n8n vs Zapier
 n8n |  Zapier | |
|---|---|---|
| Sentiment | ||
| Score | 53/100 | 23/100 |
| Rank in category | #1 | #2 |
| Rated comments | 40 | 21 |
| Best for | Technical builders and automation agencies who want code-level control; High-volume workflows where per-step pricing would get expensive; Teams that want to self-host and keep data on their own infrastructure | Simple trigger-to-action automations between popular SaaS apps; Non-technical users who want something running in minutes; Teams that would rather pay than maintain auth and hosting themselves |
| Skip it if | Non-technical users who want true no-code; Anyone unwilling to patch, secure and maintain a self-hosted instance | High-volume workflows where per-task pricing adds up; Workflows that need loops, custom code, state, retries or human approval steps |
| Pricing (vendor-stated) | Self-hosted Community Edition is free. Cloud plans billed annually: Starter 20€/mo (2.5k executions), Pro 50€/mo (10k executions); Business 667€/mo (40k executions, self-hosted only); Enterprise via sales. Executions count whole workflow runs, not steps. Annual billing saves 17%; cloud trial needs no card. | Free plan with 100 tasks/month. Professional from $19.99/mo billed annually ($29.99 month-to-month) for 750 tasks; Team from $69/mo billed annually ($103.50 monthly) for 2,000 tasks; Enterprise is sales-led. Prices rise with the task tier chosen. 14-day Professional trial, no card required. |
Independent users are largely positive: self-hosting keeps running costs low and flat, code nodes and branching handle logic that simpler tools cannot, and many now build workflows by having Claude drive n8n through its MCP server. The trade-off is that it is not really no-code, and self-hosters own the operational work, from security patches on exposed instances to expiring OAuth tokens and a bloating executions database. The sample leans heavily on r/n8n and r/selfhosted; about one in eight comments was promotional, including three accounts steering one thread toward the Blotato scheduler and plugs for Kareenos, Windmill, Ayrshare and a cheap VPS host.
Users like
- Self-hosting keeps costs low and flat: users run it on a Raspberry Pi or a small VPS for a few dollars a month, and pricing is per workflow run rather than per step[1][2][3][4][5]
- Code nodes, loops and branching handle complex logic and odd data transformations without workarounds[1][2][3][4]
- Works well with AI assistants: users have Claude build and fix workflows through the n8n MCP server, though it still makes mistakes on complex expressions[1][2][3][4]
- Execution logs and the visual flow make it easy to find the slow or failing step and to hand workflows to non-technical clients[1][2][3]
Users complain about
- Steeper learning curve than Make or Zapier, and self-hosting is beyond most people's idea of no-code[1][2][3][4][5]
- Self-hosters carry the security risk: it has had pre-auth remote code execution CVEs, and webhook endpoints stay publicly reachable by design[1][2]
- Ongoing maintenance: Google OAuth apps left in testing mode expire tokens every seven days and stop workflows, and an unpruned executions database (1.66 GB in one case) slows the instance[1][2]
- Some developers find it unnecessary or limiting next to plain code, CI tools or AI coding agents[1][2][3][4]
Independent users treat Zapier as the quickest way to wire common SaaS apps together with simple trigger-filter-action flows, and a few value that it absorbs integration upkeep such as OAuth. The recurring complaints are cost and ceiling: per-task billing balloons at volume, and branching, custom code, state and approval steps push people to n8n. Nearly all of this corpus comes from r/n8n, so it over-represents people who left Zapier; about a third of the 56 comments were promotional (blog links, freelancer pitches, affiliate links, and a pair of accounts seeding a tool called duet with the same quote-wrapped talking points).
Users like
- Fast and easy for simple, deterministic trigger-filter-action automations between common apps[1][2][3][4][5]
- Takes care of integration upkeep: one user found Outlook credentials far easier than in n8n, and an agency notes Zapier carries the OAuth token maintenance that self-built integrations must handle[1][2]
- A couple of users found its AI agent builder friendly and easy to start with[1][2]
Users complain about
- Per-task pricing gets expensive at volume; users contrast it with flat-cost self-hosted n8n[1][2][3][4][5][6]
- Hits limits on complex logic: limited custom code, awkward loops, and poor fit for state, retries and approval gates[1][2][3][4][5][6]
- Several users who outgrew it moved to n8n and did not go back[1][2][3]