n8n vs Zapier: Pricing, Limits and Which One to Choose

n8n vs Zapier comes down to how you pay and who builds. Zapier charges per task, meaning each successful action step, and suits non technical teams who want an app connected today. n8n charges per workflow run, whatever the number of steps, can be self hosted for free, and suits teams with a developer and long or high volume workflows.

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Both tools do the same basic job: when something happens in one app (a form is filled, an invoice is paid, an email lands), they run a chain of steps in other apps. The differences that matter are the billing unit, hosting, the licence and how much code you are willing to touch. This guide works through each one with numbers from the official pages as of November 2026.

What is n8n used for?

n8n is used to automate business workflows that connect apps, APIs and AI models, for example routing new leads into a CRM, syncing orders to accounting, summarising support tickets with a language model, or running an AI agent that calls internal tools. n8n can run on n8n's own cloud or on a server you control, which is why teams with strict data rules pick it.

n8n's integrations directory lists more than 2,600 integrations, and anything with an HTTP API can be called directly. If a REST API exists, n8n can usually talk to it even without a ready made node. Data moves between steps as JSON, so someone who can read JSON gets far more out of n8n than someone who cannot.

What is Zapier used for?

Zapier is used to connect everyday business apps with no code automations called Zaps, for example posting new Typeform answers to Slack, adding Shopify customers to a mailing list, or creating a task when an email is starred. Zapier's app directory lists more than 10,000 apps, and its setup screens are built for people who have never written code.

Zapier now also sells AI products on top of Zaps: Agents (AI assistants that do work across your connected apps), Copilot (an assistant that builds Zaps from a plain English description), Tables, Forms and chatbots. Per the Zapier pricing page, every plan includes basic access to Agents, with a separate activity allowance and paid add ons for more.

How does n8n pricing compare to Zapier pricing?

n8n pricing is based on workflow executions and Zapier pricing is based on tasks, and that single difference decides most cost comparisons. As of November 2026:

• n8n Starter: 20 euros a month billed annually for 2,500 workflow executions, 5 concurrent executions, hosted by n8n.

• n8n Pro: 50 euros a month billed annually for 10,000 executions.

• n8n Business: 667 euros a month billed annually for 40,000 executions, self hosted only, with SSO and Git version control.

• n8n Community edition: free, self hosted from GitHub, with no execution plan to buy. You pay only for your server.

• Zapier Free: 100 tasks a month, two step Zaps only.

• Zapier Professional: from 19.99 dollars a month billed annually (29.99 dollars monthly) for 750 tasks, rising to 49 dollars for 2,000 tasks and 89 dollars for 5,000 tasks.

• Zapier Team: from 69 dollars a month billed annually for 2,000 tasks, with up to 25 seats.

The n8n figures come from the n8n pricing page, which also says every plan includes unlimited users, unlimited workflows and every integration. The Zapier figures come from the Zapier pricing page. Note that n8n quotes in euros and Zapier in US dollars.

What is the difference between a Zapier task and an n8n execution?

A Zapier task is one successful action step, while an n8n execution is one complete run of a whole workflow. The Zapier help article on task usage says triggers never use tasks, and neither do Filter or Paths steps, Formatter, Delay or steps that error. Every successful action does. Its own example: a Gmail trigger followed by a Dropbox action and a Slack action uses 2 tasks per run.

n8n defines an execution as "a single run of your entire workflow," and says it does not matter how many steps the workflow has or how much data it processes. So a workflow with 3 actions and one with 30 actions cost the same on n8n, while on Zapier the 30 action one uses ten times as many tasks per run.

Two details worth knowing before you sign up:

• Zapier overage: when you pass your task limit on a paid plan, Zapier can switch you to pay per task billing for the rest of the period, at 1.25 times the base rate on annual plans and 2.5 times on monthly plans. Usage stops at 3 times your subscription. If you turn this off, Zaps stop when you hit the limit.

• Zapier change on 1 December 2026: the help article says that from that date, Next Gen Zaps use at least 1 task for every completed run, even runs that only filter or format.

A worked cost example (hypothetical)

Take a hypothetical lead routing workflow: a web form submission triggers it, then it enriches the lead, writes it to the CRM and posts a Slack alert. That is 1 trigger and 3 actions, and it runs 1,500 times a month.

• On Zapier: 3 actions times 1,500 runs is 4,500 tasks a month. That fits the 5,000 task Professional tier at 89 dollars a month billed annually.

• On n8n cloud: 1,500 executions a month fits the Starter plan at 20 euros a month billed annually.

• On n8n self hosted: the software is free; your cost is a small server plus the time someone spends keeping it patched and backed up.

Now add an AI step that summarises each lead. On Zapier that is a fourth action, so 6,000 tasks, which pushes you past the 5,000 tier. On n8n it is still 1,500 executions. The longer your workflows get, the wider the gap grows. The reverse is also true: for a two step Zap that runs a few hundred times a month, Zapier's 750 task tier at 19.99 dollars is roughly the same price as n8n Starter and needs no setup at all.

