Make vs Zapier vs n8n: Which Platform Fits Your Business?

Choosing between Make, Zapier, and n8n isn't just about features. It's about which platform won't become a bottleneck, or a budget drain, as your automation needs grow.

I've built workflows on all three. Each has a clear sweet spot, and each has tradeoffs that only become obvious once you're deep into implementation. This comparison cuts through the marketing to help you pick the right tool before you invest weeks building on the wrong platform.

The stakes are higher than they seem. Migrating workflows between platforms is painful, and you're essentially rebuilding from scratch. Picking wrong means either living with limitations or eating the cost of starting over. Better to understand the differences upfront.

What's the real difference between Make, Zapier, and n8n?

The core difference is philosophy: Zapier prioritizes accessibility, Make prioritizes visual power, and n8n prioritizes developer control and data ownership.

Zapier launched in 2011 and built its dominance on radical simplicity. The entire experience is designed around a linear, step-by-step wizard. You pick a trigger, add actions, and you're done. With 8,000+ integrations, it has the largest app library by far. The tradeoff is flexibility: complex branching logic and data transformations hit walls quickly.

Make (formerly Integromat) was acquired by Celonis in 2020 for over $100 million. It offers a visual canvas where you can see data flowing between nodes, add routers for conditional logic, and handle errors with dedicated modules. It sits in the middle ground: more powerful than Zapier, more accessible than n8n.

n8n is the outlier. Founded in 2019, it raised $180 million in Series C funding in October 2025, reaching a $2.5 billion valuation with backing from NVIDIA's venture arm. The platform reported 6x user growth and 10x revenue growth in 2025, hitting $40 million ARR. What's driving that? Two things: self-hosting capabilities and AI-native architecture with 70+ nodes dedicated to AI applications.

How much does each platform actually cost?

Pricing looks simple until you understand how each platform counts usage.

Zapier charges per task. A task is any action your workflow completes, not the trigger, but every step after it. A five-step workflow processing one record uses 4 tasks. Process 100 records? That's 400 tasks. Pricing starts at $19.99/month for 750 tasks on the Professional plan, scaling to $69/month for the Team plan with 2,000 tasks and added collaboration features.

Make uses credits (formerly operations). Most actions consume 1 credit, but the platform checks for new data constantly, and those polling checks count too. The Core plan runs $9/month for 10,000 credits, Pro is $16/month for 10,000 credits with priority execution, and Teams is $29/month.

n8n charges per workflow execution, not per step. A workflow with 20 nodes processing a batch of 500 records counts as one execution. Cloud pricing starts at $20/month for 2,500 executions (Starter) or $50/month for 10,000 executions (Pro). The Community Edition is free for self-hosting with unlimited executions.

Which pricing model saves money as you scale?

The billing model determines whether costs stay predictable or spiral as your automation grows.

Zapier's per-task model punishes complexity. A workflow that enriches leads, updates your CRM, notifies sales on Slack, and logs to a spreadsheet uses 4 tasks per lead. At 1,000 leads/month, you're burning 4,000 tasks, well beyond the Professional plan's 750-task limit. You'd need to pay for additional tasks or upgrade.

Make's credit system is more forgiving for complex workflows but adds up with high-frequency automations. A scenario that polls every minute consumes credits constantly, even when nothing happens.

n8n's per-execution model is the most cost-effective at scale. That same lead enrichment workflow? One execution per trigger, regardless of how many steps or how much data you process. For businesses running complex, high-volume workflows, the math favors n8n significantly.

A real-world comparison: processing 50,000 operations monthly.

• Zapier: At $0.01-0.03 per task depending on plan, you're looking at $500-1,500/month
• Make: Around $50-150/month depending on plan tier
• n8n Cloud: ~$50/month on Pro plan, or effectively free if self-hosted

The gap widens as complexity increases. A 10-step workflow costs 10x more on Zapier than on n8n, the same data, the same outcome, radically different pricing.

For high-volume workflows, n8n self-hosted provides the lowest cost per execution. Many teams start on Zapier for convenience, then migrate to n8n once they understand their actual workflow volume and complexity.

Can I self-host my automation platform?

Only n8n offers true self-hosting. This matters more than most businesses initially realize.

With n8n's Community Edition, you download the source code and run it on your own infrastructure: AWS, DigitalOcean, your own servers, wherever. You get unlimited workflows, unlimited executions, and complete control over your data. The platform is fair-code licensed, meaning the source is open and you can self-host freely for internal use.

Why does this matter?

Data sovereignty: Your workflow data never leaves your infrastructure. For companies handling sensitive customer data, healthcare information, or financial records, this isn't optional. It's required.

