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n8n vs Zapier: which is cheaper for your workflow? Executions vs tasks by runs and steps (checked November 2026)
n8n and Zapier both price a workflow by how much it runs, but they count different things. n8n counts executions: one per run, however many steps the workflow has. Zapier counts tasks: one for each action step that runs successfully, while the trigger, checks for new data and built-in steps such as Filter and Formatter are free. So the more steps a run has, the further apart the two bills get, and the way a workflow starts can flip the answer. This page works through a grid of runs and steps from the published plan prices, then covers schedules, what happens at the monthly limit, self-hosting and the limits that aren't about price. To include Make, see n8n vs Make vs Zapier pricing.
The short answer
- n8n counts runs; Zapier counts action steps. A run with an instant trigger and 5 actions is 1 n8n execution and 5 Zapier tasks. Neither one charges for a check that finds no new data.
- Zapier costs less only while a month is small. Where the tasks fit in Zapier Free (100 tasks, a trigger and one action) or its smallest paid tier (750 tasks, $19.99 a month billed annually), Zapier is cheaper than n8n's Starter at 20€ ($22.10). In every other cell of our grid, n8n costs less.
- The gap grows with every step. At 1,000 runs a month, Zapier goes from $39.00 with 1 action to $189.00 with 20; n8n's Starter holds the same 1,000 runs at 20€ with any number of steps.
- Billed monthly, n8n's Starter costs less than any paid Zapier tier: 24€ ($26.52) against $29.99 for Professional 750.
- Zapier's free steps don't close the gap. A Zap that uses only 1 task a run still costs more than n8n from 1,000 runs a month: $39.00 against $22.10.
- A schedule that looks for work is where Zapier can cost less. n8n counts a Schedule Trigger every time it fires; on Zapier the trigger is free, and a search that finds nothing can stop the run without using a task.
- At the limit: Zapier keeps running on pay-per-task, at a higher rate per task, up to 3 times the plan's tasks. n8n's pricing page says "Starter and Pro are capped and have no overages."
- Self-hosting: n8n's Community Edition is free to self-host; you pay for the server, from €9.99 a month before VAT for a 2 GB server at Hetzner. Zapier's pricing page has no self-hosted plan.
How each one counts
| What happens | n8n | Zapier |
|---|---|---|
| One run: instant trigger or webhook, then 5 action steps | 1 execution | 5 tasks |
| A polling trigger checks and finds nothing | Not counted | Not counted |
| A schedule starts the workflow | 1 execution every time it fires, whatever the run finds | The trigger is free; a search that finds nothing and is set to stop uses no task |
| One run handles 50 items with 2 steps each | Still 1 execution | 100 tasks: each action counts once per item, and the Looping step is free |
| Filters, formatting and branches | Part of the execution | Filter, Formatter and Paths steps: 0 |
| Error handling | Error workflows aren't counted | A step that errors: 0; steps in an error handler path: 1 each |
| Testing | Manual runs from the editor aren't counted | Tests in the Zap editor aren't counted |
From n8n's Understand executions page and Zapier's How is task usage measured and Loop your Zap actions pages. n8n's docs put the rule for polling as "Polls that return no results don't count as an execution"; Zapier's as "Zap triggers never use tasks." Sub-workflows are free on n8n ("only the parent (top-level) execution counts"); on Zapier, the pages disagree about the steps that call and return from a sub-Zap, as covered in Zapier tasks explained.
Grid: runs and steps
Each run handles one new item. On both products that costs the same whether the run starts from an instant trigger, a webhook or a polling trigger, because neither counts the checks: on n8n, 1 execution a run; on Zapier, 1 task per action. One user, prices per month billed annually.
- n8n column: the smallest hosted plan that holds the runs. It doesn't change with the number of steps.
