n8n vs Zapier (2026): Price, Self-Host, Which Wins

The n8n vs Zapier question usually comes down to one trade-off: Zapier is the easiest way to connect thousands of apps without touching code, while n8n gives you more control, self-hosting and pricing that does not climb with every step. Both now pitch themselves as AI automation platforms with agents and MCP, so the choice matters more than it did a few years ago.

I rechecked official pricing on November 7, 2026 on n8n's pricing page and Zapier's pricing page. Euro and dollar figures below are the list prices those pages showed that day; they change often, so confirm before you pay. This guide covers pricing, free options, executions vs tasks, self-hosting and privacy, AI agents and MCP, migration tips and a verdict for each type of user.

Quick answer: Pick Zapier if you want the fastest no-code setup and the biggest app catalog (Free at $0 for 100 tasks/month; Professional from $19.99/mo billed annually). Pick n8n if you want self-hosting, code when you need it, or long multi-step workflows that should not multiply your bill (Community Edition free to self-host; Cloud Starter 20€/mo billed annually). For privacy-sensitive or EU data needs, n8n Cloud stores hosted data in Frankfurt, and self-hosted n8n keeps everything on your servers. For AI agents and MCP with deeper control, lean n8n; for dropping an AI step into everyday SaaS workflows, Zapier is quicker.

At a glance

What are n8n and Zapier?

Zapier is a hosted, no-code automation platform. You build "Zaps" (a trigger plus one or more actions) across more than 9,000 apps. The same account also covers Tables, Forms, Canvas, Agents, Chatbots and Zapier MCP for connecting Zapier actions to AI chat tools. Pricing is built around a shared task pool.

n8n is a workflow automation tool with a visual node editor. You can use n8n Cloud or run the free, self-hosted Community Edition from GitHub. It leans toward technical users: you can drop in custom JavaScript or Python, call any API and build AI agents in the same canvas. If APIs are new to you, our explainer on what an API is helps here. Understanding a URL and how webhooks work also makes both tools easier.

n8n pricing (verified November 2026)

n8n's pricing page says every plan includes unlimited users, unlimited workflows and every integration. Pricing is based on monthly workflow executions, regardless of how many steps a workflow has. Prices below are billed annually:

• Starter: 20€/month, hosted by n8n. Includes 1 shared project, 5 concurrent executions, Agents, MCP and AI nodes, 1,600 Assistant credits per month, AI models without API keys and forum support.
• Pro: 50€/month, hosted by n8n. Everything in Starter, plus 3 shared projects, up to 50 concurrent executions, 7 days of insights, up to 9,600 Assistant credits per month, admin roles, metric-based evaluations and workflow history.
• Business: 667€/month, currently self-hosted (not Cloud). Aimed at companies with under 100 employees. Adds SSO and LDAP, 30 days of insights, multiple environments, queue mode for scaling and Git version control. A Startup offer gives 50% off Business for companies under 20 employees.
• Enterprise: custom pricing, Cloud or self-hosted. Adds higher concurrency (200+), longer insights retention, log streaming, external secret store and dedicated support with an SLA.

Community Edition is free to self-host from GitHub. You handle your own server, updates, backups and security.

Cloud trial: n8n Cloud trials need no credit card. The trial gives Pro-level features with limits such as 1,000 executions, 5 concurrent executions, a short execution timeout and 1 team project, plus a smaller Assistant credit pool. Business plan free trials are separate and do require a credit card for that path.

The pricing tables also list plan limits such as max saved executions (for example 2.5k on Starter and 25k on Pro), storage and retention windows. Those are history caps, not a substitute for checking the live page for the production execution quota on the plan size you pick. n8n's FAQ explains that an execution is one full run of a workflow from start to finish, no matter how many steps or how much data it processes.

Zapier pricing (verified November 2026)

Zapier's pricing page lists four main platform plans. Annual billing saves about 33% versus monthly:

• Free: $0. 100 tasks per month, two-step Zaps, unlimited Zaps, Tables and Forms, plus Zapier Copilot with a daily message limit.
• Professional: from $19.99/month billed annually ($29.99 billed monthly) for 750 tasks. Multi-step Zaps, unlimited premium apps, webhooks, email and live chat support at higher task tiers, AI fields and conditional form logic.
• Team: from $69/month billed annually ($103.50 billed monthly) for 2,000 tasks, up to 25 users, shared Zaps and folders, shared app connections, SAML SSO and priority support.
• Enterprise: custom. Unlimited users, advanced admin permissions, observability, annual task limits and a Technical Account Manager at set thresholds.

