Hey everyone! I’m curious about mixing n8n with Zapier for healthcare automation.
Zapier works well for simple tasks that don’t involve patient data, but n8n gives you better privacy control since you can host it yourself. This seems important when dealing with protected health information.
I’m wondering if anyone here has tried using both platforms together? How do you decide which tool to use for different tasks? Any advice on keeping everything secure while still being productive?
Would love to hear about your experiences and if the extra complexity is actually worth it.
zapier’s costs can really skyrocket when you expand your medical workflows. we switched to n8n after our bill shot up to $400/month. self-hosting does require effort, but the savings are huge for healthcare practices.
Managing two platforms is honestly a nightmare. I dealt with this exact problem last year when our medical practice was drowning in manual work.
I ditched both tools and moved everything to Latenode. It handles simple and complex workflows in one spot. Security’s solid for PHI, no self-hosting or server headaches.
What sold me? Building HIPAA compliant workflows without the technical mess. I built patient intake forms that auto-update our EHR, send appointment reminders, and handle insurance verification - one automation does it all.
Learning curve beats n8n by miles. No juggling subscriptions or multiple platforms. When stuff breaks, there’s only one place to fix it.
It really depends on your setup. We’ve been running both for about 18 months and it works well once you set clear boundaries. We keep n8n on our internal network for anything clinical, and Zapier handles external stuff through sanitized APIs. Here’s what worked for us: make a decision matrix upfront. PHI automatically goes to n8n, no exceptions. For operational data without patient info, either tool works - we just use Zapier since our admin team already knows it. Maintenance isn’t bad if you document everything properly. The tricky part is training staff on which platform does what. Budget for that learning curve because switching between tools definitely slows people down at first.
i’ve also been using both for a while now. n8n def takes time to learn, but it’s like having control over your data, which is super important for healthcare. for quick tasks like reminders, zapier is great, but i trust n8n more with patient info.
I’ve been running both and it works great. Data sensitivity is really what decides which one I use, not how complex the task is. Anything touching PHI or EHR systems? Self-hosted n8n behind our firewall, no exceptions. Yeah, there’s a learning curve, but the HIPAA compliance is worth it. Zapier handles all our external stuff - appointment confirmations, general inquiries, basic scheduling that doesn’t involve patient records. Sure, managing both adds some overhead, but you get the best of both worlds without screwing up your security requirements.