I’m trying to choose between two automation tools and could use some advice. I’ve been exploring both n8n and Zapier for streamlining my business workflows, but I’m unsure which tool would suit my needs better.
As far as I know, n8n is open source and allows self-hosting, whereas Zapier is entirely cloud-based. I’m curious about how they differ in terms of features, cost, user-friendliness, and performance.
Has anyone used both tools? What are the main advantages and disadvantages of each? I’m particularly interested in the learning curve and whether the free plans are good enough for small projects.
Any insights or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated to help me make this decision.
I’ve been using n8n for about 8 months after switching from Zapier. Here’s what I’ve learned: Cost was huge for me. Zapier gets expensive fast when you scale up, but n8n just costs whatever you pay for hosting - way cheaper. There’s a catch though - n8n needs some technical know-how to set up and maintain. Zapier’s much easier to use right out of the box. For free plans, n8n makes you self-host everything. Zapier gives you 100 tasks monthly without the hassle, which is pretty nice for small projects. Performance-wise, n8n runs faster on my own infrastructure, but I’m stuck fixing any problems myself. Zapier handles all that for you. Zapier wins on enterprise integrations - tons of pre-built stuff. But n8n crushes it for custom setups if you need that flexibility.
zapier’s plug-and-play, but n8n makes you understand what’s actually happening. if you’re not comfortable with servers and databases, go with zapier. once you get n8n running tho, the customization blows zapier’s limitations out of the water.
I’ve used both for different clients this past year. The learning curve depends on your coding background - if you’re comfortable with basic concepts, n8n clicks pretty fast. What surprised me was debugging. When Zapier breaks, you’re stuck waiting for support or finding workarounds. With n8n, you can dig into the execution logs and see exactly what failed. The free plans are tricky - Zapier’s 100 tasks sounds good until simple workflows burn through it. n8n’s self-hosted version gives unlimited runs but you pay for server costs instead. For small projects, start with Zapier to prototype, then move to n8n once you know what you need. Moving between them taught me workflow optimization I wouldn’t have learned otherwise.