The test setup
Six workflows: lead enrichment, invoice routing, support triage, content repurposing, CRM sync and a nightly reporting job. Each was rebuilt from scratch on all three platforms by the same engineer.
We measured wall-clock build time, monthly run cost at 50,000 executions, and failure rate over thirty days.
Where each one wins
Zapier remains the fastest path from idea to working automation, and its connector catalogue is still unmatched. Cost scales aggressively once volume climbs.
Make offers the best visual debugging of complex branching, while n8n wins decisively on cost at volume and on anything requiring custom code or self-hosting.
The verdict
Small teams automating commercial SaaS should start on Zapier. Ops teams running high-volume, AI-heavy pipelines should budget the extra setup week and self-host n8n.
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