# Zapier vs Make vs n8n: choosing an automation tool > How Zapier, Make, n8n, and Power Automate count usage, what their free plans allow, prices as of November 2026, AI steps, data hosting, and approval steps. Comparing **Zapier vs Make vs n8n** starts with what each one counts: Zapier bills successful actions, Make bills every module run, triggers included, and n8n bills one execution per complete workflow run. Microsoft Power Automate, often already included in Microsoft 365, caps daily requests instead. As of November 11, 2026, only n8n can be self-hosted, and Zapier stores data in the US only. **Key takeaways** 1. For a five-step workflow that runs 300 times a month, published prices on November 11, 2026 come to $39 a month on Zapier, $11 on Make, and €20 on n8n Cloud, each billed annually. 2. Zapier's AI steps default to its Premium model tier, which uses five tasks per run plus five per tool called, unless you connect your own AI account. 3. Microsoft 365 business licenses include Power Automate for flows that use standard connectors, with up to 6,000 requests per user per day. ## Comparing Zapier, Make, n8n, and Power Automate An automation tool connects the apps you already use, so that a form entry, an email, or a new invoice sets off the next steps without anyone copying and pasting. This page is part of [automation tools for a small team](/guides/ai-at-work/automation-and-agents/) and compares four of them from their pricing and help pages as of November 11, 2026. Blue Hat Web earns nothing from any of them. Start with two checks. First, make sure each app you rely on exists in the tool's catalog; the headline numbers of integrations are each company's own claim and are not comparable. Second, estimate how often your workflows run, because the four tools bill for different things. ### How each one counts and what it costs | | Zapier | Make | n8n | Power Automate | |---|---|---|---|---| | What you pay for | Successful actions, called tasks | Every module run, called credits, trigger included | One full workflow run, called an execution | A license, with daily request limits | | Free plan | 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps, checks every 15 minutes | 1,000 credits a month, 2 active scenarios | No free cloud plan; free self-hosted Community Edition | Included in Microsoft 365 business licenses, standard connectors only | | First paid plan, billed monthly | $29.99 for 750 tasks | $16 for 10,000 credits | €24 for 2,500 executions | Not shown monthly | | Same plan, billed annually | $19.99 a month | $11 a month | €20 a month | Premium, $15 a month | | Where data is hosted | US only | US or EU, chosen once | EU (Frankfurt), or your own server | A region you choose, including the UK, Canada, and Australia | Zapier converts its prices for other countries: its 750-task plan is £22.96, CA$43.12, or A$44.53 billed monthly, before tax. Power Automate Premium is £11.50, CA$20.40, or A$22.40 a month billed annually, before tax. Make shows a dollar sign without saying which dollar, and n8n shows euros. ### A worked example: five steps, 300 runs a month Take a workflow with one trigger and four actions, such as a website form that creates a contact, adds a row to a spreadsheet, sends a welcome email, and posts a note in Teams. It runs 300 times a month, from an instant trigger, without AI, for one user, at prices before tax: - **Zapier:** the trigger is free and each action is a task, so 4 × 300 = 1,200 tasks. The free plan allows two steps only; the 1,500-task tier costs $58.50 monthly or $39 a month billed annually, $468 a year. - **Make:** the trigger counts too, so 5 × 300 = 1,500 credits. Core's 10,000 credits cost $16 monthly or $11 a month billed annually, $132 a year. A trigger that checks for new data every 15 minutes would add 2,880 credits a month, still within Core. - **n8n Cloud:** 300 executions, whatever the number of steps. Starter costs €24 monthly or €20 a month billed annually, €240 a year. The self-hosted Community Edition has no license fee, but you run and maintain the server. - **Power Automate:** 1,500 requests a month, about 50 a day, far below the 6,000 a day of a Microsoft 365 license. That is no extra cost if every connector is a standard one; a single premium connector means Premium, $180 a year. This is arithmetic on each company's published rules, not a test. Overruns work differently too: Zapier keeps running past your quota by default, up to three times your plan's tasks, at a higher rate it does not publish, while Make stops your scenarios when credits run out unless you buy more at a 25% premium. ### AI steps change the bill Zapier's [task rules](https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/8496196837261-How-is-task-usage-measured-in-Zapier) are simple until AI arrives. An AI by Zapier step costs one task times a multiplier, plus the same for each tool it calls: ×1 on the Standard tier, ×3 on Advanced, ×5 on Premium, which is the default, and ×1 if you connect your own AI account. On Make, AI modules add credits for the tokens used, unless you connect your own AI provider, which every paid plan allows since November 6, 2025. n8n counts an AI agent run as one execution, but its built-in model credits are billed separately; with your own API key you pay the AI company directly. In Power Automate, Copilot helps build flows, and agent flows in Copilot Studio are billed in Copilot Credits. ### Data, hosting, and self-hosting Zapier says it hosts all customer data on AWS servers in the US and offers no EU-only storage. Make lets you choose a US or EU region when you create your organization, with no change later, and warns that an EU region does not keep every AI feature in the EU. n8n's cloud runs in Frankfurt. Power Automate lets an administrator pick the region of each environment. Only n8n can run on your own server, under its [Sustainable Use License](https://docs.n8n.io/n8n-community-license/community-license/license-faq), which n8n calls “fair-code” rather than open source. You may use it for your own business, and build automations for clients on your own instance; you may not host it as a service or let clients build their own workflows on it. ### Approval before anything leaves the business Zapier's Human in the Loop pauses a Zap until a reviewer approves, and its AI steps can require approval before each tool runs. n8n can require human approval before an AI agent uses a chosen tool, on every cloud plan, and Power Automate has a “Start and wait for an approval” action. We found no native approval step in Make; its guidance suggests telling an AI agent to ask a human, while warning that agents may not always follow instructions. Our recommendation: require approval for any email to a client, payment, or deletion. ### Which one fits Our reading, not a ranking: a Microsoft 365 business should try Power Automate first, since it is already paid for. Short workflows across many apps suit Zapier or Make, once you have counted triggers. Long workflows that run often, or data that must stay in the EU or on your own server, point to n8n. ### What to automate first Choosing the tool is the easy part; choosing the task matters more. See [the first automations worth setting up](/guides/ai-at-work/automation-and-agents/first-automations/). ### When the automation decides for itself An AI agent inside a workflow picks its own steps, which changes the risks. See [what an AI agent is](/guides/ai-at-work/automation-and-agents/what-is-an-ai-agent/), in plain terms. --- **Prices:** checked on November 11, 2026 on the providers' official websites, in the currency and country shown. A lower monthly price often requires paying for a full year, and promotions change without notice. Amounts may have changed since then.