n8n vs Zapier vs Make: which automation tool for UK SMEs (2026)

For most UK SMEs, the honest answer is: Zapier if you want the simplest possible setup and your volumes are low, Make if you want visual power at a lower price, and n8n if you care about cost at scale, data control, or anything involving AI. The right choice depends on volume, data sensitivity, and how complex your workflows really are - not on which tool is most popular.

I build automations on all three, so I have no axe to grind. Here is how I actually choose between them.

At a glance

	Zapier	Make	n8n
Best for	Simple, low-volume automations	Visual, mid-complexity workflows	Complex, high-volume, AI, data control
Pricing model	Per task, gets expensive fast	Per operation, cheaper than Zapier	Flat (self-hosted) or per-execution (cloud)
Self-hosting	No	No	Yes
Learning curve	Lowest	Moderate	Steeper, but the most capable
Custom code	Limited	Some	Full JavaScript / Python
AI building blocks	Basic	Growing	Native, first-class
Data residency	Their cloud	Their cloud	Your infrastructure if you want it

When should you choose Zapier?

Zapier is the right call when the automation is simple, the volume is modest, and you value setup speed over everything else. "When a form is submitted, add a row to a sheet and post to Slack" is Zapier's sweet spot. The catch is the pricing: it bills per task, so a workflow that fires thousands of times a month gets expensive quickly. It is the most expensive option at scale and the least flexible for complex logic.

When should you choose Make?

Make (formerly Integromat) sits in the middle. You get a visual canvas that handles branching, iteration and data transformation that Zapier struggles with, at a meaningfully lower price per operation. For mid-complexity workflows where you still want a no-code-ish experience, it is often the best value. It is still a proprietary cloud product, so the data-control and cost-at-scale limits eventually apply.

When should you choose n8n?

n8n is what I reach for when any of these are true:

• Volume is high. Self-hosted n8n has no per-task bill, so cost stops scaling with usage.
• Data is sensitive. You can self-host so customer data never leaves your infrastructure - which matters for GDPR, and for clients who simply won't send data to a third-party cloud.
• The logic is genuinely complex. Custom code, advanced branching, and real error handling are first-class.
• AI is involved. n8n treats LLMs as native building blocks, so AI-driven steps (document understanding, classification, generation) are straightforward.

The trade-off is a steeper learning curve and, if you self-host, something to maintain. For the right use case the savings and control are worth it. See n8n consulting for how I implement it.

How much do they actually cost?

The pricing models are not comparable like-for-like, which is the whole problem. Zapier and Make charge by usage (tasks / operations), so cost rises with success - the more your automation runs, the more you pay. Self-hosted n8n charges for the server, not the runs, so a high-volume workflow that would cost hundreds a month on Zapier can cost a flat, predictable amount on n8n. The break-even point usually arrives faster than people expect: somewhere around a few thousand executions a month.

So which should you pick?

Start from the workflow, not the brand. If it is simple and low-volume, Zapier will have you live this afternoon. If it is visual and mid-complexity, Make gives you more for less. If it is high-volume, data-sensitive, or AI-driven, n8n pays for itself. Many businesses end up with a mix - and that is fine.

If you would rather not run the comparison yourself, that is exactly the kind of thing a short discovery call sorts out in thirty minutes.