Cost control: Server costs for a basic n8n instance run €5-20/month on a VPS. Compare that to cloud pricing that scales with usage.

Compliance: GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2. Self-hosting simplifies compliance by keeping data within your controlled environment.

No vendor lock-in: If n8n changes pricing or policies, you're not stuck. Your workflows run on your infrastructure.

Zapier and Make are cloud-only. Your data flows through their servers, and you pay based on their pricing structure. For many businesses, that's fine. For others, it's a dealbreaker.

How do integrations compare across the three platforms?

The numbers: Zapier has 8,000+ integrations, Make has 3,000+, n8n has around 1,000 native integrations.

But raw counts don't tell the whole story.

Zapier's strength is breadth. If you need to connect a niche app your accounting team uses, Zapier probably has it. The integration library covers virtually every SaaS tool on the market. The limitation? Many integrations only expose basic endpoints. You might be able to create a contact but not access custom fields.

Make's advantage is depth. Make often provides more complete access to the features of connected services. The Google Sheets integration, for example, allows more precise manipulations than Zapier's equivalent.

n8n's approach is flexibility. With fewer native integrations, you might need to use the HTTP Request node to connect to APIs directly. For technical teams, this is actually a feature. You can connect to anything with an API and control exactly how data is sent and received. For non-technical users, it's a barrier.

If you're automating Salesforce workflows specifically, check out our guide on how to automate Salesforce workflows and Salesforce integration services.

Which platform handles complex workflows better?

Complex workflows involve conditional logic, error handling, loops, and data transformations. The platforms diverge significantly here.

Zapier uses Paths for conditional logic, essentially if/then branches. It works for simple conditions but becomes unwieldy with multiple branches. Error handling is basic: workflows either succeed or fail, with limited retry options. Loops require workarounds.

Make shines with visual complexity. Routers split workflows into parallel paths. Iterators process arrays item by item. Aggregators combine data back together. Error handlers let you define fallback actions when something breaks. You can see the entire flow on a canvas, which helps when debugging.

n8n gives you the most control. The node-based architecture handles branching, merging, and looping natively. You can write JavaScript or Python directly in workflows for custom transformations. Error handling includes retry logic, fallback branches, and detailed execution logs. The tradeoff is complexity. n8n expects you to know what you're doing.

For sophisticated business processes involving multiple conditional steps and complex data transformations, n8n offers the flexibility needed to implement complex business logic.

How do AI capabilities compare in 2026?

AI integration has become a key differentiator, and the platforms have taken different approaches.

n8n positions itself as AI-native. The platform includes nearly 70 nodes dedicated to AI applications, with deep LangChain integration for building sophisticated AI workflows. You can orchestrate different AI models, build RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) systems, and create AI agents that reason through multi-step tasks. In 2025, n8n reported that around 75% of customers use their AI features.

Make introduced AI Agents in April 2025, marking a shift toward AI orchestration. The platform offers modules for text categorization, language detection, document extraction, summarization, and translation. It's capable but focused on applying AI to existing workflow patterns rather than building AI-first automations.

Zapier focuses on democratizing AI, making it accessible without technical knowledge. You can add AI steps to workflows for tasks like drafting responses or categorizing data. The limitation is customization; you're working within Zapier's predefined AI capabilities rather than building custom AI logic.

For automation projects heavily integrating AI, n8n clearly represents the most powerful option, while Zapier offers the most accessible way to add basic AI capabilities to simple workflows.

What about security and compliance?

Security requirements vary dramatically by industry and company size. The wrong choice here can mean failed audits, compliance violations, or data breaches.

Zapier offers enterprise-grade security on higher tiers: SSO, SAML, audit logs, and SOC 2 Type II compliance. Data flows through Zapier's infrastructure, which is secured but outside your direct control. For most businesses, this is sufficient. For regulated industries like healthcare, finance, and government, the lack of data residency control can be problematic.

Make provides similar enterprise features through its Celonis parentage: SSO, role-based access, and compliance certifications. The platform handles data on their servers with standard cloud security practices. Being part of Celonis (a German company) may offer advantages for EU data residency requirements.

n8n flips the model entirely. Self-hosted deployments keep all data on your infrastructure. Zapier and Make never see it. Your workflows, credentials, and execution logs stay within your security perimeter. For organizations with strict data residency requirements, air-gapped environments, or handling sensitive PII, PHI, or financial data, this is often the deciding factor. Cloud plans include SSO and audit capabilities for teams that want managed hosting with enterprise controls.

