Quick answer: At low volume all three platforms cost under 20 euros a month and the choice barely matters. At real business volume the billing units diverge sharply: Zapier bills every step, Make bills every operation, and n8n bills every workflow run or, self-hosted, nothing at all. For EU businesses, self-hosted n8n is routinely 80 to 90 percent cheaper at scale and is the only option that keeps customer data entirely on your own infrastructure.
Here is the arithmetic behind that verdict, and the GDPR angle that pricing pages do not mention.
What Do the Plans Actually Cost?
Entry-level paid plans as of mid-2026:
| Platform | Entry paid plan | Included volume | Billing unit | EU self-hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | $19.99/mo (Professional) | 750 tasks | Per task (every action step) | Not available |
| Make | $9/mo (Core) | 10,000 credits | Per operation | Not available |
| n8n Cloud | ~$20/mo | 2,500 executions | Per execution (full run) | Managed by n8n |
| n8n self-hosted | ~$8/mo (a small VPS) | Unlimited | None | Full control |
The included-volume column is where the first surprise lives. The sticker prices look similar. The units are not comparable at all.
Why Do Billing Units Matter More Than Prices?
Because they answer a different question: what happens when a workflow gets longer?
Zapier charges for every action step. Make charges for every operation, which is close to the same thing at a lower unit price. n8n charges per execution, meaning one complete run of a workflow counts once whether it has 2 steps or 40.
Run a 10-step workflow 10,000 times in a month and the difference stops being academic:
| Platform | Units consumed | Approximate monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier | 100,000 tasks | Several hundred dollars on high-tier plans |
| Make | ~100,000 operations | Roughly a third to half of the Zapier figure |
| n8n Cloud | 10,000 executions | A mid-tier Cloud plan |
| n8n self-hosted | 0 billable units | The same ~$8 to $20 server |
Figures are illustrative and worth verifying against current plan tiers, but the shape of the result is stable: for multi-step workflows at volume, n8n cuts the bill by 80 to 90 percent, and self-hosting removes the meter entirely. Complex automations are penalized on Zapier, tolerated on Make, and free to grow on n8n.
What Does GDPR Change About This Decision?
For EU businesses, data control is not a preference, it is an obligation. The three platforms sit in genuinely different positions.
| Question | Zapier | Make | n8n self-hosted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where does workflow data process? | Vendor cloud (US company) | Vendor cloud (EU company) | Your own servers |
| Can you choose the region? | Limited | EU processing available | Completely |
| Third-party data processor involved? | Yes | Yes | No |
| Data residency clauses satisfiable? | Case by case | Often | Always |
Every record that flows through Zapier or Make transits a third-party processor, which means data processing agreements, transfer assessments, and a compliance posture you inherit rather than control. Make, being EU-based with EU processing, is the stronger of the two managed options for European businesses.
Self-hosted n8n removes the question entirely. We cover exactly what that means in practice, including what self-hosting does and does not solve, in our guide Is n8n GDPR-compliant?
Which Should You Choose?
- A non-technical team automating light SaaS busywork: Zapier. Its catalog and ease justify the premium until volume grows.
- An EU operations team with real logic needs and a budget: Make. The best managed capability per euro, with EU processing available.
- A business with meaningful volume, sensitive data, or AI automation plans: Self-hosted n8n, run by your technical team or a managed partner. The economics and the compliance posture both point the same way.
Pricing is only one axis. For the full capability picture covering complexity ceilings and when each platform breaks, read our n8n vs Make vs Zapier comparison. And to feel the difference in practice, our Google Sheets to Slack tutorial builds a working n8n automation in about 10 minutes, template included.
FAQ
Which automation platform is cheapest at high volume?
Self-hosted n8n, and it is not close. It has no per-execution fees, so a workflow running 10,000 times per month costs the same server bill as one running 100 times. For multi-step workflows at volume, the saving versus Zapier is typically 80 to 90 percent.
Why does Zapier get expensive so quickly?
Zapier bills per task, and every action step in a workflow consumes one task. A 10-step workflow that runs 1,000 times uses 10,000 tasks. The workflow's length multiplies its cost, which is exactly the property you do not want as your automations grow more sophisticated.
Is Make cheaper than Zapier?
At comparable volumes, yes, usually by a significant margin. Make's per-operation unit price is lower than Zapier's per-task price, and its entry plan includes far more volume. For mid-complexity workflows, Make commonly lands at a third to half of the equivalent Zapier bill.
Can a non-technical team run self-hosted n8n?
Realistically, no. Self-hosting needs someone comfortable with servers, updates, and backups, or a partner who manages it for you. Non-technical teams should use n8n Cloud, Make, or Zapier, or have an agency run the self-hosted instance as a managed service.