Workflow automation · Comparison
Zapier vs Make vs n8n Cloud: Make 7.8, n8n Cloud 6.6, Zapier 5.4; 2,000 runs cost $9 to $129
We read the pricing, trust, help center and developer pages of three workflow automation platforms on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. What 2,000 five-step runs cost in credits, executions and tasks, where code, SSO and EU hosting sit, and who should pick which.
On this page9 sections
On six indicators read from each vendor's public pages, Make scores 7.8 out of 10, n8n Cloud 6.6 and Zapier 5.4. For our reference scenario, 2,000 runs a month of a webhook trigger plus 4 app actions for one builder, billed annually, Make Core costs $9 a month, n8n Cloud Starter $20 and Zapier Professional $129. The gap comes from what each one counts: Make charges a credit per module (5 per run), n8n an execution per run, and Zapier a task per action (4 per run, the trigger is free). Make stands out for price and a US or EU data center on every plan; n8n Cloud for per-run pricing, code on every plan and a self-hosted edition; Zapier for the largest app directory and a complete builder on Professional.
Make and n8n Cloud are in the Good band and Zapier in the Fair band, mostly because of its price for this scenario, US-only hosting and team features that start on Team. The scores measure what the public pages commit to, not how well each product works or how fast a workflow runs, and we did not sign up for any of them.
At a glance
| Zapier | Make | n8n Cloud | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | 9,000+ apps in a no-code builder | A visual builder for branching scenarios | Workflows with code, billed per run |
| Billing unit | Task: one per successful action | Credit: one per module action, trigger included | Execution: one per workflow run |
| Free option | Free plan: 100 tasks, two-step Zaps; 14-day trial, no card | Free plan: 1,000 credits, 2 active scenarios | 14-day trial, no card; no free cloud plan |
| Reference scenario (2,000 runs, annual) | $129 on Professional 10K, computed | $9 on Core 10,000 credits, computed | $20 on Starter 2,500 executions, computed |
| Month to month, same plan | $193.50 | $10.59 | $24 |
| Code steps | Every plan (30 seconds per step on Professional) | Make Code App from Core | Every plan, JavaScript or Python |
| SSO | Team in the plan table, Enterprise in the FAQs | Enterprise | Enterprise (Cloud) |
| EU data hosting | No (US only) | Every plan, chosen at creation | Every plan (Frankfurt only) |
| Workflow export | JSON on Team and Enterprise | JSON blueprints on every plan | JSON on every plan |
| Score (public pages) | 5.4 Fair | 7.8 Good | 6.6 Good |
What the public pages show
Zapier sells task tiers. Free covers 100 tasks a month in two-step Zaps. Professional, a single-user plan, starts at $19.99 a month for 750 tasks on annual terms and adds multi-step Zaps, Paths, webhooks, premium apps, code steps, AI steps, version history and autoreplay. Team starts at $69 for 2,000 tasks with up to 25 users, a shared workspace, an audit log and Zap export. Zapier hosts data on AWS in the US and says it cannot sign BAAs.
Make sells credits. Free gives 1,000 credits a month; Core costs $9 a month for 10,000 on annual terms, with unlimited active scenarios, the Code App and the Make API; Pro ($16) and Teams ($29) add priority execution and team roles at the same volume. Routers and error handlers use no credits. Each organization picks a US or EU data center when it is created; company SSO and audit logs are on Enterprise.
n8n Cloud sells executions. Starter costs $20 a month on annual terms for 2,500 runs and Pro $50 for 10,000, both with unlimited users, every integration, JavaScript and Python code steps, webhook triggers, the AI Agent node and the n8n API. Hosted data is stored in Frankfurt, and the Community Edition can be self-hosted.
Strengths and things to know
Zapier. Strengths: more than 9,000 apps; triggers, polling, Filter, Formatter and Paths use no tasks; every tier up to 2 million tasks is priced, with a published pay-per-task rule (1.25× the base rate on annual plans); its own SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports. Things to know: the price grows with every action; Professional is one user, and the audit log and Zap export start on Team; there is no EU hosting or HIPAA BAA; and the pages disagree on whether SAML SSO is on Team or Enterprise, and on whether Team is capped at 25 users.
Make. Strengths: the lowest price for our scenario; branching, error handling, version history and AI agents on every plan; a US or EU data center on every plan; JSON blueprint export; its own SOC 2 Type II report and an ISO 27001-certified program; extra credits priced at the plan rate plus 25%. Things to know: every module run counts, the trigger included; SSO, audit logs and custom roles are on Enterprise; no HIPAA support is stated; the region cannot be changed after the organization is created.
n8n Cloud. Strengths: one execution per run however long the workflow is; code, webhooks, AI agents and the API on Starter; unlimited users on every plan; workflows as JSON and a self-hosted edition as an exit. Things to know: no free cloud plan; hosted data in Frankfurt only and no HIPAA or ISO 27001 stated; SSO and audit logging are on Enterprise; the price of executions beyond a Cloud plan's quota is not stated.
