Which of the three is best for beginners?

Zapier. It has the largest app catalogue, the shortest setup, and a linear step list that is hard to get wrong. Make and n8n both reward a few hours of learning, but Zapier gets a first automation running the same day.

The self-hosted Community edition is free and covers almost the complete feature set, but you still pay for the server it runs on and you own the upgrades, backups, and monitoring. n8n Cloud is a paid product billed per workflow execution. The full cost model is broken down in the n8n pricing post.

Which has the most integrations?

Zapier, by a wide margin. Zapier states more than 9,000 apps, Make lists 3,000 or more, and the n8n readme cites 1,500 or more. n8n narrows the gap with a generic HTTP node and code nodes that can reach any API.

Can I move a workflow between these tools?

Not automatically. There is no shared export format, so switching means rebuilding each workflow by hand. Pick with that in mind, especially if you expect volume to grow.

Do I have to choose only one?

No. A common pattern is Zapier for the app connections nothing else supports, and n8n or Make for the workflows that carry real logic. The two can hand off to each other over a webhook.

Zapier vs n8n vs Make: Which Automation Tool to Choose in 2026

Three tools come up in almost every automation conversation: Zapier, n8n, and Make. They look similar from the outside. They are not.

This is the short version of how they differ. If you already know which two you are weighing against each other, skip to the head-to-head page for that pair at the bottom.

The three-way summary

Dimension	Zapier	n8n	Make
Best for	Non-technical teams	Developers, self-hosting	Branching workflows
Cost model	Billed per task	Free self-hosted, or per execution on Cloud	Billed by credits consumed
Hosting	Cloud only	Cloud or your own server	Cloud only
App catalogue	9,000+ apps	1,500+ integrations	3,000+ apps
Workflow shape	Linear step list	Node canvas with code nodes	Canvas with routers and iterators
Licence	Proprietary	Fair-code, source available	Proprietary
Free tier	Capped tasks per month	Uncapped on your own hardware	Capped credits per month

Counts come from the vendors: Zapier pricing, the n8n readme, and Make integrations.

Zapier

Zapier is the largest hosted app ecosystem in this category, built for teams who never want to touch a server. Its catalogue is roughly six times the size of n8n's, which means the odds of your obscure CRM or invoicing tool already having a connector are simply better here than anywhere else. Setup is fast, the interface is a step list rather than a canvas, and nobody on your team needs to know what a webhook is.

The tradeoff is billing and depth. Zapier charges per task, so cost tracks volume closely and grows in a way that is easy to underestimate. Branching, looping, and reshaping data are all possible but shallower than the other two, and a workflow that needs real logic tends to end up with a code step glued into the middle of it. Zapier Agents adds an AI layer over the same app connections, which is useful, and does not change the underlying cost model.

n8n

n8n is fair-code and source available, which is not the same thing as open source under the OSI definition. The Sustainable Use License lets you read it, change it, and run it yourself, and restricts reselling n8n as a hosted service. In practice that distinction matters to lawyers and rarely to builders.

What it buys you is control. Self-host n8n and your execution volume is bounded by the server, not by a plan. JavaScript and Python nodes sit alongside the visual canvas as first-class citizens, so logic that would be an awkward workaround elsewhere is just a node here. Data never leaves infrastructure you control, which settles most data residency arguments before they start.

The cost is operational. You own upgrades, backups, and monitoring, and the free tier is only free in the sense that the software costs nothing. n8n Cloud removes that burden and bills per workflow execution with unlimited steps, which is a friendlier unit than per task when your workflows are long.

Make

Make is a visual canvas built for branching scenarios, run entirely as a hosted service. Routers fan a scenario out, iterators walk through a list, and aggregators pull it back together, all without code. If your workflow is a tree rather than a line, Make handles it better than either of the other two, and you get that power without running anything.

Its catalogue sits between the other two at 3,000 or more apps, and a built-in HTTP module covers whatever is missing. Make bills by credits consumed, where most module actions cost one credit and routers and error handler modules cost none. That unit is the thing to watch: a complex scenario can burn through credits far faster than its run count suggests.

How to decide

Four questions settle most of these decisions.

Will anyone run a server? If the honest answer is no, n8n self-hosted is out and the choice is between Zapier and Make.

Is your workflow a line or a tree? Linear sequences favour Zapier. Anything that branches, loops, or reshapes data favours Make or n8n.

Where does the data have to live? If it cannot leave your infrastructure, self-hosted n8n is the only one of the three that qualifies.

How does your volume grow? Per-task billing punishes high-frequency work. Per-execution and per-credit billing both stretch further, and a server you already pay for stretches furthest.

If none of those questions has a clear answer yet, start with how to choose your first automation tool, which works through the decision from scratch.

Read the head-to-head

This page is deliberately the overview. Each pair has a full comparison with feature tables, tier-by-tier cost models, and an honest verdict:

For the head-to-head, read Zapier vs n8n
For the head-to-head, read n8n vs Make
For the head-to-head, read Zapier vs Make

Going deeper

If n8n is the direction you are leaning, is n8n free? the pricing explained covers what self-hosting actually costs you, and the n8n Docker Compose self-hosting guide walks through standing up a production instance.

If none of the three fits, n8n alternatives surveys the wider field. And if Make is the one you want to try first, the Make scenario tutorial builds one end to end.

Get help choosing

Picking the tool is the easy part. Building something that survives contact with real data is the harder one. The House of Loops community is free, and it is where people building with all three of these tools compare notes, share working templates, and get unstuck.

Join the community on Skool