Executive Summary (Verified October 2026 Vendor Pricing):
- Fundamental Billing Unit Difference:
- Zapier bills per Task (each successful action step = 1 task; triggers and built-in Filters/Formatters = 0 tasks; zapier.com/pricing).
- Make.com bills per Credit / Operation (switched to a credit-based model where each standard scenario module action consumes 1 credit; make.com/pricing).
- n8n bills per Complete Workflow Execution (one full workflow run from trigger to finish = 1 execution, whether it executes 2 nodes or 80 nodes; n8n.io/pricing).
- At 10,000 Steps/Month (Simple 2–3 Step Workflows): Make.com Core ($9/mo annual or $10.59/mo monthly for 10,000 credits) is the lowest-cost managed cloud option, beating n8n Cloud Starter (€20/mo annual / €24/mo monthly for 2,500 executions) and Zapier Professional ($129/mo annual / $193.50/mo monthly for 10,000 tasks).
- At 100,000 Steps/Month (10-Action Multi-Agent AI Workflow = 10,000 Runs): n8n Cloud Pro-1 (€50/mo annual / €60/mo monthly for 10,000 executions) or Self-Hosted n8n on Railway ($5–$10/mo) reduces monthly platform spend by 45%–90% vs. Make.com and 88%–98% vs. Zapier.
⚡ Quick Decision & Free Trial Credits Matrix (Verified Oct 2026)
| Workload Profile | Best Platform Choice | Published Base Price (Oct 2026) | Official Free Trial / Partner Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| < 15,000 simple linear actions/mo (Fastest visual builder, 2,000+ SaaS apps) | Make.com (Core / Pro) | $9.00/mo (annual) or $10.59/mo (monthly) for 10,000 credits | 👉 Claim 1,000 Free Make Credits/mo |
| Multi-Step AI Agents, Loops & Webhooks (Zero DevOps, SOC2 managed cloud) | n8n Cloud (Starter / Pro) | €20/mo (Starter: 2,500 execs) · €50/mo (Pro-1: 10,000 execs) | 👉 Start 14-Day Free n8n Cloud Trial |
| Self-Hosted Docker + Postgres (Zero SSH) (1-Click Cloud Template) | n8n Community on Railway.app | $5.00/mo Hobby Plan (includes $5/mo usage resource credit) | 👉 1-Click Deploy on Railway ($5 Credit) |
| High-Volume Dedicated VPS (Queue Mode + Redis + Vector DB) | n8n on DigitalOcean / Hetzner | $6.00 – $12.00/mo (2–4 GB RAM Linux Droplet/VPS) | 👉 Claim $200 Free DO Cloud Credit |
1. Transparent Billing Mathematics: Tasks vs. Credits vs. Workflow Executions
Every pricing surprise in workflow automation comes from confusing a step with a run. Below is the exact mathematical formula each vendor uses to meter your monthly bill, verified directly from their October 2026 documentation.
Variables Defined:
- $R$ = Number of workflow runs triggered per month (e.g., 1,000 inbound leads or webhook calls).
- $A$ = Number of billable external action steps before any loop.
- $I$ = Number of items processed inside an array loop (e.g., iterating over 10 scraped URLs or 5 social posts).
- $L$ = Number of action nodes inside that loop.
1.1. Zapier (zapier.com/pricing)
$$\text{Monthly Billable Tasks}_{\text{Zapier}} = R \times \left( A + (I \times L) \right)$$
-
Official Rule: Triggers and Zapier built-in utilities (
Filter,Formatter,Paths,Delay,Looping by Zapier) consume 0 tasks, while every external app action, webhook POST, or LLM call consumes 1 task. Multi-step Zaps require at least the Professional plan (starting at $19.99/mo billed annually or $29.99/mo billed monthly for 750 tasks).
1.2. Make.com (make.com/pricing & make.com/compare/make-vs-zapier)
$$\text{Monthly Billable Credits}_{\text{Make}} = \text{Scheduled Polling Checks} + R \times \left( 1 + A + (I \times L) \right)$$
- Official Rule: Make transitioned to credits as its billing unit. Almost every module execution (including the initial trigger module when it returns data, JSON parsers, iterators, and HTTP calls) consumes 1 credit (while specialized Make AI Provider modules can consume variable credits). Paid plans start at $9/month billed annually ($10.59/month billed monthly) for 10,000 credits on the Core plan.
