The billing difference in one sentence
Zapier counts every step in a workflow as a separate task. n8n counts one full workflow run as one execution. A five-step workflow running 300 times a month costs 1,500 tasks on Zapier and 300 executions on n8n.
That difference compounds fast once a workflow does more than fetch and forward data. An order-processing automation with a lookup, a format step, a database write and a notification is a normal shape for an ecommerce backend, and every one of those steps is billable on Zapier, invisible on n8n.
The actual numbers
Zapier’s Starter plan runs $19.99 a month for 750 tasks. A single five-step workflow running 150 times a month already consumes that entire allowance.
n8n Cloud Starter runs roughly €24 a month for 2,500 executions, priced in EUR since n8n is based in Berlin. The same five-step workflow running 150 times a month uses 150 executions, leaving most of the allowance untouched.
Self-hosted n8n removes the execution ceiling entirely. The Community Edition is free software, the only cost is wherever it runs, commonly a few dollars a month on a small VPS. This is the option that matters most for a zero-budget build, since the software itself carries no license fee at any volume.
Where Zapier still wins
Zapier’s app library is larger, several thousand integrations against n8n’s few hundred native nodes. For a simple two-step automation using a niche app with no n8n integration and no public API, Zapier’s pre-built connector saves real setup time. n8n compensates through HTTP request nodes and custom code nodes, but that requires reading API documentation rather than clicking a pre-built connector, a fair trade for a technical founder, a real cost for a non-technical one.
Zapier also has no self-hosting requirement and no execution cap to monitor. For someone who wants automation to be entirely someone else’s operational problem, that simplicity carries value the raw pricing comparison does not capture.
The verdict
For a bootstrapped marketplace with multi-step workflows and a founder willing to read API docs, self-hosted n8n is the cheaper option by a wide margin, since the software cost drops to a few dollars of server hosting regardless of execution volume. For a single-step or two-step automation using a mainstream app, Zapier’s Starter plan is simpler and the cost difference at low volume is not large enough to justify the setup time.
The workflow shape decides this, not brand preference. Count the steps in the actual automation before picking a platform.
Research Ledger (7 claims)
| Entity | Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Starter plan $19.99/month, 750 tasks | openhosst.com, verified directly from zapier.com/pricing, June 2026 | VERIFIED |
| Zapier | Each workflow step counts as one task | openhosst.com, nocode.mba | VERIFIED |
| Zapier | Overage billed at 1.25x per-task rate, hard pause at 3x plan limit | openhosst.com | VERIFIED |
| n8n | Cloud Starter €24/month, 2,500 executions | nocode.mba | VERIFIED |
| n8n | One workflow run counts as one execution regardless of step count | n8n.io via multiple sources | VERIFIED |
| n8n | Self-hosted Community Edition is free, unlimited executions, hosting cost separate | nocode.mba, instapods.com | VERIFIED |
| n8n | No permanent free tier on Cloud in 2026, only a 14-day trial | openhosst.com, verified June 2026 | VERIFIED |