Workflow automation tools connect your apps so repetitive tasks run on their own. You can run n8n on your own server, pay n8n to host it, or use Zapier, which is hosted only. The three bill very differently: n8n counts whole workflow runs, Zapier counts successful steps, and self-hosting counts nothing but your own hardware and time. This guide compares them using the vendors' public pages, checked on 5 November 2026 (the figures match our 4 November check), and works through one example workflow on all three. Prices change, so confirm before you buy.
Quick answer: pick n8n Cloud or Zapier to start in minutes without touching a server. Pick self-hosted n8n if you want control over where data lives, have high volume, and can maintain a server. In the worked example below, n8n's per-run counting costs less than Zapier's per-step counting.
Checked against the source on November 5, 2026. The n8n pricing page lists Starter at 20 EUR/month (2,500 executions), Pro at 50 EUR/month (10,000) and Business at 667 EUR/month (40,000), all billed annually, and the GitHub repository describes n8n as fair-code under the Sustainable Use License.
- n8n licence: Sustainable Use License, not an OSI open-source licence (licence text)
- n8n Cloud entry price: 20 EUR/month on annual billing
- Zapier Free: 100 tasks a month, 15-minute polling, two-step Zaps only (Zapier pricing)
- Zapier Professional starts at $19.99/month billed yearly (750-task tier)
- Repository: about 209.6k GitHub stars, not archived
What to decide first
- How many times a month will each workflow run, and with how many steps?
- Must data stay on your infrastructure?
- Who will update, back up and monitor a server?
- How fast must a trigger fire? Zapier's polling interval depends on the plan.
How each option counts usage
- n8n Cloud: a workflow execution is "a single run of your entire workflow." Step count and data volume do not change it. n8n's examples: a daily schedule is about 30 to 31 executions a month, and a schedule every 5 minutes is about 8,600 to 8,900.
- Zapier: a task is one successful action step. Failed actions, triggers, polling, and built-in tools (Formatter, Paths, Filter, Delay, Looping, Storage and others) do not count. Standard steps use 1 task; a Zapier MCP tool call uses 2. Code by Zapier uses 1 task at standard runtime and more if extended. From 1 December 2026, Zapier's help centre says Next Gen Zaps and the Zapier SDK also use tasks, at least 1 per successful run.
- Self-hosted n8n: no execution meter. Your limit is your server.
Option 1: Self-hosted n8n
What it is. The same core product, run on your infrastructure. Without a licence key it runs as the free Community edition. A Business or Enterprise key unlocks those editions.
Licence. n8n uses the Sustainable Use License. Per the licence text on GitHub, you may use or modify the software only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use, and may distribute it only free of charge for non-commercial purposes. Files with ".ee" in the name are not covered and need a separate Enterprise licence. If you plan to host n8n for customers or resell it, read the licence or ask n8n first.
Community limits. According to n8n's docs, the free Community edition lacks projects, sharing of workflows and credentials, Git version control, environments, external secrets, log streaming and SSO (SAML, LDAP). Queue mode is available. A free registered Community licence (by email) adds folders, debug in editor and custom execution data.
Quick test (Docker). n8n's docs give this run command, though that page is marked outdated in favour of the Compose guide:
docker volume create n8n_data
docker run -it --rm --name n8n -p 5678:5678 \
-e GENERIC_TIMEZONE="America/New_York" -e TZ="America/New_York" \
-e N8N_ENFORCE_SETTINGS_FILE_PERMISSIONS=true \
-v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n n8nio/n8n
Then open http://localhost:5678. The volume holds the SQLite database and encryption key, so keep it.
Production (Docker Compose). The docs' Compose guide has you add a DNS A record for a subdomain, create an n8n-compose folder with an .env file (DOMAIN_NAME, SUBDOMAIN, GENERIC_TIMEZONE, SSL_EMAIL), a local-files folder and a compose.yaml, then run sudo docker compose up -d. It runs n8n behind Traefik, which handles HTTPS certificates, and n8n is reachable only over HTTPS. For webhooks the docs use N8N_WEBHOOK_URL from n8n 2.30.0 and WEBHOOK_URL on earlier versions.
Database and housekeeping.