Consider your data flow: every automation moves data between systems. With cloud platforms, that data routes through their servers. With self-hosted n8n, data moves directly between your systems without third-party intermediaries.

If your compliance requirements include keeping customer data within your own infrastructure, n8n is effectively the only option among these three.

Which platform is actually growing fastest?

Growth trajectories reveal where the market is heading.

n8n is experiencing explosive growth. The company went from a $350 million valuation in early 2025 to $2.5 billion by October 2025, a 7x increase in months. Revenue grew 10x to $40 million ARR. User growth hit 6x. Enterprise customers include Microsoft, Vodafone, and Delivery Hero. NVIDIA's venture arm invested in the Series C, signaling confidence in n8n's AI-focused approach.

Zapier remains the market leader by revenue, with approximately $310 million in 2024 and projected $400 million in 2025. The company reached a $5 billion valuation in 2021 with remarkably little funding, just $1.4 million raised total. Growth has been steady but not explosive, with the company focusing on enterprise expansion and AI features.

Make operates as part of Celonis (valued at $13 billion). After being acquired in 2020, detailed growth metrics aren't publicly reported. The platform has expanded features significantly, including AI capabilities, but competes in Zapier's shadow for the visual automation market.

The trend is clear: n8n is capturing developer and enterprise mindshare with its combination of self-hosting, AI capabilities, and cost-effective pricing at scale.

When does each platform make sense?

After working with all three platforms across different client scenarios, here's the honest assessment of where each excels.

Choose Zapier if:

• Your team is non-technical and needs to move fast
• You're connecting common SaaS tools with straightforward logic
• You value the largest integration library over customization
• Budget is flexible and workflows are low-to-medium volume
• You need something working this week, not next month

Zapier's strength is speed to value. A marketing manager can connect HubSpot to Slack in 15 minutes without touching documentation. That accessibility has real value. Automation that ships beats perfect automation that never gets built.

Choose Make if:

• You need more complex visual workflows than Zapier allows
• Your team can handle a moderate learning curve (plan for 3-4 hours)
• You want cloud-hosted with good value for complex scenarios
• You don't require self-hosting or extensive AI capabilities
• Visual debugging and flow visualization matter to you

Make hits a sweet spot for operations teams that have outgrown Zapier but don't have developers on staff. The visual interface genuinely helps when debugging why a workflow isn't doing what you expected.

Choose n8n if:

• Data sovereignty or self-hosting is important
• You're building AI-powered or technically complex workflows
• You have technical resources to manage implementation
• You need cost-effective scaling for high-volume automation
• You want maximum flexibility and control
• Long-term cost predictability matters more than quick setup

n8n requires more upfront investment, in learning, in setup, potentially in infrastructure, but pays dividends for organizations that will scale their automation footprint.

For most businesses exploring automation for the first time, we've covered whether automation is worth it and the best automations for small business.

When should you hire an agency instead of building yourself?

DIY automation works until it doesn't.

The learning curve for each platform is real. Zapier is the quickest to learn but limits what you can build. Make requires understanding its visual logic system. n8n expects comfort with technical concepts: variables, expressions, JSON, and potentially JavaScript.

Beyond the initial build, there's maintenance: workflows break when apps update their APIs, edge cases surface after deployment, and scaling often requires architectural changes.

Hiring an agency makes sense when:

• Time matters more than money: Building a complex workflow might take your team weeks. An experienced agency delivers in days.
• The workflow is business-critical: Revenue-impacting automations need to work reliably. Debugging at 2 AM isn't a good use of your time.
• You lack technical resources: n8n's power comes with complexity. If your team can't maintain what gets built, you'll be stuck.
• You need integration across systems: Connecting Salesforce to your ERP to your support platform to your data warehouse requires understanding multiple APIs and data models.

If you're evaluating whether automation fits your specific processes, we can help you map out what's worth automating and what isn't. Get in touch for a free process analysis. No commitment, just an honest assessment of where automation would actually move the needle.

The bottom line

Zapier is the safe choice: easiest to start, widest integration library, predictable for simple workflows. You'll pay more at scale, and you'll hit walls with complex logic, but you'll get things working quickly.

Make is the middle ground: more power than Zapier, more accessible than n8n. Good for teams that need visual workflow building with real conditional logic and don't require self-hosting.

n8n is the power choice: self-hosting, AI-native architecture, cost-effective at scale, maximum flexibility. The tradeoff is complexity and the need for technical resources. But with $2.5 billion in backing and explosive growth, it's also where the market is heading.

The right platform depends on your specific situation: technical capabilities, data requirements, budget constraints, and growth trajectory. Start with what you need today, but choose a platform that won't force a painful migration tomorrow.