1.3. n8n (n8n.io/pricing)
$$\text{Monthly Billable Executions}_{\text{n8n}} = R$$
- Official Rule: n8n charges strictly per complete workflow execution, regardless of node count or loop iterations. A workflow with 1 trigger, 3 parallel LLM HTTP requests, a 50-item loop, and 4 database upserts still consumes 1 execution.
2. Official Vendor Price Lists (Verified October 2026)
Before modeling multi-step workflows, here are the exact published tier tables from each vendor's pricing page as of October 2026:
Table A: Official Published Subscription Tiers (Oct 2026)
| Vendor & Tier | Included Monthly Quota | Annual Billing (per month) | Monthly Billing (month-to-month) | Official Overage / Scaling Rule | Source URL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier Free | 100 Tasks (2-step Zaps only) | $0.00 | $0.00 | Must upgrade for multi-step Zaps or Webhooks | zapier.com/pricing |
| Zapier Professional (750) | 750 Tasks | $19.99/mo | $29.99/mo | Pay-per-task overage at 1.25x base task rate or tier upgrade | zapier.com/pricing |
| Zapier Professional (2k) | 2,000 Tasks | $49.00/mo | $73.50/mo | Tier upgrade / per-task overage | zapier.com/pricing |
| Zapier Professional (10k) | 10,000 Tasks | $129.00/mo | $193.50/mo | Tier upgrade / per-task overage | zapier.com/pricing |
| Zapier Professional (50k) | 50,000 Tasks | $289.00/mo | $433.50/mo | Tier upgrade / per-task overage | zapier.com/pricing |
| Zapier Professional (100k) | 100,000 Tasks | $489.00/mo | $733.50/mo | Tier upgrade / per-task overage | zapier.com/pricing |
| Zapier Professional (1M) | 1,000,000 Tasks | $2,599.00/mo | $3,898.50/mo | Tier upgrade | zapier.com/pricing |
| Make.com Free | 1,000 Credits | $0.00 | $0.00 | 2 active scenarios limit | make.com/pricing |
| Make.com Core (10k) | 10,000 Credits | $9.00/mo | $10.59/mo | Scales in credit tiers (40k, 100k, 150k, 300k, 500k, 1M+) | make.com/pricing |
| Make.com Pro (10k base) | 10,000 Credits | $16.00/mo | $18.82/mo | Adds full-text execution search, priority execution & custom variables | make.com/pricing |
| n8n Cloud Starter | 2,500 Workflow Executions | €20.00/mo (~$22–$24) | €24.00/mo (~$26–$28) | Unlimited steps per execution; 5 concurrent executions | n8n.io/pricing |
| n8n Cloud Pro-1 | 10,000 Workflow Executions | €50.00/mo (~$55–$60) | €60.00/mo (~$65–$70) | Unlimited steps; up to 50 concurrent executions | n8n.io/pricing |
| n8n Cloud Pro-2 | 50,000 Workflow Executions | €120.00/mo | €144.00/mo | Self-serve add-ons up to 500k execs at €2/$2 per 1,000 extra executions | n8n.io/pricing |
| n8n Community (Self-Hosted) | Unlimited Executions (Hardware-bound) | $0 software license | $5–$12/mo (Railway / VPS) | Open-source fair-code license on Docker / Railway / DigitalOcean | github.com/n8n-io/n8n |
3. Quantitative Cost Model: A 10-Action Multi-Agent AI Workflow at 10k, 100k, and 1M Operations
Explicit Modeling Assumption:
To compare all three platforms on identical work, we model a production 10-Billable-Step AI Workflow (for example, our Omnichannel Content Repurposing Engine or a B2B Lead Enrichment Pipeline):
- 1 Full Run = 10 Zapier Tasks = 10 Make Credits = 1 n8n Workflow Execution.
