n8n vs Zapier vs Make: Which Automation Platform Is Right for Your UK Business? (2026)

In one sentence: Zapier, Make, and n8n all connect your apps and run the work between them, but they charge in completely different ways: Zapier is quickest to set up and connects the most apps (9,000+), Make gives you cheaper, more powerful visual workflows with real branching, and n8n lets you self-host for free and keep your data on your own servers. Pick Zapier for speed and app coverage, Make for complex logic on a budget, and n8n for control, high volume, or data that has to stay in-house.

Pick the right automation platform and your team saves dozens of hours a month. Pick wrong and you either outgrow a tool that suddenly costs a fortune, or you buy a developer-grade platform your team can't use. We build on all three of these at Northern Codes, so we've no reason to push one over another. The honest version: what each is, what it really costs in 2026, and where each one wins. If you'd rather we just map the right tool to your workflows, book a strategy call. It also pairs well with our guides on what to automate first and how much AI automation costs.

How the three tools compare at a glance

Prices from each vendor’s official pricing page, 08-07-2026. Zapier and Make show USD, n8n shows EUR. None prices in GBP, so a UK buyer pays the vendor’s currency plus FX and any VAT. More on that below.

What's the real difference between n8n, Zapier, and Make?

The real difference is how they meter you, and it decides your bill. Zapier charges per task (each action step), Make charges per credit (each module), and n8n charges per execution (one whole run, however many steps it holds). So a 10-step workflow run 1,000 times a month costs Zapier and Make around 10,000 units, and n8n just 1,000. Everything else follows from that: Zapier optimises for the widest app catalogue and simplest setup, Make for powerful visual logic at a lower per-step price, and n8n for developer control and self-hosting.

How much do Zapier, Make, and n8n cost in 2026?

Treat each headline price as the floor. On Zapier and Make it buys the smallest usage tier, and real cost climbs with volume.

Zapier pricing

• Free: $0, 100 tasks/month, single-step automations only.

• Professional: from $19.99/month billed annually, 750 tasks base, unlocks multi-step workflows and conditional logic.

• Team: from $69/month billed annually, 2,000 tasks base, up to 25 users.

The trigger never counts, and several built-in tools (filters, paths, delay) are free too. But tasks don't roll over, and if you run past three times your plan limit, your Zaps pause. Full detail on Zapier's pricing page.

Make pricing

• Free: $0, 1,000 credits/month, maximum 2 active scenarios.

• Core: from $12/month billed annually, 10,000 credits base, unlimited scenarios.

• Pro: from $21/month billed annually. Same credit base as Core, so you pay for features, not volume.

• Teams: from $38/month billed annually, adds multi-user roles.

Make renamed 'operations' to 'credits' in August 2025. Most steps cost one credit, though routers and error handlers are free. Make raised these prices in 2026, so ignore older articles quoting $9 for Core. Current figures on Make's pricing page.

n8n pricing

• Self-hosted (Community Edition): free with unlimited executions. You pay only for the server, usually a small VPS from a few pounds to about £15 a month.

• Cloud Starter: €20/month billed annually, 2,500 executions/month.

• Cloud Pro: €50/month billed annually, 10,000 executions/month.

• Cloud Business: €667/month billed annually, 40,000 executions/month, adds SSO.

Because n8n bills per whole run, it's far cheaper for busy multi-step workflows. See n8n's pricing page. The catch: self-hosting isn't effort-free, since you own the server, backups and updates.

Which automation tool is easiest to use?

Zapier, by a clear margin. Its editor is mostly linear ('when this happens, do that'), it has the biggest template library, and a non-technical person can build a working automation in an afternoon. Make is more powerful but steeper (it points new users to around 19 hours of training). n8n is the most technical of the three and assumes you're comfortable with data, and sometimes a little code.

Which has the most integrations?

Zapier, with 9,000+ apps, well ahead of Make's 3,000+ and n8n's 400+ built-in nodes (1,500+ counting community-built ones). If you rely on a niche or older tool, Zapier is the most likely to already support it. That said, all three include a generic HTTP request module, so any app with an API can be connected on any platform with a bit more work. Connecting those systems cleanly is its own job, which we cover in our business systems integration guide.

When should you choose Zapier?

Choose Zapier when speed and app coverage matter more than cost and your team is non-technical. It's the right call for marketing, sales or operations teams stitching everyday apps together at low to moderate volume. If you want something running this week without a developer, Zapier is the safest bet.

When should you choose Make?

Choose Make when your workflows have real branching and logic and you want more power per pound than Zapier. Its visual builder handles routers, loops and error handling that Zapier struggles with, and its per-credit pricing is often cheaper per step. It suits a technically-comfortable small team or agency willing to climb the learning curve.

When should you choose n8n?

Choose n8n when you need control, high volume, or data that can't leave your infrastructure. Because it self-hosts and bills per whole run, it's the cheapest option once your automations get busy, and the only one of the three that keeps every byte of data on a UK or EU server you own. It's the natural fit for developers, agencies, and any business with data-residency rules.

Is n8n really free?

Yes and no. The self-hosted Community Edition costs nothing to license and runs unlimited executions, so the software is genuinely free. But you take on the server, database, backups and updates yourself, which is real time and a small hosting bill. For a team without technical support, n8n Cloud (from €20/month) removes that burden. One caveat: n8n is source-available under its Sustainable Use License, not fully open source, so you can't resell it or charge others to use your instance.

Which is cheapest at scale, and what should UK buyers watch for?

At scale, n8n wins and it isn't close: its per-run model means a busy 10-step workflow can cost an order of magnitude less than Zapier or Make. At low volume the difference barely matters and Zapier's simplicity wins. One more thing UK buyers should budget for: none of the three prices in pounds, so you pay the vendor's currency plus FX and any VAT. And if you handle personal data, remember Zapier and Make are hosted outside your control, whereas self-hosted n8n keeps data on a server you own. For UK GDPR-sensitive work (the ICO is clear on accountability for where data goes), that can be the deciding factor, which is why we self-host n8n for clients who need it. It's the same reason we wrote about the risk of relying on US-hosted AI.

Not sure which one fits your business? We map the right platform to your actual workflows, your volume and your budget, then build it. No preference, no lock-in, just the tool that pays for itself fastest. Book a strategy call.

Common questions

Is Make the same as Integromat?

Yes. Make is the rebranded Integromat, the same visual platform, now on the credit-based pricing above.

Which do you recommend for a small UK business just starting out?

For most small UK businesses automating their first few workflows, start on Zapier or Make: quick, cheap to trial free, and no server to run. Move to n8n when volume grows enough that per-step pricing hurts, or when data residency becomes a requirement.

Can you switch platforms later?

Yes, though it means rebuilding your automations on the new tool, since they don't transfer directly. That's a good reason to pick the right platform up front, or to work with a partner who doesn't lock you to one vendor, which is how we build every automation.