The short answer
Pick Zapier if
The people building automations are not developers, or the app you need exists only in Zapier's 9,000+ catalogue. It also costs less when most trigger events stop at a filter, since Zapier doesn't bill those runs.
Pick n8n if
Your workflows have several steps or run thousands of times a month, or the data has to stay in the EU or on your own network. Self-hosting it needs someone who will keep a Docker container patched.
| Zapier | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| Charged unit | task: one action step that completes | execution: one whole run, any number of steps |
| Free option | 100 tasks/mo two-step Zaps, 15-min polling | Community edition, self-hosted unlimited executions |
| Entry paid tier | Professional $19.99/mo annual 750 tasks · 1 user | Cloud Starter €20/mo annual 2,500 executions · unlimited users |
| 4 actions × 1,000 runs | 4,000 tasks Pro 5K tier, $89/mo annual | 1,000 executions Starter, €20/mo annual |
| Integrations | 9,000+ apps | 2,327 listed + HTTP Request for any API |
| Cloud data location | AWS, United States no EU-only option | Frankfurt, Germany or wherever you host it |
| Self-hosting | not available | Community edition free Business €667/mo for SSO, Git |
| Licence | proprietary service | Sustainable Use License (fair-code, internal use) |
| Blind spot | cost grows with every step | free edition can't share workflows or credentials |
Checked 8 October 2026 against zapier.com/pricing, Zapier's data privacy page, n8n.io/pricing, n8n.io/integrations and the n8n documentation. Annual billing unless stated. n8n prices in euros.
One run, counted two ways
Zapier counts a task each time an action step finishes. The trigger, filters, Formatter steps and steps that error cost nothing, as the Zapier pricing guide sets out. n8n's pricing page defines an execution as "a single run of your entire workflow. It doesn't matter how many steps are in the workflow or how much data it processes." Add a fifth action to a four-action Zap and its task count grows by a quarter, while the n8n count stays where it was.
Below, four workloads are priced on both clouds. Zapier tiers come from its task slider; n8n Cloud publishes two plans, Starter at 2,500 executions and Pro at 10,000.
| Workload | Zapier | n8n Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| New lead to a sheet 1 action, 440 runs/mo | 440 tasks Pro 750: $240/yr | 440 executions Starter: €240/yr |
| Customer onboarding 4 actions, 1,000 runs/mo | 4,000 tasks Pro 5K: $1,068/yr | 1,000 executions Starter: €240/yr |
| Order sync from a webhook 3 actions, 9,000 runs/mo | 27,000 tasks Pro 50K: $3,468/yr | 9,000 executions Pro: €600/yr |
| Inbox triage 5,000 emails, 1 in 50 passes a filter, 2 actions | 200 tasks Pro 750: $240/yr | 5,000 executions Pro: €600/yr |
The first row is a tie in round numbers, $240 against €240, which is about $268 at the European Central Bank rate of 1.1186 on 8 October 2026. From the second row on, n8n's flat count pulls ahead: the order sync costs more than five times as much on Zapier, which has no tier between 20,000 and 50,000 tasks, so 27,000 tasks land on the 50K tier. A 20K tier plus pay-per-task overage is the other way to buy it.
The last row goes the other way. n8n counts a run every time the trigger fires (for a webhook workflow, its pricing FAQ says the number of events "equals your daily executions"), so all 5,000 emails count even though 4,900 stop at the first IF node. Zapier bills only the 200 that pass its filter. Filters need a paid Zapier plan, so this one can't run on Free. If your automations watch a busy source and act on a small part of it, Zapier's unit is the cheaper one.
On Zapier, monthly billing costs more: the 5K tier is $133.50 a month against $89 on annual. n8n says annual billing saves 17%. n8n Starter also caps runs at 5 concurrent executions and 5 minutes each, and Pro raises that to 40 minutes.
What the free Community edition leaves out
Self-hosted n8n without a licence key is the Community edition, and n8n's edition comparison lists what it lacks: projects, sharing of workflows and credentials, SSO through SAML or LDAP, environments, Git version control, external secrets, log streaming, custom variables, and external storage for binary data. On sharing, the docs say "only the instance owner and the user who creates them can access workflows and credentials."
For one person, or a developer who builds everything, that list rarely matters. For a team of five who need to edit each other's workflows and reuse one Salesforce credential, it does. Registering the instance with an email unlocks folders, debug in editor and custom execution data, still free. Sharing comes with n8n Cloud, where Starter has 1 shared project and Pro has 3, or with the self-hosted Business plan at €667 a month billed annually for 40,000 executions. Companies under 20 employees can apply for 50% off Business, and executions past the quota are billed at €4,000 per 300,000. A Business licence key pings n8n's licence server daily and reports the production execution count.
