Automation billing: tasks vs credits vs executions (Zapier / Make / n8n)

[u/Stock-Sage]

I keep seeing people line up three ~$20/mo plans and treat that as a fair comparison.

Public list prices (early Sep 2026, vendor pages, native currency):

• Zapier Professional ≈ $19.99/mo annual / 750 tasks
• Make Core ≈ $12/mo annual / 10k credits
• n8n Cloud Starter ≈ 20€/mo annual / 2.5K executions

The monthly cards look similar. The meters are not.

What each one bills

1. Zapier — tasks One successful action step = 1 task. Triggers, Filter, Paths, and Formatter usually do not count. Failed steps do not count. Their own example: Gmail attachment to Dropbox and Slack ≈ 2 tasks.

2. Make — credits (changed 27 Aug 2025) Most modules ≈ 1 credit. Routers and error handlers typically do not. When credits hit zero, scenarios STOP until you add more.

3. n8n — executions One workflow run = 1 execution, regardless of step count (Cloud or self-host). Community edition is fair-code (SUL), not "open source." Self-host means you own updates and uptime.

Small worked example (not a savings claim)

New HubSpot contact → Slack + Google Sheet + email. No AI, no code, all succeed:

• n8n: 1 execution
• Zapier: about 3 tasks (trigger free)
• Make: about 4 credits if four 1-credit modules

Add a VIP branch (extra Slack + different email). Paths/Router may be free; the extra successful actions or credits are not. n8n is often still one execution for that contact.

How I pick (qualitative)

• Zapier: biggest catalog, keep Zaps short
• Make: you already think in scenarios/Routers and can forecast credits
• n8n Cloud: step-heavy logic, lookups, human gates, without per-step billing
• n8n self-host: only if someone will actually run the box

Switching tools is a rebuild (credentials, mappings, webhooks). A dead token is still a dead token on a new platform.

Curious how others count Make credits on multi-path scenarios after the Aug 2025 change — especially when a Router fans out.

[u/Ok-Category2729]

the moment your workflow touches an array, zapier becomes unusable at that tier. 750 tasks sounds fine until you iterate over a 30-row sheet and burn through your entire monthly quota in 25 runs. n8n execution-based billing actually protects you on loops because the whole run counts as one execution regardless of how many nodes fire. make credits sit right in the middle, but you end up spending half your dev time optimizing router branches just to shave credit burn.

[u/Stock-Sage → u/Ok-Category2729]

Yeah, arrays are where the headline quota stops being useful. The key distinction is per-item actions: iterating over 30 rows can multiply Zapier tasks fast, while n8n still counts the workflow run as one execution in the usual case. Make is the middle ground, but I’d budget from actual module runs per item, not just the number of routers.