Comparison
n8n vs Zapier
n8n: Workflow and AI agent automation, open source and self-hostable. Zapier: Automate your work by connecting 7,000+ apps, now with AI agents.
| n8n | Zapier | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Price | Freemium Self-hosted free (Community). Cloud from €24/month (2,500 executions). | Freemium Free plan with 100 tasks/month. Professional from $19.99/month (annual). |
| Free plan | ||
| API available | ||
| Open source | ||
| In Spanish | ||
| No watermark | — | — |
| Platforms | Web · Linux · Windows · Mac | Web |
n8n
- Free and unlimited if you host it yourself (open source Community edition)
- Charges per workflow execution, not per step: far cheaper at scale
- Native AI nodes for building agents with any LLM
- Steeper learning curve than Zapier
- Self-hosting requires technical knowledge and a server
Zapier
- The largest integration catalogue on the market (7,000+ apps)
- Copilot builds automations from a natural language description
- Useful free plan to get started (100 tasks and unlimited 2-step Zaps)
- Gets expensive quickly at scale: you pay per task executed
- AI agents and chatbots are separate paid add-ons