Comparisons

All three cost about $20 and all three are capable enough. A task-by-task comparison of where each genuinely fits, what the free tiers cover, and the one question that settles it.

n8n Cloud starts at EUR20/month for 2,500 executions and self-hosting is free – but one to two hours a month of maintenance costs more than the plan. Both routes priced properly.

Make.com is $9/month for 10,000 credits – but one credit is one module run, and a trigger returning 50 rows makes every downstream module run 50 times. The arithmetic, worked.

Zapier bills per action step, not per workflow run – so a five-step Zap running 500 times costs 2,500 tasks. Full 2026 plan tables, the free-plan trap, and how to cut your bill without switching.

Zapier bills per action step, Make per module run, n8n per whole workflow. The same automation costs $49, $9 or EUR20 a month depending only on the meter. Full plan tables and a worked example.