You pick a plan and a task tier. Prices rise with volume (for example, Professional at higher task tiers costs more than the 750-task entry price). Paid plans can enable pay-per-task overage so Zaps keep running after you hit the included limit; overage is charged at a higher per-task rate than the base subscription.

Agents and Chatbots are separate add-ons, not the same pool as workflow tasks:

• Agents Free: 400 activities/month. Agents Pro: about $33.33/month ($400 billed annually) for 1,500 activities. Enterprise Agents are custom.
• Chatbots Free: up to 2 chatbots. Chatbots Pro: about $13.33/month ($160 billed annually). Advanced and Custom tiers cost more.

Zapier MCP is available on accounts; one MCP tool call uses two tasks from your plan quota. The Zapier SDK was free while in beta when we checked; Zapier says it will notify users before beta pricing changes.

Executions vs tasks: a concrete example

This is the part that decides the bill for heavy automation.

Zapier counts a task when a Zap successfully completes an action step. Triggers do not count. Built-in tools such as Filter, Formatter, Paths, Delay, Looping and several Zapier data tools also do not count as tasks. Standard successful actions usually cost 1 task each. AI steps, code and connectors can use more than one task depending on model tier and complexity. An MCP tool call example on Zapier's FAQ uses 2 tasks.

n8n counts one execution when a workflow runs from start to finish. Step count does not multiply the bill. A 3-step run and a 30-step run are still one execution each.

Example: A lead workflow receives a form entry, enriches the contact, writes to a CRM, posts to Slack and sends a confirmation email. After the trigger there are four successful actions.

• On Zapier that is about 4 tasks per run (more if you add AI enrichment or MCP calls).
• On n8n that is 1 execution per run.

If that Zap runs 1,000 times in a month, Zapier uses roughly 4,000 tasks (Professional's entry tier is only 750 tasks; you would need a much higher tier or overage). n8n uses 1,000 executions. The longer and more branched your workflows get, the more this gap favors n8n. Short two-step Zaps on Zapier's Free plan can still be the cheaper day-to-day choice.

Free options compared

Zapier Free is the better free hosted path: 100 tasks/month, two-step Zaps, unlimited Zaps/Tables/Forms. Good for light personal automations and learning the product. New accounts also get a 14-day Professional trial with no credit card.

n8n Community Edition is free software you host yourself. There is no Zapier-style free Cloud tier with ongoing monthly executions; n8n Cloud is paid after the trial. Community Edition is powerful if you can run Docker or a VPS, but you own ops: updates, TLS, backups, scaling and monitoring.

Quick pick:

• Want free and zero servers? Start on Zapier Free.
• Want free and full power with your own hardware? Use n8n Community Edition.
• Want hosted n8n without ops? Use the Cloud trial, then Starter or Pro.

Self-hosting, privacy and EU data

This is the clearest product difference.

Zapier is cloud-only. You cannot self-host Zapier. That is fine for most SaaS teams; it is a blocker for some regulated environments.

n8n can be:

• Self-hosted for free on the Community Edition
• Self-hosted paid on Business (and Enterprise)
• Hosted by n8n on Starter, Pro and Enterprise Cloud

For hosted n8n plans, n8n's pricing FAQ states that data is stored within the EU on servers in Frankfurt, Germany. For self-hosted plans, data stays wherever you deploy. That matters for GDPR-minded teams and anyone who wants credentials and payload data inside their own VPC.

Trade-offs of self-hosting: you get control and often lower cost at volume, but you become responsible for uptime, upgrades, worker scaling (queue mode appears on Business/Enterprise) and security hardening. Business and Enterprise self-hosted licenses ping n8n's license server to stay active and report production execution usage.

Integrations and custom APIs

Zapier advertises 9,000+ app connections, the bigger catalog by a wide margin, especially for niche SaaS tools. Premium apps sit on paid plans. Webhooks unlock custom hooks without a dedicated app.

n8n includes all of its integration nodes on every plan. Its HTTP Request node and code steps (JavaScript/Python) let you reach almost any service that has an API, even without a ready-made node. Developers who already live in tools like the ones in our Cursor alternatives and Replit alternatives roundups usually prefer that flexibility. If you need a common app with zero setup, Zapier probably has it. If you need a custom or internal API, n8n handles it more flexibly.

Make.com is another popular Zapier alternative with scenario-based pricing; I mention it only as a third option if neither n8n's node model nor Zapier's Zap builder feels right. This article stays focused on n8n vs Zapier.

