Zapier vs Make vs n8n: The Great Automation Migration of 2024

Three months ago, I received a Zapier bill for £387.

For automations I'd built two years ago. Running quietly in the background. Processing maybe 15,000 tasks monthly.

The bill had tripled since I first set them up. Not because I was using more—because Zapier's pricing kept increasing.

I migrated everything to Make (formerly Integromat) in a weekend. Same automations. Better interface. £47/month instead of £387.

I'm not alone. In 2024, there's a quiet mass migration happening from Zapier to alternatives—primarily Make and n8n.

The automation platform market is shifting, and it reveals something important about where no-code tools are headed.

The Automation Platform Landscape in 2024

The big three:

| Platform | Type | Target User | Pricing | Open Source | |----------|------|-------------|---------|-------------| | Zapier | Cloud SaaS | Non-technical users | $20-$800+/mo | No | | Make | Cloud SaaS | Power users | $9-$299/mo | No | | n8n | Self-hosted / Cloud | Developers | Free (self-host) / $20+/mo | Yes |

Market share (estimated from public data & surveys):

• Zapier: ~60% market share
• Make: ~20%
• n8n: ~5%
• Others (Workato, Tray.io, Pipedream, etc.): ~15%

But momentum is shifting:

• Zapier growth: Slowing (estimates suggest 15-20% YoY)
• Make growth: Accelerating (50-70% YoY reported)
• n8n growth: Explosive (100%+ YoY, small base)

What's driving the shift?

Reason 1: Zapier's Pricing Became Unsustainable

Zapier pricing is based on "tasks" (each action in automation = 1 task).

Example automation:

1. New row in Google Sheets (trigger)
2. Look up customer in Airtable (action = 1 task)
3. Send email via Gmail (action = 1 task)
4. Update Slack channel (action = 1 task)

Per execution: 3 tasks

Run 5,000 times/month: 15,000 tasks

Zapier pricing:

• Free: 100 tasks/month (basically unusable)
• Starter: $20/month for 750 tasks
• Professional: $49/month for 2,000 tasks
• Team: $299/month for 50,000 tasks
• Company: $599/month for 100,000 tasks

For my 15,000 tasks/month, I needed Team tier: $299.

But I had multiple automations. Total tasks: ~80,000/month. Required Company tier: $599.

Then Zapier introduced "Premium apps" (Salesforce, Airtable, etc.). These cost extra or require higher tier.

My actual bill: $387/month (Company tier + premium app fees).

Make pricing for same volume:

• Free: 1,000 operations/month
• Core: $9/month for 10,000 operations
• Pro: $16/month for 10,000 operations
• Teams: $29/month for 10,000 operations

For 80,000 operations: ~$47/month on Teams tier.

8× cheaper for identical functionality.

Why Zapier Costs More

Zapier's perspective:

• "We're the enterprise-grade, reliable platform"
• "We have 5,000+ integrations"
• "We handle security, compliance, uptime"

User perspective:

• "I'm paying 8× more for the same automations"
• "Make has the integrations I need"
• "My workflows run fine on cheaper platform"

The truth: Zapier built a moat through integrations and ease of use. But once competitors matched integration breadth and improved UX, price became indefensible.

Reason 2: Visual Workflow Builders Are Just Better

Zapier's interface:

• Linear, step-by-step
• Each action follows previous one in sequence
• Branching requires separate "Paths" feature
• Hard to visualize complex workflows

Make's interface:

• Visual canvas with drag-and-drop nodes
• See entire workflow at a glance
• Built-in branching, loops, error handling
• Feels like flowchart software

Example scenario:

Automation that processes customer feedback:

1. Trigger: New Typeform submission
2. Check sentiment (positive/negative/neutral)
3. If positive → send to marketing team in Slack
4. If negative → create support ticket in Zendesk + email manager
5. If neutral → add to monthly review spreadsheet

In Zapier: This requires "Filter" steps and "Paths" feature. Becomes confusing with 8+ steps.

In Make: Drag three branches from sentiment check. Visual, obvious, maintainable.

Power users prefer Make's interface overwhelmingly.

