n8n vs Zapier: What We Actually Recommend
One is cheaper. One is simpler. The right answer depends on your team.
Clients ask us this every week. Here's the honest breakdown we give them, without the vendor spin.
Zapier is the friendliest automation tool on the market. Huge app library, clean UI, non-technical people can build workflows in an afternoon.
The catch is cost. Once you cross a few thousand tasks a month, pricing scales fast. And complex branching, loops, or custom code quickly hit the ceiling of what the UI can handle.
n8n is the power user's pick. Self-hosted or cloud. Unlimited workflows on the self-hosted version. It can do everything Zapier can, plus custom JavaScript, proper error handling, and genuinely complex logic.
The tradeoff is the learning curve. And if you self-host, someone has to own the infrastructure.
Our rule of thumb. If your team is non-technical and your workflows are simple, start with Zapier. If you're running hundreds of thousands of tasks, need custom logic, or want to own your data, n8n will pay for itself within months.
And if you're not sure, that's usually what we're for.
Want us to map your process?
Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We'll show you where automation pays off fastest.