- Zapier cells: tasks a month · the price of the cheapest tier that holds them (Free only for one action and up to 100 tasks). Bold: Zapier costs less than n8n in that row.
| Runs a month | n8n (any number of steps) | Zapier, 1 action | Zapier, 3 actions | Zapier, 5 actions | Zapier, 10 actions | Zapier, 20 actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | Starter 2.5K, 20€ ($22.10) | 100 · Free | 300 · $19.99 | 500 · $19.99 | 1,000 · $39.00 | 2,000 · $49.00 |
| 500 | Starter 2.5K, 20€ ($22.10) | 500 · $19.99 | 1,500 · $39.00 | 2,500 · $89.00 | 5,000 · $89.00 | 10,000 · $129.00 |
| 1,000 | Starter 2.5K, 20€ ($22.10) | 1,000 · $39.00 | 3,000 · $89.00 | 5,000 · $89.00 | 10,000 · $129.00 | 20,000 · $189.00 |
| 2,500 | Starter 2.5K, 20€ ($22.10) | 2,500 · $89.00 | 7,500 · $129.00 | 12,500 · $189.00 | 25,000 · $289.00 | 50,000 · $289.00 |
| 5,000 | Pro 10K, 50€ ($55.26) | 5,000 · $89.00 | 15,000 · $189.00 | 25,000 · $289.00 | 50,000 · $289.00 | 100,000 · $489.00 |
| 10,000 | Pro 10K, 50€ ($55.26) | 10,000 · $129.00 | 30,000 · $289.00 | 50,000 · $289.00 | 100,000 · $489.00 | 200,000 · $769.00 |
| 50,000 | Pro 50K, 120.83€ ($133.54) | 50,000 · $289.00 | 150,000 · $769.00 | 250,000 · $1,069.00 | 500,000 · $1,499.00 | 1,000,000 · $2,199.00 |
How to read it:
- Zapier costs less in 4 cells, all in the top left, where the month is 750 tasks or fewer: Free or $19.99 against n8n's 20€ ($22.10). That margin rests on the exchange rate: 20€ is more than $19.99 at any rate above $0.9995 to the euro.
- Everywhere else n8n costs less, and the gap grows with each step. At 50,000 runs with 20 actions, a million Zapier tasks cost $2,199.00 a month against n8n's 120.83€ ($133.54), more than 16 times as much.
- With 1 action, n8n costs less from 1,000 runs: $39.00 against $22.10 at 1,000 runs, $129.00 against $55.26 at 10,000 and $289.00 against $133.54 at 50,000.
- Billed monthly, the top left goes to n8n too, apart from Zapier Free. Zapier's monthly prices are about 1.5 times its annual ones (Professional 750 is $29.99), and n8n's are 1.2 times (Starter is 24€, $26.52).
- Past 50,000 runs, n8n's hosted plan is Enterprise, priced by sales; the self-hosted Business plan starts at 40,000 executions at 667€ a month billed annually. Zapier's self-serve tiers go up to 2 million tasks a month.
How far each plan goes
The same thing from the other side: how many runs a month each of Zapier's smaller tiers holds, by the number of actions per run. n8n's Starter holds 2,500 runs at 20€ ($22.10) and Pro 10,000 at 50€ ($55.26), whatever the number of steps.
| Actions per run | Zapier Professional 750 ($19.99) | Zapier Professional 2K ($49.00) | Zapier Professional 5K ($89.00) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 750 | 2,000 | 5,000 |
| 3 | 250 | 666 | 1,666 |
| 5 | 150 | 400 | 1,000 |
| 10 | 75 | 200 | 500 |
| 20 | 37 | 100 | 250 |
- For about the same money as n8n's Starter, Zapier's 750 tier holds 750 runs of one action, under a third of Starter's 2,500, and 150 runs of five.
- Zapier's 5K tier costs about four times as much as Starter and holds fewer runs once a run has 3 actions: 1,666 against 2,500.
Free steps on Zapier don't close the gap
Take a workflow that tidies up a lead form and passes it on: two formatting steps clean the name and phone number, a filter drops test entries, then it creates a contact in a CRM and posts in Slack. That is 5 steps after the trigger.
