| Decision point | Zapier AI | Make | n8n |
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| Best for | Automating business workflows across apps | Visual automation scenarios and multi-step operational workflows | Technical workflow automation with self-hosting and AI agent options |
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| Category | Automation | Automation | Automation |
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| Price | See evidence below — official sources checked 2026-08-25 | See evidence below — official sources checked 2026-08-25 | See evidence below — official sources checked 2026-08-25 |
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| AIToolsEssentials score | 4.4/5 | 4.3/5 | 4.3/5 |
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Evidence status
Zapier AICore Zapier plans: Free at $0 with 100 tasks/month; Professional starts at $19.99/month when billed annually; Team is $69/month when billed annually; Enterprise is custom. AI steps, code, MCP, SDK, and Zap workflows draw from a shared task pool. In AI by Zapier, Standard model steps consume 1 task per run, Advanced 3 tasks, and Premium 5 tasks; tool calls add task usage. The pricing page separately lists Agents Free with up to 400 automated activities/month and Agents Pro with up to 1,500 activities/month, but did not expose a dependable Agents Pro price in the retrieved official page text.
Official sources checked 2026-08-25 MakeAt the displayed 10,000-credit tier: Free is $0 with up to 1,000 credits/month; Core is $12/month; Pro is $21/month; Teams is $38/month; Enterprise is sales-led. Most module actions use 1 credit, while AI features using Make's AI Provider can consume an operation credit plus token-based credits. Make's AI Provider is available on all plans; custom AI-provider connections are available on paid plans. Credits normally expire at the end of the subscription term, and extra-credit bundles are available on eligible paid plans.
Official sources checked 2026-08-25 n8nStarter: €20/month billed annually for 2,500 workflow executions with unlimited steps and 2,300 AI credits/month. Pro: €50/month billed annually for 10,000 executions and either 5,700 or up to 13,700 AI credits/month depending on plan size. Business: €667/month billed annually for 40,000 executions and self-hosted deployment. Enterprise: custom. Starter and Pro trials include 800 AI Assistant credits. AI-credit balances refresh monthly and unused credits do not roll over; additional AI credits cannot currently be purchased.
Official sources checked 2026-08-25 Current model lineup
Version names and prices move fast. This panel tracks what each product actually ships today, with checked dates — so the comparison stays about real models, not marketing names.
Zapier AI — current lineup (2026-08-26)| Model | Role | Context | Pricing |
|---|
| Zapier Agents | AI agents that act across 8,000+ app integrations | - | Agent usage billed by plan |
| Chatbots + Tables + Interfaces | No-code AI surfaces on Zapier data | - | Included per plan tier |
| Plans | Free → Professional ~$19.99/mo → Team → Enterprise | - | Task-based billing |
- Zapier sells automation outcomes (tasks), not model tokens — AI features ride on partner models.
Make — current lineup (2026-08-26)| Model | Role | Context | Pricing |
|---|
| Make AI Agents | Autonomous agents inside scenario workflows | - | - |
| Make.com platform | Visual scenario builder, 2,000+ app integrations | - | - |
| Plans | Free 1,000 ops/mo → Core ~$9/mo → Pro → Enterprise | - | Operation-based billing |
- Make charges by operations executed, not tasks — usually cheaper at scale than Zapier.
n8n — current lineup (2026-08-26)| Model | Role | Context | Pricing |
|---|
| n8n AI Agent nodes + LangChain integration | Self-hosted or cloud agentic workflows, bring your own LLM keys | - | - |
| n8n Cloud | Hosted option | - | From ~$20/mo (starter) |
| Self-hosted (fair-code) | Free to run on your infrastructure | - | $0 license cost; pay your own compute |
- n8n gives maximum control: your servers, your model keys, no per-task markup.
Lineups verified from official vendor pages; confirm before purchase.
How to decide
Match each platform to your actual workflow constraints: editor preference and model access for coding tools; task-based versus credit-based versus execution-based pricing, self-hosting needs, and technical depth for automation. Run one real workflow in each finalist before paying.
Quick recommendation
Use the trial checklist on each review page and the free scorecard to record time-to-result, corrections needed, and monthly cost at your expected volume before committing to a plan.
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