Reason 3: n8n Offers Self-Hosted Control

n8n's differentiator: Open source + self-hosted option.

Why this matters:

Control

With Zapier or Make, your automations run on their servers. If they're down, your workflows stop.

With n8n self-hosted:

• Runs on your infrastructure
• You control uptime
• No third-party dependency

Data Privacy

Zapier processes all your data through their servers.

For sensitive data (customer PII, health records, financial transactions), this creates compliance issues.

n8n self-hosted:

• Data never leaves your infrastructure
• You control data residency (important for GDPR, HIPAA)
• No third-party data processing agreements needed

Cost at Scale

Zapier/Make pricing scales with usage. At high volume, this gets expensive fast.

n8n self-hosted:

• Unlimited workflows
• Unlimited executions
• Only cost is infrastructure (often ~$10-50/month for small VPS)

Example:

A SaaS company running 1M+ tasks/month:

• Zapier: $1,000-2,000/month
• Make: $400-800/month
• n8n (self-hosted): $50/month infrastructure

40× cost difference at scale.

Reason 4: Developer-Friendly Features

Zapier was built for non-developers. This is a strength for simple automations, a weakness for complex ones.

Make and n8n cater to power users:

Custom Code

Zapier: Very limited JavaScript support. Code steps are clunky.

Make: Built-in functions for transformations. Still limited custom code.

n8n: Full JavaScript support in every node. Can write complex logic inline.

API Integration

Zapier: Pre-built integrations only. Custom API connections require "Webhooks" which are awkward.

Make: "HTTP" module for custom API calls. Well-designed.

n8n: HTTP Request node is first-class citizen. Also supports custom nodes (write your own integrations).

Version Control

Zapier: No version control. If you break a Zap, you manually restore from memory.

Make: Scenario history (can restore previous versions).

n8n: Workflows are JSON. Can commit to Git. Proper version control.

Error Handling

Zapier: Errors send email. Manual retry.

Make: Built-in error handlers. Automatic retries. Fallback paths.

n8n: Same as Make, plus custom error handling logic.

For developers, Make and n8n are obviously superior.

The Migration: What I Learned

I migrated 23 Zapier automations to Make over one weekend. Here's what worked and what didn't:

What Migrated Easily

Simple automations: Trigger → Action → Action

Example: "New Airtable record → Send Slack message"

Time to migrate: 5-10 minutes each

Success rate: 100%

What Required Rework

Complex multi-step workflows: 8+ steps with branching logic

Example: "New customer signup → lookup in database → check tier → send different onboarding email based on tier → update CRM → notify sales if Enterprise tier"

Time to migrate: 30-60 minutes

Success rate: 90% (some required logic changes because Make handles things differently)

What Broke

Zapier-specific features:

• Formatter steps (date/time manipulation, text transformations) - Make has equivalents, but syntax differs
• Storage (Zapier's built-in key-value storage) - Make doesn't have this; I used Airtable instead
• Certain niche integrations (Zapier had a few Make didn't; I used HTTP requests instead)

Overall: ~10% of automations required significant rework.

Total Time Investment

• Planning: 2 hours (mapping which automations to migrate first)
• Migration: 12 hours (spread across weekend)
• Testing: 3 hours
• Total: ~17 hours

ROI:

• Savings: $340/month ($387 Zapier - $47 Make)
• Break-even: 0.05 months (2 days)
• Annual savings: $4,080

Worth it? Absolutely.

When to Use Which Platform

Use Zapier If:

• You're non-technical and need simplest possible interface
• You need very specific niche integration that only Zapier has
• Company policy requires SOC 2 and you can't evaluate alternatives
• Price isn't a concern (enterprise budget covers it)

Use Make If:

• You need visual workflow builder for complex automations
• Price matters (most people)
• You want better error handling and debugging
• You need conditional logic, loops, or branching

Use n8n If:

• You're a developer comfortable with self-hosting
• Data privacy is critical (must keep data on your infrastructure)
• You need custom integrations via code
• You're running high volume (100k+ tasks/month)
• You want version control for workflows

What This Means for the Automation Market

Trend 1: Unbundling Zapier

Zapier tried to be everything to everyone:

• Simple for beginners
• Powerful for advanced users
• Handles all integration needs

This is unsustainable.