- On n8n it is 1 execution a run, however it is built.
- On Zapier, built with app or code steps for everything, it is 5 tasks a run. Built with Formatter and Filter, which are free, it is 2 tasks a run. And a Zap that does anything at all uses at least 1 task a run, so the third column is the floor.
Each Zapier cell is tasks a month · the cheapest tier that holds them, billed annually. The Zaps have more than two steps, so Zapier Free doesn't apply.
| Runs a month | Zapier, every step counts | Zapier, 3 free steps | Zapier, 1 task a run | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 500 · Professional 750, $19.99 | 200 · Professional 750, $19.99 | 100 · Professional 750, $19.99 | Starter 2.5K, 20€ ($22.10) |
| 250 | 1,250 · Professional 1.5K, $39.00 | 500 · Professional 750, $19.99 | 250 · Professional 750, $19.99 | Starter 2.5K, 20€ ($22.10) |
| 500 | 2,500 · Professional 5K, $89.00 | 1,000 · Professional 1.5K, $39.00 | 500 · Professional 750, $19.99 | Starter 2.5K, 20€ ($22.10) |
| 1,000 | 5,000 · Professional 5K, $89.00 | 2,000 · Professional 2K, $49.00 | 1,000 · Professional 1.5K, $39.00 | Starter 2.5K, 20€ ($22.10) |
| 2,500 | 12,500 · Professional 20K, $189.00 | 5,000 · Professional 5K, $89.00 | 2,500 · Professional 5K, $89.00 | Starter 2.5K, 20€ ($22.10) |
| 5,000 | 25,000 · Professional 50K, $289.00 | 10,000 · Professional 10K, $129.00 | 5,000 · Professional 5K, $89.00 | Pro 10K, 50€ ($55.26) |
| 10,000 | 50,000 · Professional 50K, $289.00 | 20,000 · Professional 20K, $189.00 | 10,000 · Professional 10K, $129.00 | Pro 10K, 50€ ($55.26) |
How to read it:
- The free steps take Zapier's bill down a tier or two: at 1,000 runs, $89.00 becomes $49.00. That is still more than twice n8n's $22.10.
- With the free steps, Zapier costs less up to 250 runs a month (500 tasks at $19.99). From 500 runs, n8n does.
- Even the floor of 1 task a run costs less than n8n only up to 750 runs. At 1,000 runs it is $39.00 against $22.10, and at 10,000 runs $129.00 against $55.26.
Schedules: where Zapier can cost less
The two count a scheduled run in opposite ways. n8n's docs say a Schedule Trigger counts "one execution every time the node fires, regardless of outcome." On Zapier, the trigger is free, and a search step that finds nothing can be set to stop (Zapier's default): the search uses no task, and the steps that use its result don't run.
Take a job that every 15 minutes looks for records that changed in an app, and passes each one on with 2 actions. Say 500 records change in a month. In a 30-day month the schedule fires 2,880 times:
| How it starts | n8n | Zapier |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule every 15 minutes, then a search (set to stop on Zapier) | 2,880 executions · Pro 10K, 50€ ($55.26) | 1,500 tasks (a search and 2 actions per record) · Professional 1.5K, $39.00 |
| The same, with the search set to carry on | 2,880 executions · Pro 10K, 50€ ($55.26) | 3,880 tasks (every search counts) · Professional 5K, $89.00 |
| The app's own trigger for changed records | At most 500 executions · Starter 2.5K, 20€ ($22.10) | 1,000 tasks · Professional 1.5K, $39.00 |
How to read it:
- On n8n, a schedule pays for every fire. 2,880 executions is more than Starter's 2,500, so the month needs Pro 10K, and Zapier costs less: $39.00 against $55.26.
- On n8n, use the app's trigger where it has one. Only the polls that find data count, so it is at most 500 executions, on Starter at 20€: the cheapest row on either product. A schedule every 30 minutes (1,440 fires) or less often also fits Starter.
