Short answer: n8n is open source and free to self-host with no workflow limit; Zapier and Make are closed SaaS platforms you pay per task or operation, with no self-hosting option at all. Which one fits depends less on price than on whether you are willing to run (and update) the server yourself.
n8n vs Zapier vs Make at a glance
| n8n | Zapier | Make | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-hostable | Yes (Docker, source-available licence) | No | No |
| Free tier | Community edition, self-hosted, unlimited workflows | Free plan: 100 tasks/month | Free plan: 1,000 operations/month |
| Pricing model (cloud) | Per execution, n8n Cloud plans | Per task — one action = one task | Per operation — each step counts |
| Open source | Yes (Sustainable Use Licence) | No | No |
| Visual builder | Node-based canvas | Linear, one step at a time | Node-based canvas |
| Custom code step | JavaScript/Python node, built in | Limited (Code step on paid plans) | Limited (custom functions on paid plans) |
| Integrations | 400+ built-in nodes + any HTTP API via the HTTP node | 7,000+ pre-built app integrations | 2,000+ pre-built app integrations |
| Best fit | Technical users who want full control and no per-task billing | Non-technical users, fastest to the first working zap | Users who want a visual canvas without self-hosting |
Is n8n free?
The self-hosted community edition is free with no limit on the number of workflows or executions — you only pay for the server it runs on. n8n also sells n8n Cloud, a hosted version with its own paid tiers, for people who want the software without running it themselves; the two are the same product, licensed differently depending on who hosts it. The self-hosted edition runs under the Sustainable Use Licence: free to use and modify, with one restriction — you cannot resell it as a competing hosted service.
Why the pricing models differ so much
Zapier and Make meter usage because they carry the infrastructure cost of running every customer’s workflows on their own servers — a “task” or “operation” is their unit for that cost, and it adds up fast on a workflow that runs often or touches many records in a loop. n8n’s self-hosted edition has no such meter because there is no shared infrastructure to meter: it runs on a server you already pay for by the month, flat, regardless of how many times a workflow fires.
That trade-off runs the other way too. Zapier and Make need no server, no updates and no uptime of your own — sign up and build the first zap in minutes. Self-hosted n8n needs a VPS, a Docker Compose file, and you restarting the container when a new version ships. The “free” in n8n’s self-hosted tier includes that ongoing maintenance, which a SaaS platform’s subscription price pays someone else to handle.
n8n vs its other alternatives
n8n sits closer to Make than to Zapier in how it looks — both use a node-based canvas where branches and loops are visible as lines on the screen, rather than Zapier’s single top-to-bottom list of steps. Where n8n pulls ahead of both is a built-in code node: a JavaScript (or Python) step inside the canvas itself, with no separate “code step” add-on or paid-plan gate, for logic the prebuilt nodes do not cover.
n8n vs Zapier specifically
- Integration count favors Zapier by a wide margin — roughly 7,000 app integrations against n8n’s few hundred built-in nodes. n8n closes most of the gap with its generic HTTP Request node, which can call any REST API directly, but that means configuring the API call yourself rather than picking an app from a list.
- Zapier is simpler to start with for someone who has never built an automation before — a linear trigger-then-action list with no server to think about.
- n8n scales in cost very differently — a workflow processing thousands of rows a day costs the same VPS bill whether it runs once or a thousand times; the same workload on Zapier’s task-based pricing grows with usage.
n8n vs Make specifically
- Both use a visual, node-based canvas — closer to each other than either is to Zapier’s linear builder, so the learning curve between them is shorter.
- Make has more built-in integrations (around 2,000) than n8n’s few hundred native nodes, though again n8n’s HTTP node narrows that for any service with a documented API.
- Make has no self-hosted option at all — if running your own infrastructure is the deciding factor, n8n is the only one of the three that offers it.
What self-hosting n8n actually needs
n8n runs comfortably on a small VPS — 1 vCPU and 2 GB RAM handles most personal and small-team workloads, with PostgreSQL recommended over the default SQLite once more than one workflow runs concurrently or the instance needs to survive a container restart without losing execution history.
The full setup — Docker Compose file, PostgreSQL, a reverse proxy with HTTPS and the environment variables n8n expects — is in self-hosting n8n on a VPS.
Which one to pick
Either way you decide to self-host n8n, the commands to manage the container day to day are the same ones in the Docker commands cheat sheet.
Frequently asked
Is n8n free?
The self-hosted community edition is free with no limit on workflows or executions — you only pay for the server. n8n also sells n8n Cloud, a hosted paid version, for people who would rather not run it themselves.
Is n8n better than Zapier?
It depends what you are optimizing for. Zapier has roughly 7,000 pre-built app integrations against n8n's few hundred, and needs no server at all. n8n has no per-task billing, a built-in code step, and runs on infrastructure you control — better for technical users with high-volume or code-heavy workflows.
What is the difference between n8n and Make?
Both use a visual, node-based canvas rather than Zapier's linear list of steps, so they feel more similar to each other. Make has more pre-built integrations and no self-hosting option; n8n can be self-hosted with no per-operation bill.
What server do I need to self-host n8n?
A small VPS handles most workloads — 1 vCPU and 2 GB RAM is enough to start, with PostgreSQL recommended over the default SQLite once more than one workflow runs at a time.