The software is free with no execution cap. Infrastructure cost is Not published by vendor (only a single secondary source so far). Self-hosting costs less than the lowest verified price (Make, $29.00/mo) only if your server plus your time costs less than that.
The catch, per option
Zapier — Professional 20,000 tasks
Overage: Pay-per-task is on (on by default for accounts created after January 2024; older accounts may need to opt in). Overage rate not published (charged at a higher per-task rate than plan tasks). Zaps stop at 3× your plan's task limit (plan + pay-per-task). On this plan that is 60,000 tasks. Never used to rank.
Every successful billable action is a task; triggers and built-in steps (Filter/Formatter/Path) cost 0 tasks.
Free is two-step only (trigger + 1 action, no built-in steps, no webhooks).
Standard actions use 1 task. AI model tier, code runtime and connector type affect how many tasks an action uses. One MCP tool call uses two tasks. Extended Code runtime (off by default, not on Free) beyond the included runtime uses 1 task per 30-second block.
Verified price without overage: next tier that covers the volume ($189.00/mo). With pay-per-task: overage rate not published (staying on the 10,000-task plan means paying for 10,000 extra tasks, cap 30,000 tasks), so no total is shown.
Make — Core 40,000 credits
Overage: Scenarios stop at the credit limit; upgrade, buy extra credits or go Enterprise.
provisional Core 20,000 credits + 5,000 extra credits (manual purchase, units of 1,000 credits) would be about $21.00/mo against $29.00/mo for the next tier. Not ranked. Assumption: Make does not state which per-credit price the 25% is added to on annual plans. Assumed: the annual plan's own per-credit price (annual price per month divided by the plan's credits). Auto-purchase instead (units of 10,000 credits, capped at the plan's credit count): 10,000 extra credits, about $26.00/mo. Make doesn't publish a limit on manual purchases. Very large top-ups may be cheaper on a higher plan. Make doesn't publish a per-credit price; totals may differ by a few cents from Make's checkout.
1 credit per module action including the trigger read; Router and error handlers are free and are not entered (1 trigger + 4 billable actions per run).
When credits run out, scenarios stop; unused credits expire.
Same volume on Pro: $53.00/mo; Teams: $99.00/mo.
n8n Cloud — Pro-1
One execution = one whole workflow run, so step count does not change the price.
No auto-overage on Starter/Pro-1: upgrade or one-time reset.
Priced in EUR; converted with the exchange rate you set.
Affiliate disclosure. We may earn a commission if you sign up to Make through our buttons. Zapier and n8n pay us nothing (n8n application pending). We never rank by commission: the lowest verified price comes first, whether or not it pays us.
Workload in each vendor's unit: 20,000 Zapier tasks · 25,000 Make credits · 5,000 n8n executions per month.
Ranked options
Lowest verified price: Make Core 40,000 credits at $29.00/mo.
#
Option
Plan
Monthly
Annual (12-mo TCO)
24-mo TCO
1
Make
Core 40,000 credits
$29.00
$348.00
$696.00
2
n8n Cloud
Pro-1
$56.04
$672.48
$1,344.96
3
Zapier
Professional 20,000 tasks
$189.00
$2,268.00
$4,536.00
Self-hosted n8n Community is free software; infrastructure and time are not included.
Tax
Amounts exclude VAT/sales tax.
The catch, per tool
Zapier: Pay-per-task is on (on by default for accounts created after January 2024; older accounts may need to opt in). Overage rate not published (charged at a higher per-task rate than plan tasks). Zaps stop at 3× your plan's task limit (plan + pay-per-task). On this plan that is 60,000 tasks. Never used to rank. Every successful billable action is a task; triggers and built-in steps (Filter/Formatter/Path) cost 0 tasks. Free is two-step only (trigger + 1 action, no built-in steps, no webhooks). Standard actions use 1 task. AI model tier, code runtime and connector type affect how many tasks an action uses. One MCP tool call uses two tasks. Extended Code runtime (off by default, not on Free) beyond the included runtime uses 1 task per 30-second block. Verified price without overage: next tier that covers the volume ($189.00/mo). With pay-per-task: overage rate not published (staying on the 10,000-task plan means paying for 10,000 extra tasks, cap 30,000 tasks), so no total is shown.
Make: Scenarios stop at the credit limit; upgrade, buy extra credits or go Enterprise. Provisional: Core 20,000 credits + 5,000 extra credits (manual purchase, units of 1,000 credits) would be about $21.00/mo against $29.00/mo for the next tier. Not ranked. Assumption: Make does not state which per-credit price the 25% is added to on annual plans. Assumed: the annual plan's own per-credit price (annual price per month divided by the plan's credits). Auto-purchase instead (units of 10,000 credits, capped at the plan's credit count): 10,000 extra credits, about $26.00/mo. Make doesn't publish a limit on manual purchases. Very large top-ups may be cheaper on a higher plan. Make doesn't publish a per-credit price; totals may differ by a few cents from Make's checkout. 1 credit per module action including the trigger read; Router and error handlers are free and are not entered (1 trigger + 4 billable actions per run). When credits run out, scenarios stop; unused credits expire. Same volume on Pro: $53.00/mo; Teams: $99.00/mo.
n8n Cloud: One execution = one whole workflow run, so step count does not change the price. No auto-overage on Starter/Pro-1: upgrade or one-time reset. Priced in EUR; converted with the exchange rate you set.