Zapier, Make or n8n? Choosing an automation tool for a small UK business

How does each tool charge?

All three publish their prices, and all three price in a different unit. These are the published entry points on 7 October 2026. Zapier and Make price in US dollars and n8n in euros, so the sterling cost moves with the exchange rate.

Sources: the Zapier and n8n pricing pages, and Make's pricing page and its guide to credits. Prices change often, so check them before you commit.

What does that look like for a real workflow?

Take a hypothetical but very common one. A web enquiry arrives, it is added to your CRM, a follow-up task is created, the team is notified, and the customer gets a confirmation email. That is a trigger and four actions, and say it runs 300 times a month.

On Zapier, the four actions use roughly 1,200 tasks a month, which is over the 750-task entry tier, so you would need a larger Professional tier. On Make, five modules running 300 times use roughly 1,500 credits, comfortably inside the entry plan's 10,000. On n8n, it is 300 executions, inside the Starter plan's 2,500, however many steps you add. The more steps your workflows have, the wider that gap becomes.

Which is easiest to use?

Zapier, by some distance. It reads like a sentence (when this happens, do that), it has the largest catalogue of ready-made connections, and somebody with no technical background can build a useful automation in an afternoon. That ease is most of what you pay for.

Make shows the workflow as a visual map, with branches, filters and loops you can see. It takes longer to learn and gives you more control, which suits workflows that do different things depending on the data. n8n is the most technical of the three: it lets you drop into code where a ready-made step does not exist, and if you host it yourself, keeping the server updated and backed up becomes your job.

Where does each one hold your data?

This matters if the workflow handles customer details, because it belongs in your privacy notice and your contracts. Zapier hosts data in the United States on Amazon Web Services. Its own data privacy overview answers the question "Is there an option to have my data stored only within the EU?" with "Zapier does not support this option." It is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK Extension.

Make lets you choose a US or EU data centre when you create an organisation, and its help centre says the choice cannot be changed afterwards, so pick carefully at the start. A self-hosted n8n stores data wherever you put the server, which is why it appeals to businesses with strict data rules. Its Sustainable Use License allows use "for your own internal business purposes" without a fee, according to the n8n documentation.

Which one should you use?

When should you use none of them?

When the software you already pay for can do it. Most CRMs, accounting packages and booking systems now have built-in workflows, and a rule inside the system is simpler and sturdier than a chain through a third tool. Check there first.

And when the workflow is critical, complicated or very high volume. A chain of connectors that quietly stops working when a password expires is fine for a nice-to-have. It is not fine for invoicing, stock or anything a customer relies on. That is when a direct integration, built and monitored properly, pays for itself; it is what our systems integration work is for.

What breaks, and who watches it?

Connections expire, apps change their fields, a supplier renames a product and a filter stops matching. All three tools can email you when a run fails, but somebody has to read the email and fix the cause. Decide who that is before you build anything important.

We build automations on whichever tool fits, or directly where none of them should be in the middle. A single automation starts from £650 and a connected system across two or three tools from £1,950, on our business automation page. Care, including watching for failures, is from £49 a month. If you are deciding what to automate first, start with the six jobs a small business should stop doing by hand, and our guide to who builds business automation in the UK covers who to ask.

Questions about Zapier, Make and n8n

Is n8n really free?

The self-hosted Community Edition has no licence fee for your own internal business use under n8n's Sustainable Use License, but you pay for the server and the time to keep it updated and backed up. n8n's hosted plans start at €20 a month billed yearly.

Is Make cheaper than Zapier?

Usually, for workflows with several steps. Zapier counts each action as a task and Make counts each module action as a credit, but Make's entry plan includes far more credits for the money. For one or two simple two-step automations the difference is small.

Can a UK business use Zapier under UK GDPR?

Many do. Zapier stores data in the United States and is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and its UK Extension. Whether your own use is compliant depends on what data you send through it and what your privacy notice and contracts say.

What is the best alternative to Zapier?

Make for cheaper multi-step workflows with a visual editor, and n8n for self-hosting or high volumes. Before either, check whether the software you already pay for has built-in automation that does the job.