n8n vs Zapier: which should a UK business actually use?
Zapier is easier to start with. n8n is dramatically cheaper at volume and can do things Zapier cannot. Here is where the crossover point really sits.
Almost every automation conversation we have starts the same way: someone is on Zapier, the bill has crept up, and they have heard n8n is cheaper. The honest answer is that the choice depends on volume and complexity, not on which tool is "better".
The pricing difference is not subtle
Zapier charges per task. Every step in every workflow counts. A single customer enquiry that touches five steps burns five tasks, so 2,000 enquiries a month is 10,000 tasks.
n8n charges per workflow execution on its cloud plan, and nothing at all per task if you self-host. That same enquiry costs one execution regardless of whether it has five steps or fifty.
For a business running under about 2,000 tasks a month, the difference is small enough to ignore. Above roughly 10,000 tasks a month, we regularly see Zapier bills of £200–£600 replaced by a self-hosted n8n instance costing £15 a month in server rent.
Where Zapier genuinely wins
- Getting started. You will have something working in twenty minutes with no server, no Docker, no maintenance.
- Breadth of integrations. Around 7,000 apps, and the long tail is better covered than n8n's.
- Nobody has to own it. No updates, no backups, no server to patch.
If you have three simple automations and no technical person, Zapier is the right answer and we will tell you so.
Where n8n wins
- Cost at volume. As above, and the gap widens as you grow.
- Real branching logic. Loops, complex conditionals and error handling that would need several chained Zaps.
- Running code. Drop in JavaScript or Python when a node does not exist for what you need.
- Data residency. Self-hosting keeps customer data on infrastructure you control, which matters if you handle health, financial or legal records.
- AI workflows. n8n's agent and vector store nodes are considerably ahead for retrieval-augmented pipelines.
The honest downsides of n8n
Self-hosting means someone owns a server. It needs updates, backups and monitoring. When a workflow breaks at 2am, there is no support desk. That is a real cost, and it is why we either host and maintain n8n for clients or set it up properly on their own infrastructure with monitoring in place.
n8n also has a steeper learning curve. The flexibility that makes it powerful makes the first workflow harder to build than in Zapier.
A rough decision rule
Stay on Zapier if you are under about 2,000 tasks a month, your workflows are linear, and nobody on the team wants to own infrastructure.
Move to n8n if you are past roughly 10,000 tasks a month, you need branching logic or custom code, you are building anything with LLMs, or data residency matters to your sector.
Between those numbers, it is a judgement call. The migration usually takes two to four weeks depending on how many workflows exist, and it pays for itself within a few months at the top of that range.
What we would check first
Before switching anything, export your Zapier task history and look at which Zaps actually consume the tasks. In most accounts we audit, two or three workflows account for 80% of the bill — and occasionally one of them is a loop that has been quietly firing for months on data nobody reads.
Sometimes the cheapest automation project is deleting things.