- SQLite is the default. PostgreSQL is supported; the docs say to use the two latest maintained majors (17 and 18 as of July 2026) plus 16. Keep the
/home/node/.n8nvolume even with Postgres. - Execution pruning is on by default: 336 hours (14 days) and a 10,000 execution cap, oldest deleted first.
- To update a plain Docker install:
docker pull n8nio/n8n, stop and remove the container, and run it again. With Compose:docker compose pull,down,up -d.
Limits. Installation, upgrades, backups and uptime are yours, and n8n's own comparison says technical expertise is required. Its Business and Enterprise self-hosted keys contact n8n's licence server daily. A lightweight monitoring tool helps you notice outages.
Zero-budget variant. A community project runs n8n on Vercel's free plan with a free Neon database. Its limits include no sub-minute polling and personal, non-commercial use on Vercel Hobby.
Option 2: n8n Cloud
Plans checked on 5 November 2026 (annual billing prices; the page shows a "Save 17%" label and states no monthly prices):
| Plan | Price | Executions/month | Concurrent | Log retention | Max duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 20 EUR/month | 2,500 | 5 | 7 days | 5 min |
| Pro | 50 EUR/month | 10,000 | 20 or 50* | 30 days | 40 min |
| Business | 667 EUR/month | 40,000 | not stated | not stated | not stated |
| Enterprise | Contact sales | Custom | 200+ | Unlimited | 40 min |
*The page shows "20 / 50" in the table and "up to 50" in the feature list without explaining the difference.
- All cloud plans include unlimited users, unlimited workflows and all integrations. Starter and Pro overage is listed as "Capped".
- Business is self-hosted only (a cloud version is on a waitlist) and adds SSO, LDAP, Git version control, queue mode and multiple environments. A licence key is emailed after you subscribe. Companies under 20 employees may get 50% off Business through the Startup plan.
- If Business or Enterprise exceeds its quota, workflows keep running, but overage charges may apply unless you upgrade.
- Hitting the saved-execution limit does not stop workflows. It only removes the oldest history.
Option 3: Zapier
Prices checked on 5 November 2026 (USD per month; the page notes annual prices are billed yearly):
| Plan | Annual | Monthly | Polling | Multi-step |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free (100 tasks) | $0 | $0 | 15 min | No, two-step only |
| Professional, 750 tasks | $19.99 | $29.99 | 2 min | Yes |
| Professional, 5,000 tasks | $89.00 | $133.50 | 2 min | Yes |
| Professional, 10,000 tasks | $129.00 | $193.50 | 2 min | Yes |
| Team, 2,000 tasks | $69.00 | $103.50 | 1 min | Yes |
Enterprise is custom with 1-minute polling. The page notes there is no 3,000-task tier: Professional jumps from 2,000 to 5,000. Allowances reset monthly even on annual plans. If pay-per-task is on, extra tasks cost 1.25 times the base rate on annual plans and 2.5 times on monthly plans, and usage stops at 3 times the subscription until the next cycle. If it is off, usage stops at the limit.
Worked example: the same workflow on each
Workflow: one trigger and three actions (for example, new form entry, add a spreadsheet row, send an email, post a chat message). It runs 3,000 times a month, roughly 100 a day.
n8n Cloud. Step count is irrelevant. 3,000 executions exceeds Starter's 2,500, so you need Pro: 50 EUR a month, or 50 x 12 = 600 EUR a year on annual billing.
Zapier, assumption A (all three actions count). 3 tasks x 3,000 runs = 9,000 tasks a month. The 5,000-task tier is too small, so the next is Professional at 10,000 tasks: $129 a month on annual billing, 129 x 12 = $1,548 a year ($193.50 a month, $2,322 a year, if billed monthly). The trigger and polling cost nothing.
Zapier, assumption B (two actions are Formatter or Filter steps). Only 1 task per run, so 3,000 tasks. With no 3,000 tier, that is the 5,000-task plan: $89 a month, 89 x 12 = $1,068 a year. If only one action is built-in, you need 6,000 tasks and land on the 10,000 tier again.
Self-hosted Community. 0 EUR for the software, plus your server and your time. We have not priced a server because it varies by provider, so add your own figure.