Beginners find it too expensive. Advanced users find it too limiting.

The market is splitting:

• Simple: Tools like IFTTT (very basic, cheap)
• Power users: Make, n8n
• Enterprise: Workato, Tray.io (expensive but full-featured)

Zapier is stuck in the middle.

Trend 2: Open Source Wins at Scale

At small scale, SaaS pricing is fine. $20-50/month is acceptable.

At scale (100k+ tasks/month), SaaS pricing becomes untenable. Companies either:

• Negotiate custom enterprise deals (complex, slow)
• Migrate to open source self-hosted (n8n, Temporal, Prefect)

n8n's growth shows this is accelerating.

Trend 3: Developer Tools Eating "No-Code"

"No-code" was supposed to democratize automation for non-developers.

What actually happened:

• Non-developers use simple automations (IFTTT level)
• Power users (often developers) build complex workflows and want code flexibility

The valuable automation work is developer-adjacent.

Make and n8n acknowledge this. Zapier resists it.

Predictions for 2025

Prediction 1: Zapier Reprices or Loses Market Share

Current pricing is unsustainable vs competition.

Options:

• Reduce prices (hurts margins, but retains users)
• Accept market share loss (maintain margins, lose users)
• Compete on enterprise features (move upmarket, abandon SMB)

My bet: Zapier moves upmarket. Focuses on enterprise with compliance, security, support. Loses SMB users to Make/n8n.

Prediction 2: Make Reaches 30% Market Share

Make is growing fast. Interface is better. Pricing is better. Integration parity is close enough.

Barriers to Make dominance:

• Zapier's brand recognition
• Switching cost (takes time to migrate)

But neither barrier is insurmountable.

Prediction 3: n8n Gets Acquired

n8n is small (est. <50 employees) but strategically valuable:

• Open source credibility
• Developer mindshare
• Self-hosted option (important for enterprises)

Potential acquirers:

• Atlassian (fits with Jira, Confluence automation needs)
• GitLab (developer-focused, self-hosted option aligns)
• Amazon (AWS could offer "n8n on AWS" as managed service)

Prediction 4: AI Agents Disrupt Workflow Automation

Current automation: "When X happens, do Y" (deterministic rules).

AI agents: "Achieve goal Z" (AI figures out steps).

Example:

Current automation:

"When new lead enters CRM → Send welcome email → Wait 3 days → Send follow-up → If no response, notify sales."

AI agent version:

"Nurture new leads until they're ready for sales conversation." (Agent decides when/how to follow up based on lead behavior.)

This is nascent but coming.

If AI agents can replace workflow automation, platforms like Zapier/Make/n8n face existential threat.

---

TL;DR: The automation platform shift

What's happening:

• Mass migration from Zapier to Make and n8n (2024)
• Driven by pricing (Zapier 3-8× more expensive)
• Also driven by better UX (visual workflows) and developer features

Platform comparison:

| | Zapier | Make | n8n | |-|--------|------|-----| | Price | $20-800+/mo | $9-299/mo | Free-$20+/mo | | Interface | Linear steps | Visual canvas | Visual canvas | | Target user | Non-technical | Power users | Developers | | Custom code | Limited | Some | Full JS support | | Self-hosted | No | No | Yes |

When to use which:

• Zapier: Non-technical + need simplicity + price doesn't matter
• Make: Visual workflows + price sensitive + complex logic
• n8n: Developer + self-host + data privacy + high volume

What I did:

• Migrated 23 automations from Zapier to Make
• Time: 17 hours
• Savings: $340/month ($4,080/year)
• Payback: 2 days

Market trends:

• Zapier losing SMB market share
• Make growing 50-70% YoY
• n8n growing 100%+ YoY
• Open source wins at scale

What's next:

• Zapier moves upmarket (enterprise focus)
• Make captures 30% market share
• AI agents eventually disrupt entire category

Chaos uses intelligent automation that goes beyond trigger-action rules—context-aware task management that adapts to your workflow. Start your free 14-day trial.