no per-task meter. The trade-off is that you run the server. For a lot of people that trade is worth a few hundred dollars a year.
The self-hosted middle ground
The old objection to self-hosting was that you had to provision a server, install Docker, configure nginx, set up SSL, and keep it patched. That is real work, and it is why people paid for Zapier instead.
That objection is mostly gone now. Managed self-hosting platforms deploy n8n with one click and handle the SSL and server config for you, so you get the free-software economics without the sysadmin tax. You can deploy a fully configured n8n instance on InstaPods for $3/mo flat, with unlimited executions and no per-task meter. It is the middle ground between paying Zapier’s bill and running a raw VPS yourself.
If you want the deeper breakdown of n8n Cloud pricing versus self-hosting, including the execution-counting math, there is a full n8n pricing guide that goes tier by tier.
Which one should you pick?
- Pick Zapier if you want the most integrations and the most hand-holding, and you do not mind paying the most for it.
- Pick Make if you want a generous free tier and the cheapest per-unit cost among the hosted options, with a visual builder.
- Pick n8n Cloud if you want n8n’s execution model and node library without running a server, and the ~$24/mo is fine.
- Self-host n8n if cost is the priority and you are okay with a managed platform handling the server. At $3-7/mo flat with unlimited executions, nothing else is close.
Frequently asked questions
Is n8n really free?
Self-hosted n8n is free and open source – you only pay for the server, which can be $3/mo. n8n Cloud, the official managed version, is paid and starts around $24/mo with no permanent free tier.
Does n8n Cloud have a free tier in 2026?
n8n Cloud offers a trial, not a permanent free tier. After the trial it starts around $24/mo. If you want a free option, you self-host n8n on your own server.
Is Make cheaper than Zapier?
For most workflows, yes. Make’s per-operation pricing is more granular and usually cheaper per unit than Zapier’s per-task pricing, and Make’s free tier (1,000 ops/mo) is more generous than Zapier’s (100 tasks/mo).
What is the cheapest way to run n8n, Make, or Zapier-style automations?
Self-hosted n8n. It is free software with no per-task or per-operation meter, so a $3-7/mo flat server handles thousands of executions a month for far less than any hosted plan.
The honest answer is that all three are good tools. The pricing is where they part ways – and if you automate a lot, the execution-based, self-hostable option is the one that does not scale your bill with your usage.