Pricing reality
Reference scenario: 2,000 workflow runs a month, each a webhook trigger followed by 4 app actions, for one builder, on the cheapest plan that runs multi-step workflows started by a webhook, billed annually, at US list prices before tax.
| Service | Plan | Usage in the vendor's unit | Monthly cost | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Make | Core, 10,000 credits | 2,000 × 5 modules = 10,000 credits | $9 | Computed from the 10k tier; each module, the webhook trigger included, uses one credit |
| n8n Cloud | Starter, 2,500 executions | 2,000 runs = 2,000 executions | $20 | Computed: $240 a year from the US price feed the pricing page loads |
| Zapier | Professional, 10K tasks | 2,000 × 4 actions = 8,000 tasks | $129 | Computed from the 10K tier; the 5K tier plus 3,000 pay-per-task tasks would be about $156 |
Month to month, the same plans cost $10.59 on Make, $24 on n8n Cloud and $193.50 on Zapier. The counting rule matters more as workflows grow. At 4,000 runs of the same workflow, Make needs 20,000 credits ($16 on Core), n8n Cloud 4,000 executions (Pro, $50, because Starter stops at 2,500) and Zapier 16,000 tasks (the 20K tier, $189). With 10 actions a run instead of 4, Make needs 22,000 credits (the 40k tier, $29), n8n Cloud still 2,000 executions ($20) and Zapier 20,000 tasks ($189). All of these are our arithmetic on annual terms.
Team size moves the numbers too. Zapier Professional is a single-user plan; Team starts at $69 for 2,000 tasks and costs $169 at 10K. Make and n8n Cloud include unlimited users on every plan.
How we scored them
Every product in this category is scored on the same six indicators, read from the vendor's own pricing, trust, legal, help center and developer pages, with fixed formulas. The overall score is the plain mean. Our methodology page explains how these scores work.
| Indicator | Zapier | Make | n8n Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing clarity | 7 | 8 | 7 |
| Free plan and trial | 4 | 6.3 | 3 |
| Price for 2,000 runs | 3.5 | 10 | 8.2 |
| Workflow building blocks | 10 | 9.5 | 9.5 |
| Compliance and data residency | 3 | 7.5 | 5.5 |
| Admin, team and exit | 4.8 | 5.3 | 6.3 |
| Overall | 5.4 | 7.8 | 6.6 |
Pricing clarity loses a point for each price a page leaves out or each pair of pages that disagree: three for Zapier, two each for Make and n8n Cloud, which also does not price executions beyond a Cloud plan's quota. Zapier's free plan is two-step only, and n8n Cloud has a trial but no free plan. Zapier leads on building blocks with the largest app directory, but its scenario price, US-only hosting and Team-only admin features pull its overall score down. Make's lead comes from price and an EU region on every plan; n8n Cloud scores highest of the three on admin, team and exit because of its self-hosted edition and API on Starter.
Also in this category
Power Automate scores 8.5: one Premium licence at $15 a month (paid yearly) covers our scenario, and Microsoft lists it in the scope of its SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA BAA, with environments in Europe; it is licensed per user and the HTTP trigger needs that paid licence. Pipedream Workflows scores 2.8: Pipedream no longer accepts Workflows sign-ups or subscriptions and shuts the product down on March 31, 2027, so existing users should export their projects and plan a move.
Who should choose which
- Choose Make if you build branching workflows with a handful of steps and want the lowest monthly price, with EU hosting on a self-serve plan. Look elsewhere if you need SSO or an audit log without an Enterprise contract, or a HIPAA BAA.
- Choose n8n Cloud if your workflows are long or use JavaScript or Python, and you want a price per run and the option to self-host later. Look elsewhere if you want a free cloud plan or hosting outside the EU.
- Choose Zapier if you connect many different SaaS apps and want the broadest no-code directory, with logic steps that use no tasks. Look elsewhere if you run thousands of multi-step runs on a tight budget, or need EU hosting or a HIPAA BAA.
Bottom line
From public pages alone, Make leads at 7.8: our scenario costs $9 a month there, with branching, code and an EU or US region from its first paid plan. n8n Cloud (6.6) is the steadiest price as workflows grow, since a run counts once, and keeps a self-hosted exit. Zapier (5.4) has the widest reach and a complete builder, but at $129 a month for this scenario and with data in the US only. Compare the counting rule against your own workflows before the entry price.
How we checked
We read the vendors' pricing pages and plan tables, trust and security pages, privacy pages, help center articles and developer docs on Oct 16, 2026. make.com answered our scripted requests with a bot check, so Make's prices come from the Internet Archive copy of its pricing page from Oct 6, 2026; its help center and security pages were read live. n8n's pricing page shows euro prices and loads local prices from its checkout provider, so the US dollar prices come from that price feed for a US visitor. We did not sign up, start a trial or build a workflow. Facts the pages did not state, such as whether Make's Free plan takes webhook triggers or what n8n Cloud charges past its quota, are left out rather than guessed. Every figure is on the vendors' pages as of that date or, where marked, computed from them.
