Productivity · Head-to-head
Zapier vs n8n
Zapier vs n8n: Free tier + Professional from $19.99/mo + Team from $69/mo + Enterprise contact vs Freemium. Side-by-side features, pricing, and which to pick.
The verdict
Pick Zapier if…
- →your primary use case is teams that need to connect many saas apps and build automations from a plain-english description instead of manual setup.
Pick n8n if…
- →your primary use case is technically comfortable teams who want to self-host their automation and build ai agents that chain llms with operational tools.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Zapier | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Headline pricing | Free tier + Professional from $19.99/mo + Team from $69/mo + Enterprise contact | Freemium |
| Free tier | Free forever with 100 tasks per month | Free self-hosted version with unlimited workflows |
| AI Score | 8.9/10 | 8.7/10 |
| Best for | Teams that need to connect many SaaS apps and build automations from a plain-English description instead of manual setup. | Technically comfortable teams who want to self-host their automation and build AI agents that chain LLMs with operational tools. |
| Editor's pick | — | — |
| Use cases | productivity agents | productivity agents |
| Date added | 2025-05-15 | 2025-08-01 |
Pros and cons
Zapier
Productivity · freemium
Pros
- ✓Largest app ecosystem (7,000+ integrations)
- ✓AI-powered workflow builder
- ✓No coding required for complex automations
- ✓Reliable and well-documented
Cons
- ×Gets expensive with high task volumes
- ×Free tier is very limited
- ×Complex workflows can be hard to debug
- ×Task-based pricing can be unpredictable
n8n
Productivity · freemium
Pros
- ✓Open-source with full self-hosting capability
- ✓AI agent workflow capabilities
- ✓Complete data privacy when self-hosted
- ✓Visual node-based editor is intuitive
Cons
- ×Self-hosting requires technical knowledge
- ×Smaller app ecosystem than Zapier
- ×Documentation can be sparse for advanced features
- ×Cloud plans have execution limits
Related comparisons
Updated 2026-08-28. Spec data sourced from official product pages and tracked in our public directory at /tools.