TL;DR
n8n vs Zapier comes down to who runs the infrastructure. Self-hosted n8n is
$0 in licence fees with unlimited executions (you pay a $5–15/mo server);
Zapier Professional is $19.99/mo on annual billing for 750 tasks and every
action step counts. n8n bills per execution (one workflow run, any number of
steps); Zapier bills per task (one completed action step). Pick n8n if you
can keep a server alive and want AI agent loops for free; pick Zapier if 9,000+
apps, failure-free billing and a no-code builder matter more than the invoice.
The contenders
- n8n (fair-code licensed) is a node-based workflow engine you can run on your own machine or buy hosted. Every node takes JavaScript or Python, AI Agent and MCP nodes ship in every plan, and the self-hosted Community Edition has no execution meter at all.
- Zapier is the category's cloud default: 9,000+ apps, a linear step editor, Copilot-assisted building, Tables/Forms/MCP, and task-based billing — triggers, filters and failed steps are free; completed action steps are not.
Pricing as of October 2026 (n8n.io/pricing and zapier.com/pricing, checked
October 4, 2026):
| Plan | n8n | Zapier |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Self-hosted Community: $0, unlimited executions, your server | $0 — 100 tasks/mo, 2-step Zaps only, 15-min polling |
| Entry paid | Cloud Starter: €20/mo annual (€24 monthly) — 2,500 executions, unlimited steps | Professional: $19.99/mo annual ($29.99 monthly) — 750 tasks |
| Mid tier | Cloud Pro: €50/mo annual (€60 monthly) — 10,000 executions | Team: $69/mo annual ($103.50 monthly) — 2,000 tasks, 25 seats, SSO |
| High volume | Business: €667/mo annual (€800 monthly) — 40,000 executions, self-hosted only | Task slider: 5,000 → $89, 10,000 → $129, 20,000 → $189 (Pro, annual) |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
| Billing unit | One workflow run, however many steps | One successful action step |
| Apps | ~400+ nodes | 9,000+ |
Two structural facts decide this comparison before any feature list:
- Hosting. n8n can live on a $5–15/mo VPS with unlimited executions and your data on your disk. Zapier is cloud-only — you always pay per unit, forever.
- The unit. One execution covers a 20-node workflow. On Zapier that same run bills roughly 20 tasks if every node is an action (triggers, filters and Formatter are free; actions are not). Model your volume in units, not in plans.
n8n vs Zapier: what the same workflows cost
Cost model at three shapes, using published October 2026 prices (Zapier annual
rates; n8n cloud annual rates in euros):
| Monthly shape | Billable units | Zapier (Pro, annual) | n8n Cloud | n8n self-hosted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-step flow × 500 runs | 500 tasks / 500 executions | $19.99 (750-task tier; Free caps at 100) | €20 Starter | $0 + ~$5–15 server |
| 5-step flow × 1,000 runs | 5,000 tasks / 1,000 executions | $89 (5,000-task tier) | €20 Starter | $0 + server |
| 10-step flow × 2,000 runs | 20,000 tasks / 2,000 executions | $189 (20,000-task tier) | €20 Starter (tight vs 2,500 cap) | $0 + server |
| One 5-min poller, 2 steps | ~17,280 tasks / 8,640 executions | Between $129 and $189 | Pro €50 | $0 + server |
The pattern is consistent: step count is free on n8n and expensive on Zapier.
A 10-step Zap at 2,000 runs a month is $189/mo on Zapier; the identical logic on
self-hosted n8n is the same server bill you already had. Zapier's answer is that
most of its steps are not billable (filters, Paths, Formatter, failures), so real
burn runs lower than raw step math — but multi-step, high-frequency workflows are
exactly what Zapier prices out of reach first.
n8n's fine print: at the execution cap on Starter or Pro, runs fail immediately
rather than queue, and counters reset on the calendar month, not your billing date.
