n8n vs Zapier (2026)
Side-by-side comparison of n8n vs Zapier: pricing, capabilities, integrations, deployment complexity, and ratings. Last updated September 29, 2026 by The AI Agent Index Editorial Team.
Data sourced from The AI Agent Index
n8n and Zapier are often compared, and the choice usually comes down to two structural questions: who runs the infrastructure, and how the meter counts. Start with the licence, because it is the fact most often got wrong. n8n is fair-code rather than OSI open source. The source is public and self-hostable under n8n's Sustainable Use License, and paid Business and Enterprise licences unlock extra features. Zapier is closed source and makes no claim otherwise. A team adopting n8n on the assumption of an unrestricted open-source licence should read the Sustainable Use License first. The meter is the second structural difference, and no row in the table above can show it. Zapier bills per task, where each step in a Zap counts as a task. n8n counts an entire multi-step workflow as a single execution. Two automations doing identical work can therefore land in very different places on the two meters, and the gap widens with every extra step in a workflow. Model your own step counts before reading either figure against the other. The two are denominated differently, which the table also cannot show. n8n Cloud is priced in euros, from EUR 20/mo billed annually. Zapier is priced in US dollars, from $19.99/mo billed annually, and its pricing page carries a currency selector offering twenty currencies. Both run a permanently free tier rather than a time-limited trial, and both put their top tier behind a sales conversation. On security the two are closer than the badges suggest. Both publish SOC 2 Type II and GDPR. n8n also publishes a SOC 3 report. Zapier adds CCPA, and its SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports covering June 2025 to May 2026 were published in August 2026. Data handling is where they genuinely diverge, and the table flattens it into one badge each. n8n states it does not use customer data to train AI or ML models. Zapier's terms permit using Derived Data to develop its products, including through model training, with an opt-out form available to everyone and automatic opt-out only on the Company and Enterprise plans. Those are not the same commitment. Both speak MCP, and again not identically. n8n is both server and client: it exposes workflows to external AI agents through a built-in MCP server and the MCP Server Trigger node, and calls out to other MCP servers from inside a workflow. Zapier publishes a server only, labeled beta on its own product page. The vendor states it is included in an existing plan and draws on the same task quota as Zaps, so AI-driven usage competes with automation runs for one allowance. On independent evidence the two corpora differ by roughly an order of magnitude in size, with Zapier holding the far larger review base and n8n the higher average score on a much smaller one. Read those two numbers in the table as answers to different questions rather than as a like-for-like comparison. n8n's repository also has 208k GitHub stars, which is a real signal about developer adoption and says nothing about fit for a non-technical team. The decision comes down to two questions. Does your team have the capacity to deploy and maintain a workflow platform, or to run it on n8n Cloud and accept a euro-denominated bill? Is data sovereignty a hard requirement? If yes to either, n8n. If no to both, Zapier. Teams looking for a middle ground on technical complexity commonly evaluate Make.com, which meters on operations rather than tasks.
n8n
by n8n GmbH
Fair-code workflow automation with 500+ integrations, AI agent nodes and a built-in MCP server. Self-hosted Community Edition free, n8n Cloud from EUR 20/mo billed annually.
Best for
Technical teams that need self-hostable workflow automation, data sovereignty, inline JavaScript and Python, and AI-native workflow nodes, metered per workflow execution rather than per task
Zapier
by Zapier Inc.
Workflow automation platform connecting 9,000+ apps through Zaps, with Zapier MCP for AI tools, plus Agents and Chatbots. Free plan, Professional from $19.99/mo billed annually (USD).
Best for
Non-technical teams that need the largest app library available and the simplest no-code setup, with no infrastructure to run and no self-hosting decision to make
Capabilities
n8n
Zapier
Pros & Limitations
Editorial assessmentn8n
Pros
- ✓The Community Edition can be self-hosted for free from GitHub, so workflows and data stay on the team's own infrastructure.
- ✓AI Agent, vector-store and model nodes sit alongside 500+ integrations and inline JavaScript and Python, and a built-in MCP server lets AI clients run and edit workflows.
- ✓Cloud plans are priced per full workflow execution rather than per step, with unlimited users and workflows on every plan.
Limitations
- –Self-hosting means running and maintaining the servers yourself, and the editor assumes some technical skill.
- –n8n Cloud is priced in euros and capped by monthly executions, from 2,500 on Starter, and the Business plan is not yet available on n8n Cloud.