Is n8n free and open source?

n8n Community edition is free to self host, but n8n is not open source in the strict sense. The n8n licence on GitHub is the Sustainable Use License, which lets you use and modify n8n only for your own internal business purposes, or for personal and non commercial use. The plain reading is that running n8n for your own company is fine, while selling n8n itself, or giving it to others for commercial purposes, is not.

The n8n editions comparison says you can stay on the free Community edition indefinitely, but it leaves out several team features: projects, shared workflows and credentials, SSO, environments, external secrets, log streaming and Git version control. On Community edition only the instance owner and the person who created a workflow can see it. For one technical owner that is fine; for a team of ten builders it gets painful.

Which is better for AI agents, n8n or Zapier?

n8n is the stronger choice for AI agents you design yourself, and Zapier is easier for agents that mostly act inside common SaaS apps. The n8n AI Agent node lets you connect a chat model and one or more tools, and the agent decides which tools to call. You choose the model, the memory, the tools and the order of checks, and you can mix agent steps with ordinary code and API calls in one workflow.

Zapier Agents are built from a description with Copilot's help and can work across the same apps your Zaps use. They are billed in activities, not tasks: per the Zapier pricing page, the free Agents tier includes 400 activities a month and the Agents Pro add on (from about 33 dollars a month billed annually) includes 1,500. A single run is capped at 10 activities on the free tier and 40 on paid tiers before the agent asks to continue. Activities do not come out of your task allowance.

If the agent needs to answer from your own documents, both tools can call a retrieval step, but the design work is the same either way; see our plain guide to RAG for what that step involves. For agents that drive a browser rather than an API, read how AI browser automation works.

When should you choose Zapier?

Choose Zapier when the people building automations are not developers, the workflows are short, and speed matters more than cost per run. Zapier also means nothing to host or patch.

• Your team is in sales, marketing or operations and nobody writes code.

• Most Zaps are 2 to 4 steps and run hundreds, not tens of thousands, of times a month.

• You want built in Tables, Forms and chatbots without stitching tools together.

• You need an app that n8n does not have a node for and you do not want to call its API by hand.

When should you choose n8n?

Choose n8n when someone on the team is comfortable with APIs and JSON, the workflows are long or high volume, or the data has to stay on servers you control.

• Workflows have many steps, loops or AI calls, so per task billing would add up fast.

• You handle personal, health or financial data and want it on your own infrastructure.

• You are building AI agents with custom tools and approval steps.

• You have, or can rent, someone to own the server, updates and backups if you self host.

A simple rule: count the action steps in your three most used workflows and multiply by monthly runs. If that number is under a few thousand and nobody technical will maintain it, start on Zapier. If it is in the tens of thousands, or the data is sensitive, start on n8n. Many teams run both: Zapier for quick departmental glue, n8n for the core processes.

When do you outgrow both?

You outgrow both n8n and Zapier when the workflow becomes the product: it needs its own user interface, complex permissions, strict audit trails, or response times measured in milliseconds. At that point a custom service is often cheaper to run and easier to test than a 60 node workflow nobody wants to touch. Our article on when custom AI beats off the shelf SaaS covers that decision, and if you sell online, the comparison of AI automation platforms for D2C brands shows where Shopify Flow fits alongside Zapier and n8n. AISmith builds both kinds of systems as part of its AI agent and automation work.

Key takeaways

• Zapier bills per successful action (task); n8n bills per full workflow run (execution), however many steps it has.

• As of November 2026, n8n cloud starts at 20 euros a month for 2,500 executions and Zapier Professional at 19.99 dollars a month for 750 tasks, both billed annually.

• n8n Community edition is free to self host under the Sustainable Use License, which allows internal business use but not reselling n8n.

• Zapier is faster for non technical teams and short workflows; n8n is cheaper for long, high volume or AI heavy workflows.

• From 1 December 2026, Zapier's Next Gen Zaps use at least 1 task per completed run.

Frequently asked questions

Is n8n cheaper than Zapier?

n8n is usually cheaper than Zapier for workflows with many steps, because n8n charges per run and Zapier charges per action. For short two step automations at low volume, the entry plans cost about the same. Self hosting n8n removes the licence cost but adds server and maintenance time.

Can I self host Zapier?

No. Zapier is a hosted service only. If you need automations to run on your own servers, n8n Community edition or the n8n Business and Enterprise plans are the options among these two.

Is n8n hard to learn?

n8n is harder to learn than Zapier if you have never worked with APIs, because you see the raw data passing between steps. People who can read JSON usually find it quick to pick up, and the visual editor means simple workflows need no code.

Can I move my Zaps to n8n?

n8n has no official import from Zapier, so in practice each Zap is rebuilt as an n8n workflow. Start with the Zaps that use the most tasks, since those give the biggest saving, and keep the rest on Zapier until they are worth moving.

Do Zapier triggers count as tasks?

No. According to Zapier's help centre, triggers never use tasks, and neither do Filter, Paths, Formatter or Delay steps. Other successful action steps each use a task, and Zapier MCP tool calls use 2 tasks each. From 1 December 2026, every completed Next Gen Zap run uses at least 1 task, even if it only filters or formats.