The short answer
- Zapier — easiest to start, biggest app directory, but priced per task and it gets expensive fast at volume.
- Make — visual and powerful with generous operations, a middle ground on price and complexity.
- n8n — open-source, self-hostable, flat pricing, and the best fit for AI agents and high-volume workflows. This is what we build on.
Pricing: the real difference
Zapier and Make charge by tasks/operations, so cost scales with how much your automations run. n8n can be self-hosted for free, or run on n8n Cloud with flat, execution-based pricing — which is dramatically cheaper once you are running agents that fire thousands of times a month.
AI agents
This is where the gap is widest in 2026. n8n has first-class AI/LLM nodes and agent tooling, so wiring Claude in as a reasoning step is native. Zapier and Make have added AI features, but n8n gives you more control over prompts, tools and guardrails — exactly what a trustworthy agent needs.
Self-hosting and data control
Only n8n lets you self-host, so your data and credentials never leave your infrastructure. For anyone handling customer data, that is often the deciding factor.
When Zapier or Make still win
If you want zero setup and only run a handful of simple automations a month, Zapier's polish is worth it. Make is great if you love a visual canvas and need lots of operations without self-hosting. But if you are serious about AI agents or volume, n8n wins on both power and price.
Why our recipes use n8n
Every recipe on FlowRecipesHub is built for n8n because it is the only one of the three that combines open-source self-hosting, flat pricing and native AI-agent support. You can import any of them free and run them on your own instance.
Get started with n8n →Frequently asked questions
Can I move my Zapier workflows to n8n?
There is no one-click import, but almost every Zapier 'Zap' has a direct n8n equivalent. Our recipe library is the fastest way to find a ready-made n8n version of what you were doing.
Is n8n really free?
Self-hosted n8n is free and open-source. n8n Cloud is a paid, managed option starting around $20/month if you'd rather not host it yourself.