Head-to-Head Pricing Audit
n8n (Self-Hosted & Cloud) vs Zapier
Which tool offers lower real-world costs and fewer overage traps? Here is the unvarnished 2026 breakdown.
n8n (Self-Hosted & Cloud)
Very Low RiskFair-code workflow automation tool with unlimited self-hosted executions
Starting Price $0 Self-hosted (Community) | €20/mo Cloud (2,500 executions) Execution-based on Cloud / $0 for infinite runs when self-hosted via Docker
Free Tier Allowance Self-hosted Community Edition is 100% free with unlimited workflows and executions
⚠️ Top Trap Risk "Self-hosting requires maintaining a $5/mo VPS (Railway/Hetzner) and configuring SSL/backups"
Zapier
Very High RiskThe market leader in no-code app integrations with 7,000+ supported apps
Starting Price $0 Free (100 tasks/mo) | $29.99/mo Starter (750 tasks/mo) Tiered task count (billed annually or 33% monthly premium)
Free Tier Allowance 100 tasks/month, 5 single-step Zaps only
⚠️ Top Trap Risk "Every single step in a multi-step Zap consumes 1 task (a 5-step automation with 200 runs consumes 1,000 tasks and triggers high overage fees)"
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