- Therefore:
- 10,000 total action steps/mo = 1,000 workflow runs/mo
- 100,000 total action steps/mo = 10,000 workflow runs/mo
- 500,000 total action steps/mo = 50,000 workflow runs/mo
- 1,000,000 total action steps/mo = 100,000 workflow runs/mo
Table B: Calculated Monthly Cost for a 10-Step Workflow (Annual / Monthly Billing Shown)
| Total Monthly Action Steps | Equivalent Full Runs (n8n Executions) | Zapier Professional (Annual / Monthly) | Make.com Core–Pro (Annual / Monthly) | n8n Cloud (Annual / Monthly) | Self-Hosted n8n (Railway / VPS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 Steps/mo | 1,000 Runs/mo |
$129.00/mo (annual) $193.50/mo (monthly) |
$9.00 – $16.00/mo (annual) $10.59 – $18.82/mo (monthly) |
€20.00/mo (Starter annual) €24.00/mo (monthly — 2.5k cap) |
$5.00/mo (Railway Hobby) |
| 100,000 Steps/mo | 10,000 Runs/mo |
$489.00/mo (annual) $733.50/mo (monthly) |
~$79.00 – $116.00/mo (100k credit tier) |
€50.00/mo (Pro-1 annual) €60.00/mo (monthly — 10k cap) |
$6.00 – $10.00/mo (2GB–4GB VPS) |
| 500,000 Steps/mo | 50,000 Runs/mo |
$1,599+ /mo (annual) $2,548.50/mo (monthly) |
~$315.00 – $420.00/mo (500k credit tier) |
€120.00/mo (Pro-2 annual) €144.00/mo (monthly — 50k cap) |
$12.00 – $18.00/mo (4GB VPS + Redis) |
| 1,000,000 Steps/mo | 100,000 Runs/mo |
$2,599.00/mo (annual) $3,898.50/mo (monthly) |
~$580.00 – $760.00/mo (1M credit tier) | €244.00/mo (Pro-2 €144 + 50k extra execs @ €2/1k) | $18.00 – $24.00/mo (4 vCPU / 8GB VPS) |
📌 Note on n8n Cloud Pro-2 Extra Executions: Per n8n's official billing documentation, Cloud Pro-2 monthly subscribers (50,000 included executions at €144/mo) can self-serve up to 500,000 executions at €2 / $2 / £2 per 1,000 extra monthly executions. Adding 50,000 extra executions to reach 100,000 total executions (1,000,000 steps in a 10-step workflow) adds $50 \times €2 = €100$, bringing the total to €244/month.
4. The Array Loop Multiplier: Where Step-Based Billing Multiplies by 10x–50x
The 10-step comparison above assumes zero loops. Now consider a common B2B workflow that runs once per hour (720 runs/month):
- It fetches 25 new rows from a scraper or CRM, and for each row executes 3 modules (1 LLM classification call + 1 HTTP enrichment request + 1 database update).
- In Make.com and Zapier: $$720\text{ runs} \times (25\text{ items} \times 3\text{ actions}) = \mathbf{54,000\text{ Credits / Tasks per month}}$$
- In n8n: $$\mathbf{720\text{ Workflow Executions per month}}$$ (Comfortably inside n8n Cloud Starter's 2,500 execution allowance at €20/mo, or $5/mo on Railway).
5. Architecture Decision Guide: Which Platform Should You Choose?
-
Choose Make.com when:
- You run under 15,000–25,000 module credits per month with minimal array looping.
- At $9/month (Core annual)—plus a Free forever tier of 1,000 credits/month—Make is the most cost-effective and visually intuitive cloud platform for straightforward SaaS-to-SaaS automations.
- 👉 Start with 1,000 Free Credits on Make.com
-
Choose n8n Cloud when:
- You build multi-agent AI workflows, RAG pipelines, or looping data scrapers with 8 to 50+ nodes per workflow and want managed hosting, automatic upgrades, and OAuth callbacks out of the box.
- 👉 Claim Your 14-Day Free n8n Cloud Trial
-
Choose Self-Hosted n8n on Railway.app or DigitalOcean when:
- You want unlimited workflow executions for a flat $5–$12/month infrastructure bill, or need to process large binary audio/video files (such as 50MB MP4s and ElevenLabs MP3s) without cloud RAM caps.
- 👉 Deploy 1-Click n8n on Railway ($5 Credit) | Claim $200 DigitalOcean Free Credit
6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How does n8n count executions compared to Make credits and Zapier tasks?
n8n counts one execution per complete workflow run, regardless of how many nodes or loop iterations run inside that workflow (n8n.io/pricing). Make counts each scenario module action as 1 credit (make.com/pricing), and Zapier counts each successful action step as 1 task (zapier.com/pricing).
Does Zapier charge tasks for Filters and Formatters?
No. Zapier triggers and built-in tools (Filter, Formatter, Paths, Delay, Looping) consume 0 tasks. However, adding them makes a Zap multi-step, which requires a paid Professional plan starting at $19.99/mo (annual) or $29.99/mo (monthly) for 750 tasks.
How much do extra executions cost on n8n Cloud?
On the n8n Cloud Pro-2 monthly plan (€144/mo for 50,000 executions), additional executions can be added up to 500,000 at €2 / $2 / £2 per 1,000 extra monthly executions.
7. Embedded JSON-LD Structured Data (For AI Search & GEO Indexing)
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