Comparing these tools by sticker price is where people usually get trapped. Zapier counts tasks, Make counts credits, and n8n Cloud counts full workflow executions. So the same workflow can look small in one tool and surprisingly expensive in another.
Short version: Zapier is often the easiest for simple app-to-app automations, Make is strong for visual multi-step scenarios, and n8n is often better when one workflow has many steps or needs more control.
The example workflow
Let us use the kind of automation almost every small business understands: a website lead form. Imagine the site gets 500 form submissions per month. For each lead, the automation should:
Trigger: a new lead submits a website form.
Action: save the lead to a CRM or Google Sheet.
Action: send an email notification to the owner.
Action: send a Slack or Telegram alert.
Simple on purpose. No AI, no complicated routing, no database sync. Just enough steps to show how the pricing model changes the math.
How each tool counts it
| Tool | Billing unit | Usage for 500 leads/month | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Tasks | About 1,500 tasks if the three post-trigger actions count. | Every extra counted action can increase monthly task usage. |
| Make | Credits | Roughly 1,500 credits for three simple non-AI operations, plus any extra modules. | More modules, routers, data processing, and AI steps can add usage. |
| n8n Cloud | Executions | About 500 workflow executions because each lead runs the whole workflow once. | Scheduled workflows and polling can use executions too. |
| n8n self-hosted | Server resources | No platform execution meter. A small VPS can start around $5/month. | You manage hosting, updates, backups, security, and failures. Or someone does it for you. |
Zapier: simple, but task-based
Zapier is usually the fastest option when a small team wants to connect common apps without much technical setup. On the pricing page checked for this article, Zapier showed Free, Professional, Team, and Enterprise options, with annual pricing starting at $19.99/month for Professional and $69/month for Team.
In this example, Zapier would usually count the successful action steps after the trigger. If the lead form triggers a Zap, then the Zap creates a CRM record, sends an email, and sends a Slack alert, that is roughly 3 tasks per lead.
At 500 leads per month, that becomes about 1,500 tasks/month. The exact plan depends on the current task tier and billing interval.
This nuance matters. Zapier Tables and Zapier Forms can be useful because they can keep simple automation data inside Zapier without using tasks for those specific steps. For a small team, that can be convenient: form submissions, lead status, internal notes, and lightweight workflow data can live close to the automation.
Make: visual flows and credits
Make is often attractive when the workflow needs a visual scenario builder, branching, data shaping, or more control than a basic Zap. Make now uses credits as its billing unit. In Make's own documentation, credits replaced operations as the term for the billing unit, and for non-AI apps, 1 operation equals 1 credit.
For the lead-form example, a simple non-AI scenario might use roughly 1,500 credits/month if it has three main operations per lead. In real projects, the number can grow if the scenario uses extra modules for searching, formatting, routing, error handling, or AI.
Make's pricing page should be checked directly before planning a budget. The thing to watch is not only the starting price. It is how many modules the scenario needs every time it runs.
n8n: executions instead of per-step billing
n8n Cloud prices usage by workflow executions. The pricing page checked for this article showed Starter at $20/month billed annually with 2.5k workflow executions, and Pro at $50/month billed annually with 10k workflow executions.
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The key difference is that one execution is one full run of the workflow. If the lead form submits 500 times, that is about 500 executions, even if the workflow has several steps.
This can make n8n easier to predict for multi-step workflows. The tradeoff is setup and ownership. Self-hosting can remove platform execution limits and cut the software bill down to the cost of a small server, sometimes around $5/month. But that does not make it free. Someone still has to set it up, keep it running, update it, back it up, and fix it when something breaks.
What changes if you add AI?
Add one AI step, like "summarize the lead message" or "classify urgency", and the comparison changes again. Zapier may add another counted action, Make may add credits and AI-specific usage, and n8n may still count one execution while the OpenAI or Claude API cost is billed separately.
That is why I prefer estimating a real workflow instead of staring at plan pages in isolation.
The bottom line for this workflow
If the lead form runs 500 times per month, this is the rough shape of the bill before any extra AI, routing, or maintenance.
Good fit when you want the fastest setup and the workflow stays simple.
Good fit when you need a visual builder, branching, and more control over each step.
Good fit when the workflow has more steps and execution-based pricing makes the math cleaner.
Cheap on the invoice, but someone has to own hosting, updates, monitoring, and break-fix work.
Prices are starting points from the screenshots checked on May 6, 2026. Real cost depends on billing interval, task or credit tier, AI usage, and how much support the workflow needs.
Which one should a small team choose?
- Choose Zapier when you want the fastest setup, common app integrations, and simple workflows that non-technical people can understand.
- Choose Make when you want a visual builder with more scenario logic, branching, and data handling.
- Choose n8n when you need more control, many-step workflows, self-hosting, custom APIs, or predictable execution-based pricing.
For many small teams, the best first automation is not the most powerful one. It is the one that gets built, runs reliably, and is easy enough to maintain.
Sources
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