Zapier connects your apps so work moves between them on its own. A new form entry becomes a row in a sheet, or a new customer gets a welcome email. Make, n8n and IFTTT do similar jobs. The biggest difference between them is how each one counts your usage, because that decides the bill.
All facts below come from each vendor's own pricing page, as of October 2026. Prices are in US dollars unless noted, and can differ by billing period and currency.
What Zapier offers today
As of October 2026, Zapier's pricing page lists:
- Free: 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps only, and checks for new data every 15 minutes. 1 user.
- Professional: from $19.99 a month billed annually, or $29.99 billed monthly, for 750 tasks. Multi-step Zaps, and checks every 2 minutes.
- Team: from $69 a month billed annually for 2,000 tasks, with shared workspaces and up to 25 users.
Zapier counts a task each time an action completes successfully. Triggers and built-in tools such as Filter, Formatter and Delay do not count. Zapier also says it offers billing in 19 currencies.
The short version
- Make: you want more actions for the money and like building on a visual canvas.
- n8n: you or someone on your team is technical, or you want to host the tool yourself.
- IFTTT: you want one or two simple automations with very little setup.
- Zapier: your apps already connect to it, and the free or Professional plan covers your volume.
Make
Make builds automations, called scenarios, on a visual canvas. As of October 2026, its pricing page lists:
- Free: 1,000 credits a month, with at least 15 minutes between scheduled runs. The number of active scenarios is limited.
- Core: $9 a month billed annually for 10,000 credits. Unlimited active scenarios, and runs as often as every minute.
- Pro: $16 a month billed annually for 10,000 credits.
Make charges credits for each action a module performs, such as reading a record or adding a row. Most actions use 1 credit, and some AI features use more. Routers and error handlers do not use credits. A single run of a scenario can use anywhere from two credits to thousands. Annual billing is cheaper than monthly.
Suits you if you run many small automations and want more volume for the price. Less of a fit if you want the simplest possible setup.
n8n
n8n can be used two ways.
Self-hosted. n8n's documentation says the Community edition is free, with almost the full feature set. You need technical skills to install and run it on your own server.
n8n Cloud. As of October 2026, its pricing page lists Starter at €20 a month billed annually for 2,500 executions, and Pro at €50 a month billed annually for 10,000 executions. Prices are in euros. There is a free trial with no credit card.
n8n counts one execution per full run of a workflow, however many steps it has. For long workflows with many steps, that can work out cheaper than paying per action.
Suits you if you are comfortable with technical tools, or want to keep your data on your own server. Less of a fit if you want something that works in minutes with no setup.
IFTTT
As of October 2026, IFTTT's plans page lists a free plan with 2 Applets. Paid plans, Pro and Pro+, allow 20 and unlimited Applets.
Suits you if you want a few simple automations, such as posting to one place when something happens in another. Less of a fit if you need more than a couple of automations without paying.
Check the tools you already pay for
Before you add a new tool, check what you already have. Email tools can send a welcome email when someone signs up. Many shop, booking and form tools have built-in automations. Fewer tools also means fewer places to check when something stops working.
How to choose
- Write down one process from start to finish. A simple SOP helps you see each step.
- Count the steps and how often it runs. Multiply them to estimate tasks, credits or executions a month.
- Check that your apps are supported. Look up each app on the tool's site.
- Build the same automation on two tools. Run it for a week, then compare the cost and how easy it was to fix.
Automation works best on clear, repeated jobs. There is more on that in how to delegate tasks and AI agents for small business.
Nive is being built for a different part of the work: the writing. You describe how your business works once, and it drafts outreach in your voice for you to review and send. Join the waitlist to get the demo first.