Business is the only tier with a published overage (~€4,000 per extra 300,000
executions). n8n prices in euros only; dollar quotes vary by tracker.
The AI agent angle
- n8n: the AI Agent node, MCP server/client, human-approval steps and LangChain-style tools are in every cloud plan (Starter ~1,600 assistant credits/ mo, Pro up to 9,600); self-hosted you bring your own model keys. Agent loops cost tokens, not steps — 40 tool calls = 1 execution.
- Zapier: AI steps consume tasks, Agents and Chatbots are separate add-ons (free band a few hundred activities/mo, paid Agents roughly $33/mo annual), and agent-heavy Zaps multiply task burn. AI pricing churned again in 2026, so price the live page.
If 2026's thesis is "everyone is shipping agents," n8n's flat per-run model is the
cheaper place to learn; Zapier's is the safer place to start when nobody on the
team can read a stack trace.
Where n8n wins
- Economics at scale: $0 marginal cost per run when self-hosted; the gap against Zapier's $189–289/mo mid-tiers is a server and a Sunday afternoon.
- Depth: full JavaScript/Python in every node, custom nodes, HTTP/GraphQL steps, bash in self-hosted, queue mode and multi-instance scaling.
- Data control: credentials and payloads stay inside your infrastructure — a hard requirement in healthcare, fintech and EU-only processing.
- Unlimited users: every n8n plan includes unlimited users and workflows; Zapier seats are fine until Team governance becomes the requirement.
Where Zapier wins
- Zero operations: no server, no upgrades, no backups, no 03:00 pages — the entire cost argument for self-hosting evaporates if you would outsource ops anyway.
- App breadth: 9,000+ governed integrations versus ~400 n8n nodes; the connector you need almost certainly exists.
- Gentler billing edge cases: failed steps do not bill, and overage runs at about 1.25× base rate instead of hard-failing the way capped n8n cloud plans do.
- Team features and trial: 25 seats, shared connections and SAML SSO at $69/mo annual; a 14-day trial with no card, versus n8n's no-card cloud trial of unstated length.
Who should pick what
Pick n8n if…
- You are a developer, or have one who can own a Docker container.
- Volume is growing — polling every 5 minutes is ~8,600 executions/mo, and self-hosting turns that from a pricing problem into a non-event.
- You want AI agent loops, MCP, or custom code inside workflows without per-step billing.
- Data residency matters, or "unlimited executions" is worth more to you than "never touch a server."
Pick Zapier if…
- Nobody on the team will ever call themselves technical.
- You need obscure or enterprise apps — the 9,000+ catalog is the safety net.
- Your workload is light: under ~750 tasks/mo, $19.99 (or the free 100-task tier for 2-step flows) beats any server.
- You are already on it: migrating costs more than the price gap below about 1,000 actions a month.
Model your volume first if…
- You are above 5,000 tasks/month: count action steps per run before choosing. Zapier's slider repriced this category repeatedly in the last year, and n8n's calendar-month execution caps punish late-month overruns on Starter and Pro.
The bottom line
Nobody regrets starting on Zapier's free tier, and nobody stays past 100 tasks.
Count the action steps in your three busiest workflows: under ~750 tasks/mo,
Zapier Professional at $19.99 is a fair convenience tax; in the thousands — or if
you refuse to pay per step — spin up n8n's Docker image this weekend and watch the
licence column read $0. Prices re-read from n8n.io and zapier.com on October 4,
2026; n8n bills in euros and Zapier's AI add-ons move often.
Verdict: n8n for technical teams and AI agents; Zapier for no-code speed and app coverage
Self-hosted n8n wins the spreadsheet ($0, unlimited executions, AI agent nodes
included) and Zapier wins the shopping list (9,000+ apps, failure-free billing, no
server). At 5,000+ tasks a month the gap is $89–189/mo versus a $5–15 VPS; under
750 tasks it is $19.99 versus your weekend. Pick by who builds the workflows, not
by who signs the invoice.
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