- –The licence is n8n's own fair-code licence rather than an OSI open-source licence, and SSO, Git version control and environments need Business or Enterprise.
Zapier
Pros
- ✓Connects 9,000+ apps through no-code Zaps with Paths, Formatter and filters, and Copilot (beta) builds Zaps from a plain-language description.
- ✓Zapier MCP lets Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and 230+ other AI tools act across those apps with credentials managed by Zapier and app- and action-level permissions, included in every plan.
- ✓A permanently free plan with 100 tasks a month, a 14-day Professional trial with no credit card, and a 33% saving on annual billing.
Limitations
- –All usage draws on one task pool: Zap actions, AI steps, code, Zapier MCP and the SDK share the plan's tasks, and each Zapier MCP tool call uses two tasks.
- –At the task limit, Zaps move to pay-per-task billing at a higher per-task rate when that option is on, and pause until the next usage period when it is off.
- –Zapier is cloud-only, hosted on AWS in the United States, and its terms allow de-identified Derived Data to be used for model training unless a customer opts out (automatic on Company and Enterprise plans).
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between n8n vs Zapier?
n8n and Zapier are often compared, and the choice usually comes down to two structural questions: who runs the infrastructure, and how the meter counts. Start with the licence, because it is the fact most often got wrong. n8n is fair-code rather than OSI open source. The source is public and self-hostable under n8n's Sustainable Use License, and paid Business and Enterprise licences unlock extra features. Zapier is closed source and makes no claim otherwise. A team adopting n8n on the assumption of an unrestricted open-source licence should read the Sustainable Use License first. The meter is the second structural difference, and no row in the table above can show it. Zapier bills per task, where each step in a Zap counts as a task. n8n counts an entire multi-step workflow as a single execution. Two automations doing identical work can therefore land in very different places on the two meters, and the gap widens with every extra step in a workflow. Model your own step counts before reading either figure against the other. The two are denominated differently, which the table also cannot show. n8n Cloud is priced in euros, from EUR 20/mo billed annually. Zapier is priced in US dollars, from $19.99/mo billed annually, and its pricing page carries a currency selector offering twenty currencies. Both run a permanently free tier rather than a time-limited trial, and both put their top tier behind a sales conversation. On security the two are closer than the badges suggest. Both publish SOC 2 Type II and GDPR. n8n also publishes a SOC 3 report. Zapier adds CCPA, and its SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports covering June 2025 to May 2026 were published in August 2026. Data handling is where they genuinely diverge, and the table flattens it into one badge each. n8n states it does not use customer data to train AI or ML models. Zapier's terms permit using Derived Data to develop its products, including through model training, with an opt-out form available to everyone and automatic opt-out only on the Company and Enterprise plans. Those are not the same commitment. Both speak MCP, and again not identically. n8n is both server and client: it exposes workflows to external AI agents through a built-in MCP server and the MCP Server Trigger node, and calls out to other MCP servers from inside a workflow. Zapier publishes a server only, labeled beta on its own product page. The vendor states it is included in an existing plan and draws on the same task quota as Zaps, so AI-driven usage competes with automation runs for one allowance. On independent evidence the two corpora differ by roughly an order of magnitude in size, with Zapier holding the far larger review base and n8n the higher average score on a much smaller one. Read those two numbers in the table as answers to different questions rather than as a like-for-like comparison. n8n's repository also has 208k GitHub stars, which is a real signal about developer adoption and says nothing about fit for a non-technical team. The decision comes down to two questions. Does your team have the capacity to deploy and maintain a workflow platform, or to run it on n8n Cloud and accept a euro-denominated bill? Is data sovereignty a hard requirement? If yes to either, n8n. If no to both, Zapier. Teams looking for a middle ground on technical complexity commonly evaluate Make.com, which meters on operations rather than tasks.
Which is best for my team: n8n vs Zapier?
n8n is best for: Technical teams that need self-hostable workflow automation, data sovereignty, inline JavaScript and Python, and AI-native workflow nodes, metered per workflow execution rather than per task. Zapier is best for: Non-technical teams that need the largest app library available and the simplest no-code setup, with no infrastructure to run and no self-hosting decision to make.
How does pricing compare between n8n vs Zapier?
n8n uses a freemium model, starting at EUR 20 per month on an annual commitment (month-to-month costs more). Zapier uses a freemium model, starting at $19.99 per month on an annual commitment (month-to-month costs more).
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