- On Zapier, keep searches set to stop. Set to carry on, the empty searches add 2,380 tasks a month, and the month costs $89.00, more than n8n even with the schedule. That row assumes a Filter, which is free, stops the actions on runs that find nothing.
At the monthly limit
What happens when a month's executions or tasks run out:
- Zapier: with pay-per-task on (the default for accounts that joined after January 2024), Zaps keep running and each extra task is billed at a higher rate than the plan's tasks, up to 3 times the plan's task limit in all. Then Zaps stop until the next usage period. With pay-per-task off, runs are held when you reach the limit, and you can replay them once you have tasks again.
- n8n Starter and Pro: the comparison table lists overage fees as "Capped", and its note on that row says "Starter and Pro are capped and have no overages", so you aren't billed for executions over the plan. The pages we read don't say what happens to runs that would go past the cap, so we don't guess. Move to the next size before you get there.
- n8n Business (self-hosted): the same note puts overage at €4,000 / $4,800 per extra 300,000 executions, and says "Your workflows keep running."
Worked example: a month that runs over
A workflow with an instant trigger and 4 actions usually runs 1,000 times a month: 1,000 n8n executions (Starter, 20€) or 4,000 Zapier tasks (Professional 5K, $89.00). One month it runs 3,000 times:
- Zapier: 12,000 tasks, 7,000 over the tier. At Professional 5K's pay-per-task rate of 2.23¢, the extra is $156.10, so the month costs $245.10, more than Professional 20K ($189.00) would have. The cap is 15,000 tasks, so the Zaps keep running.
- n8n: 3,000 executions, 500 over Starter's 2,500. Starter has no overage charge, but n8n doesn't say what happens to the extra runs; to be sure they run, the month needs Pro 10K at 50€ ($55.26) billed annually.
The pay-per-task rate for each Zapier tier, and when the next tier costs less than paying per task, are in Zapier tasks explained; n8n's quota is covered in n8n executions explained.
Self-hosting n8n
n8n's Community Edition is free to self-host, with no execution quota on the pricing page. You pay for the server and do the upkeep yourself: updates, backups and security. A server with 2 GB of RAM is €9.99 a month before VAT at Hetzner (CPX12, $11.04) and $12.00 at DigitalOcean.
- The server's price doesn't change with runs or steps. At 1,000 runs of 5 actions, the same month is $89.00 on Zapier, 20€ ($22.10) on n8n Starter, or the server. At 10,000 runs it is $289.00, 50€ ($55.26) or still the server, if it keeps up: the n8n docs we read give no minimum RAM or CPU.
- Zapier's pricing page has no self-hosted plan.
What else self-hosting costs, and where the hosted plans are the better deal, is in what self-hosting n8n costs.
Limits that aren't about price
From the two pricing pages, n8n's docs and Zapier's help center:
| Limit | n8n Cloud (Starter / Pro) | Zapier |
|---|---|---|
| Free way in | No free hosted plan. 14-day trial with 1,000 executions. Community Edition: free to self-host | Free plan: 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps (a trigger and one action) |
| Users | Unlimited on every plan | 1 on Free and Professional, 25 on Team, unlimited on Enterprise |
| Workflows and steps | Unlimited workflows on every plan | Two steps on Free; up to 100 steps in a Zap on paid plans, including the steps inside paths |
| Polling interval | No minimum on the pricing page | 15 minutes on Free, 2 on Professional, 1 on Team and Enterprise |
| Bursts | 5 executions at a time on Starter, 20 or 50 on Pro (by plan size); more wait in a queue | Instant triggers get 429 errors above 20,000 requests every 5 minutes per user. On Free and trial plans, a polling Zap is held above 200 requests in 10 minutes |
| At the monthly limit | Capped, no overages | Pay-per-task up to 3 times the plan's tasks, or runs held |
More than one person: n8n's pricing page says "All plans include unlimited users and workflows and every integration." On Zapier, a second user needs Team, which starts at $69 a month for 2,000 tasks billed annually. For 3 people running 1,000 runs of 5 actions, that is Team 5K at $119.00 against n8n's 20€, the same as for one person.
