Zapier vs Make vs n8n: which automation tool should you use?

Zapier, Make, and n8n dominate every workflow automation shortlist, and they take three genuinely different approaches. Zapier sells convenience. Make sells visual control at a lower price per step. n8n sells ownership — run it yourself, change anything.

All three share one thing: you build the automation by hand. You pick the trigger, place each step, map the fields between them, and go back in yourself when something changes. That's the assumption this comparison examines last, because it's the one nobody in the shortlist questions.

TL;DR

• Zapier — fastest to a first working automation, and by far the biggest integration library at 9,000+. Bills per action step, so cost climbs with how much each automation does and how often it runs.
• Make — a visual canvas with real branching via routers, filters, and iterators. Cheaper per step than Zapier, but complex scenarios get hard to follow.
• n8n — full code access and a free self-hosted edition. You own the uptime, backups, and scaling.
• CodeWords — you describe the agent you need and Cody builds it, connects your tools, deploys it, and keeps it running. When the job changes, you describe the change.

How you build on each

Zapier is a trigger followed by a linear sequence of actions. It's no-code and quick, but building a Zap still means choosing the trigger, choosing each action, and mapping fields between steps yourself. Branching exists but is limited on lower plans.

Make gives you a canvas of modules with routers, filters, and iterators for branching. More powerful than Zapier's linear model, and a steeper first hour — Make's own pitch is that you can automate "just like a developer, all without any coding expertise," which is accurate about both the power and the mental model.

n8n sits between the two and then goes further: a visual node editor with JavaScript or Python available in a Function node whenever the visual layer runs out. It's the most capable of the three if you have engineering capacity, and the most work if you don't.

CodeWords removes the build step. You describe the job in plain language, and Cody plans it, writes and tests the code behind it, connects the tools it needs, and deploys it. You review what he built rather than assembling it — see how that works from a single sentence.

Integrations

Platform	Native integrations
Zapier	9,000+
Make	3,000+
n8n	1,000+, plus custom HTTP nodes
CodeWords	3,000+, plus bring-your-own API keys

Zapier's library is the clear leader and often the deciding factor for a long tail of niche SaaS tools. For the tools most teams actually run on, all four cover the common ground.

What they really cost

The headline price tells you very little here, because all four meter usage differently. What matters is the unit each one bills.

• Zapier bills per completed action step, called a task. A five-step Zap firing 150 times a month uses 750 tasks on its own — most of an entry Professional plan before anything else runs.
• Make bills per module action, so cost scales with how many steps a scenario contains. Make renamed its "operations" to "credits" in August 2025, so watch out when comparing against older write-ups.
• n8n bills per completed workflow execution, not per step inside it. A longer workflow doesn't cost more per run than a short one — the most forgiving model of the three for multi-step work.
• CodeWords runs on one credit pool covering building, running, and connecting your tools.

Plans

Zapier — Free $0 (100 tasks, two-step Zaps only) · Professional from $19.99/month annual, scaling to $3,389/month at 2,000,000 tasks · Team from $69/month · Enterprise custom

Make — Free $0 (1,000 credits, 2 active scenarios) · Core $9/month (10,000 credits) · Pro $16/month · Teams $29/month · Enterprise custom

n8n — Community Edition free, self-hosted, unlimited executions · Starter Cloud $20/month (2,500 executions) · Pro Cloud $50/month (10,000) · Business self-hosted $667/month (40,000) · Enterprise custom

CodeWords — Free $0 (100 workflow runs) · Pro $39/month (2,500 runs) · Business $100/month (unlimited runs) · Custom contact sales. See full pricing.

Self-hosting and data control

Only n8n offers a real self-hosted path, and it's the reason most teams pick it: if data cannot leave infrastructure you control, that decision is already made. The trade is that uptime, upgrades, backups, and scaling become yours. Zapier, Make, and CodeWords are all managed.

AI capabilities

All three of the incumbents have added AI, and in all three cases it's a step you configure inside a workflow you built. Zapier has AI actions and an agent builder. Make has LLM modules. n8n has an AI Agent node giving you a model, tools, and memory — a genuine addition, and still something you assemble yourself.

CodeWords inverts that. The AI isn't a node inside your automation; it's what builds the automation. See what an AI agent actually is if you want the underlying concept first.

Side by side

	Zapier	Make	n8n	CodeWords
Who it's for	Non-technical teams	Non-technical teams wanting visual control	Technical teams	Non-technical people
How you build	Trigger plus linear actions	Modules on a visual canvas	Visual nodes plus code	Describe it to Cody
Who designs the steps	You	You	You	Cody, from your description
Making a change	Reopen the Zap, remap steps	Reopen the scenario	Reopen the canvas or edit code	Describe the change in the same chat
Billing unit	Per action step	Per module action	Per workflow execution	One credit pool
Self-hosting	No	No	Yes	No
Building an app or UI	No	No	No	Yes, hosted, with a database and custom domain

When to pick which

• You need a niche integration none of the others have — Zapier. The 9,000+ library is the moat.
• You want visual control over branching and error handling and the per-step economics matter — Make.
• Data has to stay on infrastructure you control, and you have the DevOps capacity to run it — n8n, self-hosted.
• You run high execution volume and would rather manage a server than pay per run — n8n Community Edition.
• You have no developer and want an automation live this week — CodeWords.
• You'd rather describe a change than reopen and rewire it — CodeWords.

Where CodeWords fits

The three-way comparison above is a real choice, and for a team that wants to place every step by hand, it's the whole choice. Zapier, Make, and n8n differ on how much control you get and what it costs — not on whether you do the building.

CodeWords answers a different question. You describe what you want, and Cody builds it, connects your tools, deploys it, and keeps it running on a schedule, a trigger, or a request. Changes are a conversation rather than a return trip to the canvas, and Cody can build a hosted interface for the automation too, so it's an app your team can use rather than something running invisibly in the background.

Describe the automation you actually need and see what Cody builds. Try CodeWords free.

Frequently asked questions

Is Make cheaper than Zapier? Usually per step, yes — Make's Core plan gives 10,000 credits for $9 against Zapier's 750 tasks from $19.99. But the units aren't equivalent, so compare both against a workflow you actually plan to run rather than the headline numbers.

Is n8n free? The self-hosted Community Edition is, with unlimited executions. You pay in server costs and the time to run it. n8n Cloud starts at $20/month.

Can I move my existing Zaps or scenarios across? Into CodeWords, yes — export the workflow as JSON, or take a screenshot of it, and paste it into Cody. He reads it and rebuilds the same job as a working automation.

Which has the most integrations? Zapier, at 9,000+. Make and CodeWords both list 3,000+, and n8n 1,000+ plus custom HTTP nodes for anything with an API.

Want the one-to-one versions instead? Here's CodeWords vs Zapier, CodeWords vs Make, and CodeWords vs n8n.