n8n vs Zapier vs Make: Best Automation Tool for UK SMEs (2026)
Ampliflow
Advanced AI frontier lab and business growth agency. Helping UK businesses deploy agentic AI systems.
The three tools solve the same problem and bill you in three completely different ways — and the billing model, not the feature list, is what decides your real cost. Zapier charges per task, Make charges per operation, and n8n charges per workflow execution (or nothing at all if you self-host). For a UK SME running a few hundred automations a month that difference is the gap between £20 and £200. This guide compares them on the things that actually move the decision: pricing model, data residency for GDPR, technical difficulty, and where each one quietly falls apart at scale.
Last updated: May 2026 · Covers n8n, Zapier, and Make (formerly Integromat) as of 2026
TL;DR:
- Zapier — easiest to start, biggest app catalogue, charges per task (every step counts). Brilliant until volume makes it expensive.
- Make — visual, more powerful per pound, charges per operation. The best price-to-power ratio for non-technical teams.
- n8n — open-source and self-hostable for £0, charges per execution on cloud (one run = one charge regardless of steps). The only option that gives you true UK data residency.
- The honest answer is not "the cheapest one." It is a decision based on your technical capacity, your data sensitivity, and your monthly volume.
The one thing that decides your bill
These tools look similar and price completely differently. Get this wrong and you overpay by 10x.
| Tool | Billing unit | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Per task | A 5-step automation that runs 1,000 times = 5,000 tasks. Costs climb fast. |
| Make | Per operation | Similar to a task, but operations are cheaper and you get more per plan. |
| n8n | Per execution (cloud) or unlimited (self-hosted) | That same 5-step automation run 1,000 times = 1,000 executions, not 5,000. Or £0 self-hosted. |
A workflow with many steps that runs frequently is cheap on n8n, mid-priced on Make, and expensive on Zapier. A simple two-step automation that runs rarely is fine on any of them. Map your highest-volume workflow before you pick a tool, because that single number determines which one is affordable at your scale.
What is Zapier?
The market default, built for non-technical users. Zapier connects 7,000+ apps with a linear "when this happens, do that" model. It is the easiest to learn — most people can build a working automation in ten minutes with no help — and the catalogue is unmatched, so whatever niche tool your business uses, Zapier almost certainly connects to it.
The trade-off is cost and ceiling. Per-task pricing punishes multi-step automations and high volume, and the linear model makes complex branching logic awkward. Zapier is where most UK SMEs start and many eventually outgrow.
Best for: non-technical teams, small volumes, and obscure app integrations where the catalogue matters more than the price.
What is Make?
The visual power-user's choice (formerly Integromat). Make uses a canvas where you wire modules together visually, which makes branching, routing, iterating over lists, and error handling far more natural than Zapier's linear steps. Per-operation pricing is meaningfully cheaper than Zapier for the same work, and the free and entry tiers are generous.
The cost is a steeper learning curve — the canvas is powerful but less obvious than Zapier's wizard — and a smaller (though still large) app catalogue. For a business doing real volume that has someone willing to learn the tool, Make usually delivers the best value of the three SaaS options.
Best for: teams that want more power than Zapier without self-hosting, and don't mind a short learning curve.
What is n8n?
The open-source, self-hostable option for technical teams. n8n (pronounced "n-eight-n") is fair-code licensed: you can run it on your own server for free, with unlimited workflows and executions, paying only for the server. It has a visual editor like Make, supports custom code nodes (JavaScript/Python), and its cloud plans charge per execution rather than per step — so complex, frequent workflows stay cheap.
The trade-off is responsibility. Self-hosting means you own the server, the updates, the uptime, and the security. That is a real operational cost, not a free lunch — but for a business with technical capacity (or an agency running it for them), it is the cheapest and most private option by a wide margin.
Best for: technical teams, high volume, and any UK business that needs data to stay on infrastructure it controls.
Data residency and GDPR — the UK angle most comparisons skip
Where your customer data is processed is a compliance decision, not a feature preference.