The licence is free for internal use
n8n's code is published under the Sustainable Use License, which n8n calls fair-code. You may use and modify it "only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use." Files with .ee. in the name fall under a separate enterprise licence.
The licence FAQ is specific about client work. An agency can build automations for clients on its own instance, charge for setup and maintenance, and run n8n behind the scenes of its own product, as long as clients can't create or edit workflows. Hosting n8n so clients build their own workflows is out, even behind a custom interface, and so is white-labelling it. Zapier has no equivalent question: you pay per account, and there is nothing to install or resell.
Running n8n yourself
n8n recommends Docker, stores data in SQLite by default and supports PostgreSQL. Its Hetzner guide says the CPX11 server type "is enough" for most usage, and asks for at least 4 GB of RAM and 2 vCPUs if you add n8n Assistant, whose code sandbox runs Docker inside Docker. The cost model below assumes that 2 vCPU, 4 GB size. n8n's own benchmark puts a single instance at up to 220 workflow executions per second, so a small box runs out of memory long before it runs out of throughput. The docs name big JSON payloads, binary files and the Code node as the usual causes.
The Docker install page says n8n "releases a new minor version most weeks" (stable was 2.42.5 on 8 October 2026) and recommends self-hosting for expert users, warning that mistakes "can lead to data loss, security issues, and downtime." By default n8n deletes execution history older than 336 hours (14 days) and keeps at most 10,000 saved executions; both limits are environment variables.
Where the data goes
Zapier's data privacy page says it "hosts data in AWS servers located in the United States," and to the question of EU-only storage it answers "Zapier does not support this option." EU transfers rest on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clauses. Zap history is kept for 29 to 69 days, depending on where the month's first Monday falls; Enterprise can set 7 to 30.
n8n Cloud stores data in Frankfurt, according to its pricing FAQ. Self-hosted, workflows, credentials and execution history stay on the server you chose. n8n collects telemetry by default, and the pricing FAQ says you can switch it off.
Where Zapier is the better buy
The catalogue is the main reason. Zapier lists 9,000+ apps. n8n's directory lists 2,327, and anything else needs the HTTP Request node and someone who can read API documentation. Zapier also runs code: it has Code steps in JavaScript and Python, with public npm packages on paid plans, and a Free account can still run 10 code requests a minute. For a non-technical team running a few hundred tasks a month, $240 a year with no server and nobody on call is a fair price.
Frequently asked
Is n8n free?
The self-hosted Community edition is free, with unlimited workflows and executions, under the Sustainable Use License. It leaves out workflow and credential sharing, SSO and Git version control. n8n Cloud has no free plan: it starts with a 14-day trial capped at 1,000 executions, then Starter at €20 a month billed annually.
Is n8n cheaper than Zapier?
For multi-step workflows, yes. A four-action workflow that runs 1,000 times a month needs 4,000 Zapier tasks ($1,068 a year on annual billing) and 1,000 n8n executions (€240 a year on Cloud Starter). Zapier is cheaper when most trigger events stop at a filter, because filtered runs cost no tasks while n8n counts every run. Prices checked 8 October 2026.
Can Zapier be self-hosted?
No. Zapier runs only as its own cloud service, hosted on AWS in the United States, and it does not offer EU-only data storage. If the workflows must run on your own servers, n8n is the option of the two.
Can I use self-hosted n8n for client work?
Yes, within limits. n8n's licence FAQ allows building automations for clients on your own instance and charging for setup and maintenance, as long as clients cannot create or edit workflows. Letting clients build their own workflows on your instance, or white-labelling n8n, needs a commercial licence.
What self-hosting actually costs
One workflow, the onboarding row above: four actions, 1,000 runs a month, twelve months, server and hours included.
| Zapier Pro, 5K tasks | n8n Cloud Starter | n8n Community, self-hosted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence | $1,068/yr ($89/mo annual) | €240/yr (~$268) | $0 |
| Server | included | included | ~$72/yr (2 vCPU, 4 GB) |
| Your time | none | none | ~2 h setup + ~12 h/yr |
| Run ceiling | 5,000 tasks/mo | 2,500 executions/mo | your hardware |
| Year one | $1,068 | €240 | ~$72 + 14 hours |
Assumptions, so you can argue with them: a small VPS with 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM at about $6 a month, the size this site uses for every self-hosted tool; about two hours to install with Docker and an hour a month for updates and backup checks, and n8n's weekly releases make that hour a minimum. Euros are converted at the ECB rate of 1.1186 on 8 October 2026. Against Zapier, self-hosting is cheaper while your hour is worth less than about $71. Against n8n's own cloud the line is about $14 an hour, so most people who pick n8n to save money should start with Cloud Starter and self-host when the data or the volume demands it.