AI agents, MCP and Assistant credits

Both platforms have invested heavily in AI automation.

n8n includes an AI Agent node, AI steps, an MCP Server Trigger and MCP client support, hosted/embedded chat, human approval for tool calls and an AI Assistant with monthly credits (1,600 on Starter; up to 9,600 on Pro depending on plan size). Starter also lists "AI models without API keys." Pro adds metric-based evaluations for testing AI workflows. On self-hosted setups, Assistant is available in preview with your own key (BYOK), so credit limits do not apply the same way.

Zapier offers Agents (your own AI assistants billed on activities), Chatbots (separate chatbot tiers), AI steps inside Zaps, Zapier MCP for adding Zapier actions to AI chat tools and a Zapier SDK for coding agents. AI steps, code and SDK now follow the same task-based pricing model as regular Zap actions, which keeps the shared task pool simpler to understand—but AI-heavy Zaps can burn tasks faster.

If you are building agents that call models like the ones in our ChatGPT vs Claude, Google Gemini vs ChatGPT and Perplexity vs ChatGPT comparisons, n8n gives finer control over prompts, memory and tool calls in one canvas. Zapier is quicker for putting an AI step into an everyday business workflow or exposing actions to a chat client via MCP.

The model you call also drives running costs outside the automation platform. Our Claude pricing guide and Claude Code pricing break down Anthropic rates, and DeepSeek vs ChatGPT covers a lower-cost option for high-volume workflows. If your team already keeps docs and tasks in Notion, our Notion AI review covers its built-in AI features. Image or creative workflows sometimes sit next to automation too; see Midjourney alternatives if that is part of your stack. Developers comparing agentic coding IDEs may also find Windsurf vs Cursor useful context for how they orchestrate tools.

Ease of use

Zapier is easier for beginners. Its step-by-step builder, templates and Copilot mean most people can get a working Zap in minutes. Polling intervals get faster on paid plans (for example 15 minutes on Free vs 2 minutes on Professional and 1 minute on Team/Enterprise, per Zapier's feature table).

n8n's canvas is visual too, but concepts like JSON data, expressions and branching come up quickly. Developers tend to see that as a plus; non-technical users often need more onboarding. The built-in Assistant and templates help. If your team already uses AI coding tools day to day, n8n's code nodes feel natural. If your team is marketing or ops with little engineering time, Zapier usually ships value sooner.

How to migrate or switch

Moving from Zapier to n8n (or the other way) is rarely one-click. Plan for rebuild time.

1. Inventory active Zaps/workflows. Note triggers, apps, filters and monthly run volume.
2. Map billing. Convert Zapier tasks (runs × action steps) into n8n executions (runs only), or the reverse.
3. Check every app. Confirm a native Zapier app or an n8n node exists; otherwise plan HTTP/webhook work.
4. Rebuild critical paths first. Start with high-volume or revenue-critical flows, not every Zap on day one.
5. Run both in parallel briefly. Compare outputs before you turn the old automation off.
6. Move credentials carefully. Rotate API keys after the cutover when practical.
7. Decide hosting early. If you need self-host or EU-only storage, choose n8n Cloud (Frankfurt) or self-hosted before you invest in complex Cloud-only Zapier features.

Going Zapier → n8n often saves money at high volume. Going n8n → Zapier often saves time when a non-technical team inherits the stack.

How to choose: a simple process

1. List your apps. Check that each one is supported, or has an API you can reach.
2. Estimate monthly runs and steps. Multiply runs by action steps to estimate Zapier tasks. For n8n, count runs only.
3. Decide on hosting and data residency. If data has to stay in-house or you prefer EU-hosted automation, choose n8n.
4. Check who will maintain it. No developer on the team points to Zapier. Strong engineering support points to n8n.
5. Factor AI separately. Zapier Agents/Chatbots are add-ons; n8n folds agents and MCP into the workflow plans with Assistant credits.
6. Trial both. Zapier Free plus a 14-day Professional trial; n8n Cloud trial with no credit card, or Community Edition on a test server.

Verdict by user type

• Freelancers and small business owners with no coding background: Zapier Free or Professional.
• Marketing and ops teams using many SaaS tools: Zapier Team, for collaboration, shared connections and app coverage.
• Developers, agencies and technical founders: n8n Starter or Pro, or self-hosted Community Edition.
• AI agent builders who want canvas-level control: n8n (Agent node, MCP, evaluations).
• Teams that mainly want AI steps inside existing Zaps: Zapier, then add Agents/Chatbots only if needed.
• Regulated or data-sensitive companies: n8n Business or Enterprise, preferably self-hosted; or n8n Cloud in Frankfurt if managed hosting is enough.
• Tight budgets with technical skills: n8n Community Edition.
• Tight budgets with zero servers: Zapier Free, then Professional when you outgrow 100 tasks or two-step Zaps.

FAQ