- Zapier and Make are US-headquartered SaaS. Your data passes through their infrastructure. Both offer Data Processing Agreements and are widely used compliantly by UK businesses — but you are trusting a third party with the data in transit, and you cannot guarantee UK-only processing.
- n8n self-hosted is the only option here where data never leaves infrastructure you control. Host it on a UK-region server (Oracle, AWS London, Hetzner) and your automation data stays in the UK, full stop. For businesses handling health, legal, or financial data, this is often the deciding factor.
If you would struggle to explain to your DPO exactly where a customer's data goes when an automation fires, that is a signal to look hard at self-hosted n8n. We cover the wider picture in our pillar guide to AI automation for UK SMEs.
Which should you choose? A decision tree
Stop comparing feature lists. Answer three questions.
- Do you have technical capacity (in-house or via a partner)?
- No → Zapier (or Make if you'll invest a little learning time).
- Yes → continue.
- Is your data sensitive enough that UK-only residency matters?
- Yes → n8n self-hosted. It's the only one that guarantees it.
- No → continue.
- Are you running high monthly volume (thousands of multi-step runs)?
- Yes → n8n (cheapest at scale) or Make (best SaaS value).
- No → Make for value, Zapier for the easiest life.
Most UK SMEs land on Make if they want managed SaaS and n8n if they want control and the lowest long-run cost. Zapier wins when the app catalogue or sheer simplicity outweighs everything else.
When the right answer is "don't run it yourself"
The tool is the easy part. Keeping automations reliable is the hard part. Every platform here will happily let you build something that breaks silently three weeks later when an API changes, a token expires, or a workflow hits an edge case no one tested. The real cost of automation is not the subscription — it's the maintenance, monitoring, and the lost revenue when a broken flow drops leads on the floor for a fortnight before anyone notices.
That is the work that doesn't show up in a pricing-page comparison, and it's where most DIY automation projects quietly stall.
Ready to skip the build-versus-buy decision entirely? We design, build, and run the automation for UK SMEs on the right platform for the job — including self-hosted n8n for full UK data residency — with monitoring so it doesn't break silently. Book a free audit and we'll map your highest-value workflow first.
For a sense of what a scoped engagement covers, see our automation services, and if you're weighing Microsoft's option specifically, read Make.com vs Power Automate for UK businesses.
Frequently asked questions
Is n8n really free?
The self-hosted version is free to run with unlimited workflows — you pay only for the server (from around £4/month on a small VPS, or £0 on Oracle Cloud's always-free tier). n8n's managed cloud is paid and priced per execution. "Free" means free software, not free infrastructure or free maintenance time.
Is Make cheaper than Zapier?
For the same automations, almost always yes. Make's per-operation pricing and more generous plan allowances make it materially cheaper than Zapier's per-task model once you have multi-step workflows or any real volume. Zapier's advantage is ease and catalogue size, not price.
Can these tools run AI steps?
Yes — all three connect to OpenAI, Anthropic, and other model providers, so you can add AI steps (classify an email, summarise a call, draft a reply) inside a workflow. n8n's code nodes give the most flexibility for custom AI logic; Make and Zapier offer prebuilt AI modules that are quicker to set up.
Which is best for a non-technical small business?
Zapier to start, Make if you're willing to spend a few hours learning a more capable tool. Neither requires code. n8n is better left to technical teams or an agency unless you're comfortable running a server.
What happens when an automation breaks?
On all three, a broken automation usually fails quietly — it stops, and unless you've set up error notifications, you find out when something downstream goes wrong. Reliable automation needs monitoring and an owner. This is the single biggest reason DIY automation underperforms versus a managed build.
Related reading
- The Complete Guide to AI Automation for UK SMEs in 2026
- Make.com vs Power Automate for UK Businesses
- AI Automation ROI: Real Numbers for UK Businesses
- Common AI Automation Mistakes UK Businesses Make
See what built-and-managed automation looks like →
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