Make vs Zapier vs n8n for a small business: how each one charges, and when each one wins

Published 2026-09-28 · YouTube · Telegram

An honest comparison for a small business or a solo consultant. How Make (credits), Zapier (tasks) and n8n (executions, or free self-hosting) charge, what the free tiers really allow, the learning curve, and when each is the right pick — prices checked on the vendors' own pages.

All three tools do the same basic job: something happens in one app, and a chain of steps runs in others. A form is submitted, a row is written, a message goes out. For a small business the difference is not what they can do. It is how they count what you do, what the free tier leaves out, and who has to maintain the thing a year from now.

We build every blueprint on this site in Make and we are a Make affiliate, so read this page with that in mind. We have tried to be fair: below are the cases where Zapier or n8n is the better choice, and every price and limit comes from the vendor's own pricing page or documentation, checked on 28 September 2026 and linked at the bottom. Prices change; check them again before you commit.

• 1,000credits a month on Make's Free plan, with at most 2 active scenariosmake.com/pricing
• 100tasks a month on Zapier's Free plan, with two-step Zaps onlyzapier.com/pricing
• 2,500workflow executions a month on n8n Cloud Starter, €20/month billed annuallyn8n.io/pricing
• €0n8n Community Edition, self-hosted — you run and maintain the servern8n docs

How each one charges

This is the part that decides the bill, and the three models are genuinely different. The same automation can cost three units in one tool, two in another and one in the third.

Make: a credit for (almost) every module that runs

Make bills in credits. Each action a scenario performs — reading from a webhook or an app, searching, creating, updating, transforming data — uses credits, and most actions use one. A trigger that checks an app for new data uses one operation per check, whether or not it finds anything. Some AI modules use more than one credit. When a module returns several items, every module after it runs once per item, so a search that finds ten rows multiplies the rest of the scenario by ten. If you run out mid-month, extra credits cost 25% more than the credits in your plan.

Zapier: a task for every successful action

Zapier bills in tasks. A task is counted when an action completes successfully; failed actions are not counted. Triggers, polling for new data and Zapier's own built-in tools — Filter, Formatter, Paths, Delay, Looping and others — do not use tasks. That makes Zapier's unit "cheaper" per step than Make's: in a Zap, only the steps that do something in another app count.

n8n: one execution per run, however many steps

n8n Cloud bills per workflow execution: one full run of a workflow counts once, regardless of how many steps it has or how much data it moves. A ten-step workflow costs the same as a two-step one. The self-hosted Community Edition has no usage bill at all — you pay for the server, and you are the one who installs, updates, secures and backs it up.

Read the table with care. It is one automation. A workflow with many steps and high volume tilts towards n8n, because it pays per run. A workflow full of filters and formatting tilts towards Zapier, because those steps are free there. A short workflow at small-business volume — which is most of what a consultant builds for clients — is where Make's free tier and low entry price are hardest to beat.

The free tiers, side by side

The learning curve

This part is our experience, not a vendor figure. Zapier is the easiest to start: a Zap reads top to bottom like a recipe, and most people build their first one without help. Make asks for one more idea up front — data moves as bundles, and a module runs once per bundle — but in return you see the whole scenario on one canvas and can click any module after a run to see exactly what went in and out. That view is why we build client work in Make: when something breaks, you can point at the step. n8n is the most technical of the three. It is comfortable with JSON and code steps, and n8n's own documentation says self-hosting requires technical expertise for installation and configuration, and that maintenance is your responsibility.

When Zapier is the better pick

• The app you need is only on Zapier. Its catalogue is roughly three times the size of Make's. Check your client's CRM, booking tool and invoicing tool before choosing.
• The person maintaining it is not technical and will never open a canvas. A linear Zap is easier to hand over.
• The workflow is mostly filters, formatting and branching with one or two real actions. Those built-in steps do not use tasks on Zapier; in Make each one is a module that uses credits.
• The client already pays for Zapier. Moving a working system to save a few dollars a month is rarely worth the migration risk.

When n8n is the better pick

• Long workflows at volume. When a run has fifteen steps and happens thousands of times a month, paying per execution instead of per step changes the bill by an order of magnitude.
• The data must stay on infrastructure you control, or the client already runs servers and has someone who looks after them.
• You want to write code inside the workflow. n8n lists JavaScript and Python code steps among its developer tools.
• You build for clients on your own instance. n8n's licence FAQ allows it under the free Community licence as long as the clients cannot create or edit the workflows; hosting n8n for clients to build their own workflows is not allowed.

When Make is the better pick — and what to watch

For a small business or a solo consultant building three- and four-step automations — a lead alert, a follow-up, an invoice reminder — Make is our default. Multi-step scenarios with routers, filters and webhooks work on the free plan, so you can build and prove the whole thing before paying anything. The first paid tier is inexpensive and removes the two limits that bite: two active scenarios and a 15-minute schedule.

• Two active scenarios on Free is the real ceiling. A client with a lead alert, a follow-up and an invoice reminder already needs Core.
• Polling triggers cost credits even when there is nothing new. A trigger that checks every 15 minutes runs 96 times a day — about 2,880 checks in a 30-day month, almost three times the Free allowance, before a single lead arrives. Use a webhook wherever the source can send one.
• A scenario stuck in a loop can burn a month of credits quickly. Set a sensible limit on search and watch modules, and look at the credit counter after the first real runs.

If Make fits, this is the link we use; the free plan is enough to build and test every blueprint on this site: Sign up (one month of Core free) →affiliate linkAffiliate link. If you sign up through it we earn a commission from Make; your price is the same, and the link gives you one month of Core free.

What one scenario looks like in practice

The cost table above was worked out on this blueprint. It is three modules — a webhook, a Google Sheets row and a Telegram message — and it is the first thing most consultants set up for a client.

A decision in four questions

1. Is every app you need available in the tool? If only one tool has a native module for the client's core system, that usually decides it.
2. Who maintains it after you leave? A non-technical owner points to Zapier; a technical team with servers points to n8n; a consultant on a retainer is well served by Make.
3. What does one run look like? Count the steps, then multiply by runs per month in each tool's unit — credits per module, tasks per action, one execution per run.
4. Can the source send a webhook? If yes, all three can react instantly. If not, you are polling, and polling frequency becomes part of the price.

Estimate your Make credits (free calculator)Pick the automations you need and your monthly volume; see the credits and the Make plan that fits

1. Make — Pricing (plans, credits, active scenarios, scheduling interval, execution limits)
2. Make Help Center — Credits
3. Make Help Center — Operations (trigger checks, bundles)
4. Make Help Center — Webhooks
5. Make Help Center — Adjustments to plans and pricing (extra credits cost 25% more)
6. Zapier — Plans & Pricing (tasks, two-step Zaps, polling time, webhooks by plan)
7. n8n — Plans and Pricing (executions, Starter and Pro, Community Edition)
8. n8n Docs — Choose how to use n8n (Cloud vs self-hosted, free trial)
9. n8n Docs — Community license FAQ (what the Sustainable Use License allows)