n8n vs Zapier
I’ve run both in production for paying clients. One of them costs roughly four times more for the same workflows. The other has a learning curve. Here’s the honest breakdown.
If you’re a developer or you have one on the team, pick n8n. Self-host it for £15/month on a Hetzner box, get unlimited executions, write actual JavaScript when the no-code blocks run out, and stop paying Zapier per-task tax. Zapier only wins when the people building the workflows can’t spell DNS.
You can run a Docker container, you do more than 2,000 tasks a month, you need branching logic, custom code or self-hosting for compliance, or you simply hate per-task pricing.
Non-technical staff are building the automations, your volume is low (under ~750 tasks/month), and you genuinely value handholding over flexibility. Polished, but expensive once it works.
Side-by-side, line by line
I’ve listed the things that actually matter when you’re shipping automations for someone other than yourself — not vanity features.
| Feature | n8n | Zapier |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | EdgeFree self-hosted (unlimited). Cloud from $24/mo for 2,500 executions. | Per-task billing. Pro starts $29.99/mo for 750 tasks. Scales fast. |
| Real cost at 50k tasks/mo | Edge~£15/mo (VPS) or $120/mo (n8n Cloud Pro). | ~$489/mo on the Team plan, often more. |
| Integrations | ~470 native + HTTP node + community nodes. | Edge7,000+ native. Hands down the largest catalogue. |
| Self-hosting | EdgeFirst-class. Docker, npm, fair-code license. Yours forever. | Not possible. You rent or you don’t use it. |
| Branching & loops | EdgeIF, Switch, Merge, SplitInBatches — proper control flow. | Paths and Filters work, but loops are awkward and limited. |
| Custom code | EdgeJavaScript and Python nodes. Run NPM packages. Real escape hatch. | Code by Zapier exists, but limited runtime and clunky DX. |
| AI / LLM tooling | EdgeNative LangChain nodes, vector stores, agents — best-in-class. | OpenAI integration plus partner apps. Workable, not impressive. |
| Onboarding for non-devs | Steeper curve. The graph metaphor confuses some users. | EdgePolished. Triggers and Actions read like English. |
| Reliability & uptime | Cloud is solid. Self-hosted is exactly as reliable as your sysadmin. | EdgeExcellent. Battle-tested at huge scale. |
| Versioning & Git | EdgeJSON workflows, exportable, environment variables, source-controllable. | No proper version control. Edit history exists, that’s about it. |
| Vendor lock-in | EdgeNone. Your workflows are JSON. Move them anywhere. | Total. Your logic lives in their UI. |
| Support | Active forum, paid enterprise support. Community-led. | EdgeEmail + chat on paid plans. Predictable, slow on free. |
n8n
- Self-hosting kills the per-task tax. £15/month covers most agencies.
- Real branching, loops and error workflows — not fudged with filters.
- JavaScript and Python nodes mean you never hit a wall.
- The AI tooling (LangChain, vector stores, agents) is the best of any no-code platform.
- Workflows are JSON. Version control, code review, the lot.
- You need a Linux box and a willingness to run it.
- Fewer native integrations — some niche SaaS tools are missing.
- The UI rewards engineers; non-devs will get stuck on expressions.
- Cloud has had genuine outages. Self-host for production.
Zapier
- Largest integration catalogue on Earth — if it has an API, Zapier has a Zap.
- Marketing and ops staff can build their own workflows without bothering you.
- Setup is unbeatable. Connect, map fields, done.
- Reliability is excellent. Things just run.
- Pricing punishes success. Hit any kind of volume and the bill explodes.
- No real branching loops, no proper code escape hatch, no Git.
- Your business logic lives in someone else’s UI. Migration is painful.
- AI features feel bolted on, not designed in.
n8n
- You are running more than 2,000 automation tasks a month.
- You want self-hosting for GDPR, HIPAA or just sane data handling.
- You’re building AI agents, RAG pipelines or anything LLM-shaped.
- You want your workflows under Git and code review.
- You want predictable monthly costs that don’t scale with usage.
- You’re a developer. Just — you’re a developer.
Zapier
- The marketing or ops team owns the automations, not engineering.
- You need an integration to a SaaS no one else supports yet.
- Volume is genuinely small — a few hundred tasks a month.
- You need it working in 30 minutes with zero infrastructure.
- You’re a freelancer running client work and don’t want to babysit servers.
What I actually pick on real projects
For every paying client I’ve onboarded in the past 18 months, I’ve either migrated them off Zapier or kept them well clear of it. The numbers usually win the argument before the technical points do. A client running ~30,000 monthly tasks was quoted $389/month on Zapier Professional; we put them on a £15/month Hetzner box running n8n, plus Postgres and a backup script. Same workflows, better observability, version control included.
The one place I still recommend Zapier is when the human building the workflow is not, and will never be, technical. A solo founder doing 200 tasks a month, an ops manager keeping HubSpot and Notion in sync — Zapier earns its money there. The polish is real. But the moment a developer is involved, n8n wins on every axis that matters: cost, control, capability, ownership.
Zapier is also still useful as the "translation layer" for SaaS tools that don’t have proper APIs or webhooks. I’ll occasionally use Zapier as a 1-step bridge into n8n where the integration is genuinely missing. It’s a perfectly reasonable tactical use of the tool, even if I wouldn’t base a whole automation strategy on it.
The honest conclusion
Zapier is a polished product designed to remove every barrier to starting. n8n is a tool designed to remove every limit on what you can build. If your problem is "getting started", pick Zapier. If your problem is "building something I can run for years", pick n8n. The pricing curve will eventually force the decision anyway, so you may as well make it on day one and save yourself the migration.
Still not sure which to pick?
I make these calls every week on real projects. If you want a straight answer for your stack — not a list of trade-offs — get in touch.