Can it do the exact job?
Check triggers, actions, available fields and awkward cases, not just app logos.
Zapier vs Make vs n8n: choose with a real workflow on the table.
Choose the platform that can run your actual workflow and that someone on your team can maintain. Zapier, Make and n8n count usage differently, so comparing the monthly price alone can mislead you. Start with one real job, map its awkward cases, then compare the total cost.
Same workflow. Three useful checks.
Use the same sample inputs to compare Zapier, Make and n8n.
What uses the allowance?
Model tasks, credits or executions for each route, including loops and retries.
Who keeps it working?
Include monitoring, recovery, changes and any hosting work in the decision.
Check your existing software before adding another platform
If your CRM already creates the reminder you need, a native feature may be the shortest route. A separate automation platform becomes useful when work needs to cross tools, transform information or follow rules your existing system cannot express.
Write down the trigger, required action and important exception. For example: “When a quote request arrives, update the correct CRM record, assign an owner and flag requests outside our service area.” That is specific enough to investigate.
Use these three profiles as a shortlist
These are directional choices to investigate, not a ranking or a claim that one product suits every business. Your exact integrations, plan and maintainer can change the decision.
| Platform | Why it might enter your shortlist | Check before committing |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier | A hosted workflow built around supported app triggers and actions. | The exact connector action, required plan and task rate for every chargeable step. |
| Make | A visual scenario with routes, filters and transformations. | How each route handles data and how credits grow with repeated operations. |
| n8n | A workflow needing flexible technical integration, with cloud and self-hosted options. | Who will build and maintain it; execution limits and the work involved in hosting. |
Tasks, credits and executions are different units
A task, a credit and an execution are different units. A plan with more units is not necessarily better value. Estimate the work your workflow performs, then translate it into each platform’s billing rules.
On Zapier’s current rate card, standard steps and AI steps can have different rates, while listed built-in tools use no tasks. Make charges credits for module actions, with exceptions such as routers and different rates for some AI features. n8n’s paid plans count workflow executions rather than individual steps. Check the linked rules before buying.
| Platform | Published billing unit | What to model |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Tasks, with rates that depend on the kind of step. | Map the rate for each step; include any AI model and tool-call charges. |
| Make | Credits consumed by actions within a scenario. | Count repeated actions, routes and loops. Check the rate of any AI feature. |
| n8n | Workflow executions on paid plans. | Count triggered and scheduled runs, then check concurrency and other plan limits. |
Zapier task rate cardMake credit-based pricingn8n execution-based pricing
Put the same sample through every serious contender
Fictional planning example: a business receives 100 quote requests a month. Sixty need a new contact, 30 match an existing contact, and ten lack the details needed for CRM entry. These numbers are invented to show the method; they are not a client result or a product benchmark.
For this example, the complete requests need a contact lookup and one record write. All requests notify an owner. Incomplete requests also create a manual follow-up task. Sketch those paths before trying to price them.
- List the exact trigger and action names you need in each app. Confirm available fields, not just the app logo.
- Try a new contact, an existing contact and a request missing a required field. Check that updates do not create duplicates.
- Test a temporary failure and retry. Confirm how the owner notices it and whether a repeated run repeats an external action.
- Estimate usage for each route, then add the platform plan, connected-app requirements and any separate AI or hosting costs.
- Ask the future maintainer to explain how they would change a rule and recover a failed run.
Turn the sample into a usage estimate
Under those assumptions, the workflow performs the actions below. We count one action for each lookup, write, notification or manual-task creation. Receiving the enquiry is outside this simple action count; add the relevant trigger or polling usage for each platform.
The total is 290 action invocations. It is not a quote for 290 Zapier tasks or 290 Make credits: the chosen modules, built-in tools and rates determine the bill. For a single n8n workflow triggered once per enquiry, the starting estimate is 100 executions before extra runs. This example excludes AI, retries, sub-workflows and scheduled polling.
Now replace these assumptions with a small, synthetic test on your chosen plan and inspect its usage log. If an enquiry is delivered twice or an API needs several requests to find a contact, the count can change. Price the observed workflow, not the diagram.
| Action | How often it runs | Monthly action count |
|---|---|---|
| Look up a contact | Once for each complete request | 60 + 30 = 90 |
| Create or update the contact | Create 60; update 30 | 60 + 30 = 90 |
| Notify the owner | Once for every request | 100 |
| Create a manual follow-up task | Once for each incomplete request | 10 |
| Total before intake and extras | 90 + 90 + 100 + 10 | 290 |
Estimate costs and break-even time with the worksheetKeep CRM exceptions visible
Self-hosting is an operating decision
n8n offers both cloud hosting and self-hosted editions. If you self-host, the server becomes part of your workflow’s operating cost. The hosting documentation covers installation, configuration, monitoring and updates; a successful installation is only the beginning.
Someone must own updates, backups, monitoring and recovery. If that is an outside provider, include the service in your comparison. If it is you, include your time and your ability to respond when something breaks.
Choosing a server location also does not, by itself, settle every data-handling question. The workflow may still send information to connected apps or model providers. Trace where it actually goes.
Choose the version your team can operate
A useful first release has a visible owner, understandable rules and a clear failure path. Ask for a short handover that shows where credentials are managed, how to pause the workflow and what a normal run looks like.
There is no need to adopt a platform for every future possibility. Pick the one that fits the tested workflow and its ownership model today. Expand when the next job gives you a reason.
Sources
Bring the workflow, not just the shortlist
Tell us which apps you use, what should trigger the work and what needs to happen next. We can help test the fit before you build around a platform.
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