AI steps
- Zapier: an AI by Zapier step uses 1, 3 or 5 tasks a run by model tier (Standard, Advanced, Premium), plus the same again for each tool call, or 1 with your own AI provider's API key. New steps on paid plans start on Premium: 5 tasks a run until you pick a lower tier. At Professional 750's price per task, that is about 13¢ a run.
- n8n: an AI step is part of the execution, so it doesn't change your execution count. You pay for the model either with your own API key or with Gateway credits, a prepaid balance on n8n Cloud Starter and Pro, billed per request. The rates weren't in the page's text, so we don't list them.
- The difference that matters: on Zapier, an AI step multiplies the tasks of every run it is in. On n8n, the execution count stays the same and the model is a separate bill.
Which one to choose
These follow from the grids above:
- On price, n8n wins once a month passes Zapier's 750-task tier, and the more steps your workflows have, the bigger the gap. Billed monthly, it wins in every cell of our grid except Zapier Free's.
- Zapier costs less for small jobs: up to 750 tasks a month billed annually, Free up to 100 tasks of a trigger and one action, and schedules that look for work and usually find none, if the search is set to stop.
- Build each one to its rules. On n8n, start from webhooks or the app's own trigger rather than a schedule that looks for work, and handle a batch of items in one run. On Zapier, use the free steps, put filters before the actions and keep searches set to stop.
- Teams: n8n's plans have unlimited users; on Zapier more than one user means Team.
- Price is not the only thing. Check that each one connects the apps you use, with the triggers you need, and the limits above. Running n8n yourself saves the plan price but adds the upkeep.
To put your own runs and actions in, use the automation cost calculator; it shows n8n, Zapier and Make side by side.
Check the current numbers
- n8n pricing and Zapier pricing, and your Zapier billing settings for your own pay-per-task rate
- How each one counts in detail: n8n executions explained and Zapier tasks explained
- Running n8n yourself: what self-hosting n8n costs
- With Make as well: n8n vs Make vs Zapier pricing, n8n vs Make, Make vs Zapier and the automation cost calculator
Sources
- n8n pricing page (plans, comparison table and its overage note, FAQ) — https://n8n.io/pricing/, checked
- Zapier pricing page (plans, plan data, comparison table, FAQ) — https://zapier.com/pricing, checked
- n8n docs: Understand executions (how executions count towards quotas) — https://docs.n8n.io/build/understand-workflows/understand-executions, checked
- n8n docs: Understand concurrency (n8n Cloud) — https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/use-n8n-cloud/understand-concurrency, checked
- n8n docs: Try free then choose a plan — https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/use-n8n-cloud/start-your-free-trial, checked
- n8n docs: Gateway credits — https://docs.n8n.io/deploy/use-n8n-cloud/gateway-credits, checked
- Zapier Help Center: How is task usage measured in Zapier? — https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/8496196837261, checked
- Zapier Help Center: How Zap triggers work — https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/8496244568589, checked
- Zapier Help Center: Search for existing data in Zap workflows — https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/8496241402253, checked
- Zapier Help Center: Loop your Zap actions — https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/8496106701453, checked
- Zapier Help Center: How pay-per-task billing works in Zapier — https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/15279018245901, checked
- Zapier Help Center: Zap limits — https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/8496181445261, checked
- Zapier Help Center: AI by Zapier model tier pricing — https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/46425475442829, checked
- Hetzner Cloud Regular Performance pricing — https://www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance/, checked
- DigitalOcean Droplet pricing — https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/droplets, checked
- European Central Bank: euro reference rate for the US dollar (1.1052 on November 13, 2026) — https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/eurofxref-graph-usd.en.html, checked