Head-to-head comparison
Zapier is the safest default in automation. n8n is what teams move to when task pricing or data policy stops working for them.
If you have any technical capacity, n8n wins on cost and flexibility — unlimited executions and real code beat task quotas. Zapier remains the right pick for non-technical teams who need breadth immediately.
Try n8nFrom $19.99/mo
The most widely used automation platform: 6,000+ apps, linear Zaps, and onboarding that assumes no technical background.
Free self-hosted
Open-source, self-hostable automation with unlimited executions, full code nodes and first-class AI agent support.
| Feature | Zapier | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $19.99/mo per task tier | Free self-hosted |
| Free plan | 100 tasks/mo | Unlimited (self-hosted) |
| Integrations | 6,000+ apps | ~400 nodes + HTTP |
| Custom code | Code steps (limited) | Full JS/Python |
| Data control | Zapier cloud | Your infrastructure |
| Setup effort | Minutes | Server setup required |
| Best for | Non-technical teams | Developers, high volume |
Nobody on your team wants to touch a server, you need a long tail of niche app integrations, and your task volume is modest.
You can run a container, your automation volume is high, or you need customer data to stay inside your own infrastructure.
It's the strongest one for technical teams. You trade integration count and convenience for unlimited executions, custom code and data ownership.
At tens of thousands of tasks a month the difference is typically hundreds of dollars monthly — self-hosted n8n costs only the server it runs on.
Yes. The HTTP Request node can call any REST API, so any app with an API is reachable even without a dedicated node.
n8n Cloud is the managed option. It costs money but still tends to undercut Zapier at comparable volume.
