Zapier, Make and n8n all do the same core job: connect your apps and automate the boring work between them. But they're priced completely differently and aimed at different people, so picking the right one saves you real money and headaches.
Here's the honest Zapier vs Make vs n8n comparison for a small business, from a team that builds automations on all three.
The short answer
Want the easiest possible setup and the biggest app library? Zapier. Want serious power for a fraction of the price? Make. Want the cheapest, most flexible option and have some technical comfort? n8n.
Zapier is the easiest. Make is the best value for most. n8n is the cheapest and most powerful, if you're comfortable getting technical.
Zapier vs Make vs n8n at a glance
The thing that decides it: how they bill
This is the part most people miss until the invoice arrives.
Zapier bills per task, and every action step counts. A five-step automation uses five tasks each time it runs. Make bills per operation, which works out much cheaper for the same work. n8n bills per whole-workflow execution: a ten-step workflow is still one execution, so it's dramatically cheaper at volume, and self-hosting it costs nothing but your own server.
Run the same multi-step automation thousands of times a month and the cost order is almost always n8n, then Make, then Zapier, often with large gaps between them.
Where each one wins
Zapier wins on ease and reach. The plain-English builder is the friendliest for non-technical people, and with 8,000-plus integrations it connects to almost anything. You pay for that convenience.
Make wins on value. The visual builder is powerful, the per-operation pricing is far kinder than Zapier's, and it handles complex, multi-step scenarios without the bill exploding. For most small businesses, it's the sweet spot.
n8n wins on cost and control. It's per-execution, can be self-hosted for free with unlimited runs, and is superb for AI-driven workflows. The trade-off is that it's the most technical of the three.
Do you even need one of these?
Worth asking before you subscribe to anything. If your business runs mostly on one platform, a lot of automation is already built in. GoHighLevel, for example, handles follow-up, booking and workflows internally, so you may not need a separate connector at all. Here's what GoHighLevel actually does. These tools earn their keep when you're stitching several different apps together.
Which should you pick?
Non-technical and want it easy: Zapier. Best value for most small businesses: Make. Cheapest and most powerful, with some technical comfort: n8n.
For the closer head-to-heads, see Make vs Zapier and n8n vs Zapier.
If you'd rather someone just built the automation for you, that's what we do. Book a call, or come to our one-day AI workshop and build a working automation on your own business in a day.
Builds CRM, automation and AI systems for Australian service businesses at Basic Solutions. Gold Coast-based, allergic to messy spreadsheets.