Currencies differ (EUR and USD) and we have not converted them. The pattern is what matters: with these assumptions, n8n Cloud's list price is lower than Zapier's, and Zapier's cost swings with how many steps count as tasks.
Scale it up to 30,000 runs a month. n8n Cloud Pro tops out at 10,000, so the next listed plan is Business at 667 EUR a month (667 x 12 = 8,004 EUR a year), which is self-hosted only. Zapier under assumption A needs 90,000 tasks, which fits the 100,000-task tier at $489 a month ($5,868 a year). At this volume the listed Business price is higher than Zapier's in raw numbers, and the n8n saving comes from running the free Community edition yourself or negotiating Enterprise. A workflow like the Gmail invoice parser has far more than four nodes, which does not matter to n8n's meter but would count on Zapier.
Comparison
| Self-hosted n8n | n8n Cloud | Zapier | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server work | Yours | n8n | Zapier |
| Meter | None (your hardware) | Executions | Tasks |
| Entry price | Community: no licence fee | 20 EUR/month annual | Free, then $19.99/month annual |
| Data location | Your database | n8n's platform | Zapier's platform |
| Trigger speed | Your setup | Not verified | 15 min free, 2 min Professional, 1 min Team |
Which one should you choose?
- A first test with a couple of simple automations: Zapier Free (100 tasks, two-step, 15-minute polling).
- Multi-step, code or AI workflows without a server: n8n Cloud, after estimating executions.
- Data must stay in-house, or very high volume: self-hosted n8n with an owner for updates and backups.
- A personal project with no budget: the Vercel and Neon route.
Test before committing
- Pick your three most important workflows and count steps and monthly runs.
- Apply each vendor's rule from the section above and price the result.
- Check which steps Zapier would not count (Formatter, Filter, Paths).
- For self-hosting, run the Docker test first.
- If you are leaving another platform, MigrateFlows converts some exports to n8n workflows, but credentials still need reconnecting.
Who should skip it
- Anyone who wants to host n8n for paying customers or resell it: the Sustainable Use License allows use only for your own internal business purposes or non-commercial or personal use, and distribution only free of charge for non-commercial purposes.
- Teams that need SSO (SAML or LDAP), Git version control, environments, external secrets, log streaming or sharing of workflows and credentials: n8n's Community edition feature list says these require Business or Enterprise.
- Anyone without a person to run a server: self-hosting means updates, backups and uptime are yours.
- Anyone who only needs one or two simple automations: Zapier's Free plan covers two-step Zaps at no cost, within 100 tasks a month.
Alternatives worth a look
- Make: a hosted visual automation platform; its site advertises a free plan with no card required, and it counts usage in credits.
- Activepieces: describes itself as an open source replacement for Zapier; the Community Edition is MIT-licensed and can be self-hosted, which is a more permissive licence than n8n's.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run n8n for free? Yes, the Community edition has no licence fee, but you pay for hosting and do the maintenance, and the licence limits use to internal business or non-commercial purposes.
Is n8n Cloud billed by steps? No. n8n counts whole workflow executions.
Does Zapier count polling? No. Triggers and polling do not use tasks.
What happens when I exceed my limit? On Zapier, extra tasks are billed if pay-per-task is on, otherwise usage stops. On n8n Cloud Starter and Pro, overage is listed as capped; the page does not say more.
Can I move workflows later? n8n workflows can be downloaded from the workflow menu, and converters exist for some other platforms.
Sources (fetched 5 November 2026)
- https://n8n.io/pricing/
- https://zapier.com/pricing
- https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/8496196837261-How-is-task-usage-measured-in-Zapier
- https://docs.n8n.io/hosting/
- https://docs.n8n.io/hosting/installation/docker/
- https://docs.n8n.io/hosting/installation/server-setups/docker-compose/
- https://docs.n8n.io/hosting/community-edition-features/
- https://docs.n8n.io/hosting/configuration/supported-databases-settings/
- https://docs.n8n.io/hosting/scaling/execution-data/
- https://docs.n8n.io/choose-n8n/
- https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n/blob/master/LICENSE.md
- https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n
- https://www.make.com/en
- https://github.com/activepieces/activepieces
Related: Free n8n Workflow Builds Local Business Leads from Google Places · n8n Workflow Automates Long-Tail Keyword Research with YepAPI
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