n8n vs Zapier vs Make for Small Business: An Honest Canadian Comparison

The short answer

That is the honest version. None of these tools is "best" in the abstract. The right pick depends on three things: how many steps your automations have, how often they run, and who on your team will fix them when something breaks at 9 p.m. on a Friday.

I run AGNT/01, which builds AI employees for local businesses in Canada. We use these tools every week, and the most common mistake I see is not picking the "wrong" tool. It is picking a tool without understanding how it bills, then getting surprised two months later. So this guide spends real time on metering, and the estimator below lets you run your own numbers.

n8n vs Zapier vs Make: side-by-side comparison

Everything in this table comes from each vendor's official pricing page, help centre or documentation, checked on October 9, 2026. Prices are what the pricing pages displayed that day, in the currency shown. Vendors change plans often, so treat this as a snapshot and confirm on the live page before you buy.

Sources: Zapier pricing, Zapier data privacy, Make pricing, Make operations help, Make organizations help, n8n pricing, n8n licence docs, n8n Cloud vs self-hosted. All checked October 9, 2026. Annual billing discounts exist on all three; the "starting from" figures may assume annual billing.

How each tool counts usage (this is where bills surprise people)

Every automation has a trigger (the thing that starts it, like a missed call or a new form) and one or more steps that do work (send a text, add a CRM contact, email you). The three tools count those steps very differently.

Zapier: tasks

Zapier counts a task each time an action step completes successfully. The trigger is free, and so is checking for new data. Zapier's own built-in helpers, such as Filter, Formatter, Paths and Delay, do not use tasks either. Failed actions do not count. The catch: Zapier now says AI steps, code and some connectors can use more than one task per step, depending on the model and runtime. A four-step Zap (trigger plus three actions) usually costs about three tasks per run.

Make: credits and operations

In Make, every module that runs is an operation, and most module actions consume one credit. Two details matter. First, a trigger counts as one operation each time it checks for data. Second, if a step returns several items (Make calls them bundles), every later step runs once per item, so usage can multiply. Some AI features from Make's own AI provider use more than one credit. A four-module scenario that handles one item usually costs about four credits per run.

n8n: executions

n8n counts one execution per complete workflow run, no matter how many steps or how much data it processes. A four-step workflow and a forty-step workflow both cost one execution. That is why n8n becomes attractive as automations get longer. If you self-host the free Community edition, there is no execution meter at all; you pay for the server and your own time instead.

Pick this if: a decision guide

• Pick Zapier if nobody on your team wants to learn a technical tool, your automations are short (two to four steps), and you need to connect an app that is less common. Its 9,000+ app library is the biggest of the three, and the builder reads like a form.
• Pick Make if you are comfortable dragging boxes on a visual canvas, you want branching logic and more room in the free plan, and you would like your data processed in an EU data centre rather than the US. Make lets you choose, but only when you create the organization.
• Pick n8n Cloud if your workflows are long (many steps per run), you want AI agents with human approval on tool calls, and you have someone who reads documentation for fun. Paying per execution rather than per step can change the math a lot.
• Pick self-hosted n8n if you need data to stay on a server you control, such as one in a Canadian data centre, and you have a technical partner to install, update, back up and secure it. The licence allows free use for your own internal business purposes.
• Pick none of them yet if you cannot name the first automation you want. Write down one painful, repetitive job first. Our ChatGPT prompts for small business owners can help you map that job before you automate it.

If you are deciding between a simple automation and an AI agent that makes judgement calls, read AI agents vs chatbots for small business first. All three tools now sell agent features, but most local businesses get more value from boring, reliable automations.

Worked example: missed call, text back, CRM, owner alert

Here is one of the most valuable automations for a local business. A customer calls, nobody picks up, and within a minute they get a friendly text. Their details land in your CRM and you get a ping. (If you need the wording, see our missed call text back templates.)

Conceptually, the workflow has four parts: a trigger and three actions. Here is how each tool would model it.

Say you miss five calls a day. That is about 150 runs a month: roughly 450 Zapier tasks, 600 Make credits, or 150 n8n executions. Notice two practical things. Zapier's free plan only allows two-step Zaps and 100 tasks, so this automation needs a paid plan. Make's free plan has enough credits but a 15-minute minimum interval between runs, and a text that arrives 15 minutes late loses much of its value. Speed is the whole point here, so check that the plan you choose supports instant triggers.

Also remember that the texts themselves cost money. Your SMS provider bills separately from the automation tool, and so does any AI model you call.

Total cost of ownership: the part pricing pages leave out

The subscription is usually the smallest cost. The bigger ones are harder to see:

• Your build time. A first automation always takes longer than the demo video suggests. Connecting accounts, mapping fields and testing edge cases (a caller with no name, a blocked number) adds up.
• Maintenance. Apps change their connections and fields. A CRM update can quietly break a step. Someone has to notice and fix it.
• Failure handling. What happens when the SMS provider is down? All three tools offer some form of error alerts or retries, but you have to set them up and then actually read them.
• Self-hosting chores. With self-hosted n8n, you own updates, security patches, backups and uptime. n8n's own docs say self-hosting requires technical expertise for installation and configuration. Free software is not free to run.
• Usage creep. Automations multiply. Five today becomes fifteen next year. Re-run the estimator each quarter.

If you want to think about automation spend per job done, rather than per month, our breakdown of AI cost per task uses the same lens.

Canadian privacy note: PIPEDA and cross-border processing

Zapier stores data in the United States. Make offers US or EU data centres. n8n Cloud hosts in Germany. None of the pages we checked list a Canadian hosting region for the cloud versions. Is that a problem?

Not by itself. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada's guidelines for processing personal data across borders say PIPEDA does not prohibit sending personal information to a provider in another country for processing. The OPC treats that transfer as a "use", not a disclosure. But three obligations follow:

• You remain accountable. Your business stays responsible for customer information even when a vendor processes it.
• Protect it by contract. Use contractual or other means to provide a comparable level of protection while the vendor holds it. Read the vendor's data processing terms.
• Tell your customers. In clear, understandable language, let people know their information may be processed in another country and may be accessible to that country's courts, law enforcement and national security authorities. Ideally, do it when you collect the information, such as in your privacy policy and on your booking forms.

If you operate in Quebec, Alberta or British Columbia, provincial private-sector privacy laws also apply, so check those too. This is general information, not legal advice. For sensitive data such as health or legal matters, talk to a privacy lawyer before you automate.

When to hire help vs DIY

Do it yourself when the automation is internal (it only touches you and your staff), it has a handful of steps, and a failure would be annoying rather than costly. Moving form entries into a spreadsheet is a perfect first project.

Get help when the automation talks to customers, touches personal information, connects three or more systems, or uses AI to make decisions. Get help too if you would rather not be the person on call when it breaks. A good partner documents what they build, sets up error alerts, and hands you the keys so you are not locked in. Our guide on how to choose an AI automation agency in Canada lists the questions to ask.

Whichever way you go, start with one automation, measure it for a month, then add the next. The tool matters less than the habit of fixing one leak at a time.