n8n vs Zapier: which to choose?

Zapier Professional costs 49 EUR/month and gives you 750 tasks. If you have 100 tasks per day (realistic for a small business) - those run out in 7 days.

n8n Community Edition costs 0 EUR and gives unlimited tasks. But you have to host it yourself.

This is a classic tradeoff: time vs money vs control. Here's an honest comparison.

Zapier: pros and cons of paid service

Zapier is like iPhone - it works without you thinking about how. Set up in 5 minutes.

Zapier strengths: - 6000+ ready integrations - Simple user interface - no code needed - Reliable - rarely crashes - Good support (if you pay)

Zapier weaknesses: - Price scales quickly: Pro plan is 49 EUR/month (750 tasks), Team is 399 EUR/month - Limited flexibility - if you want something non-standard, you're stuck - Data is on Zapier's servers (USA) - You depend on their pricing

Realistic cost calculation:

The difference is noticeable.

n8n: free but technical

n8n is open source. You can host it yourself for free. No limits.

n8n strengths: - Free (self-hosted) - Unlimited tasks - Data stays under your control - Extremely flexible - can write custom logic - Active community

n8n weaknesses: - Learning curve is real (day or two to get going) - Self-hosting requires server and maintenance - Fewer ready integrations - sometimes need to write HTTP requests yourself - If something breaks, you fix it yourself

Who is n8n for?

If you have someone who can: - Set up a VPS (Virtual Private Server) - Read English documentation - Debug errors

That could be you. Or someone on your team. Or an outside consultant (one-time cost).

How to choose the right AI tool addresses similar decision-making, though in different contexts.

Third option: Make

Make (formerly Integromat) is somewhere between the two: - More flexible than Zapier - Simpler than n8n - Price: 9 EUR/month (1000 operations) up to 16 EUR/month (10,000)

Price-quality ratio is often the best choice for smaller teams.

Practical decision guide

Choose Zapier if: - You have budget - You don't have technical support - You have 1-3 simple flows - You want results today

Choose n8n if: - You have technical support (yourself or someone else) - You have high volume (1000+ tasks daily) - Data is sensitive (GDPR etc.) - You want long-term savings

Choose Make if: - You're not sure - You have medium budget - You want more control than Zapier but less work than n8n

System integration shows how to use these tools in practice.

Summary

There's no wrong choice. Only wrong choice for your situation.