Last Updated: September 24, 2026
Which automation tool should you choose: Power Automate, Zapier, Make, or n8n?
Power Automate wins inside Microsoft 365, Zapier wins for non-technical teams, Make wins on complex branching logic, and n8n wins when data has to stay in your network.
In a Power Automate vs Zapier comparison, the deciding factor is usually the stack you already run: Power Automate at 15 dollars per user per month fits organizations standardized on Microsoft 365, while Zapier’s larger app catalog suits teams connecting SaaS tools without developer help. Make competes on visual branching and per-operation pricing from 9 dollars a month. n8n charges per workflow run rather than per step, and it can be self-hosted, which matters for regulated data.
The four tools look similar in a demo and price very differently at scale, because each one meters a different unit of work. Prices below were checked on each vendor’s own pricing page on 24 September 2026 and change often, so confirm before you budget.
What’s in this article: Comparison table · How each one charges · Power Automate · Zapier · Make · n8n · Data residency · What to do next · Scadea services · FAQ
How do Power Automate, Zapier, Make, and n8n compare?
They differ most on billing unit, hosting model, and who can build in them. Everything else is a question of app coverage and polish.
| Power Automate | Zapier | Make | n8n | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $15 user/month, annual | Free, then $19.99/month annual | Free, then $9/month | €20/month annual |
| Billing unit | Per user and per bot | Per task, each successful action | Per credit, each module action | Per execution, one whole run |
| Self-hosting | No | No | No | Yes |
| Desktop and legacy RPA | Yes, attended and unattended | No | No | No |
| Who builds in it | IT and power users | Business users | Technical business users | Developers |
| Enterprise identity | Entra ID native | SAML SSO, SCIM on Enterprise | Enterprise plan | SSO, SAML, LDAP on Business |
| Best for | Microsoft 365 estates | Fast SaaS connections | Complex branching | Data residency and volume |
How does each tool actually charge you?
Power Automate charges per user and per bot, Zapier per successful action, Make per module action, and n8n per workflow run no matter how many steps it contains.
That difference decides the bill. Take a workflow with 20 steps that runs 1,000 times a month. On n8n that is 1,000 executions, because an execution is one run of the entire workflow regardless of step count. On Zapier the same work can consume close to 20,000 tasks, since a task is counted whenever a step completes successfully. Make counts the same way, one credit per module action, so the arithmetic resembles Zapier’s.
Both Zapier and Make exclude some helpers from metering. Zapier does not charge for triggers, polling, Formatter, Paths, Filter, Tables, or Forms, and failed actions are not counted. Make does not charge credits for error handlers or routers. Those exclusions soften the difference for simple flows and disappear on the long multi-step workflows that enterprises tend to build.
Power Automate sits apart because seats and bots, rather than volume, drive the number. Premium runs 15 dollars per user per month billed yearly and includes attended desktop flows and process mining. Unattended automation runs through Power Automate Process at 150 dollars per bot per month, or Hosted Process at 215 dollars per bot per month for a Microsoft-managed virtual machine. The Process Mining add-on is 5,000 dollars per tenant per month and requires Premium.
When is Power Automate the right choice?
When your organization runs Microsoft 365 and the work touches SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, Dataverse, or a Windows desktop application that has no API.
Identity, compliance, and data residency come from the Microsoft tenant you already govern, which removes a vendor review that the other three require. The Power Platform admin center gives environment-level control, data loss prevention policies, and a view of who built what, which is the part most automation programs skip until an auditor asks.
Desktop flows are the capability the other three lack entirely. If the process involves a green-screen terminal, a legacy ERP client, or a desktop application nobody will ever build an API for, Power Automate is the only option on this list that can drive it.
Watch for: licensing gets complicated as soon as you move from attended to unattended automation, and per-bot pricing climbs quickly across a portfolio of processes.
When is Zapier the right choice?
When business users need to connect SaaS applications quickly and nobody wants to file a ticket with IT to do it.
Zapier has the widest app catalog of the four and the shallowest learning curve. A marketing or sales operations person can build a working integration in an afternoon, which is exactly the point. Agents are billed separately in activities rather than tasks, with 400 a month on the free tier and 1,500 on Pro, so experimenting with agentic workflows does not immediately consume the task budget.
Enterprise features exist when you need them: SAML SSO, unlimited users, SCIM provisioning, custom data retention, and an observability API.
Watch for: per-task pricing on multi-step workflows, and governance drift once dozens of individually owned Zaps are running business processes nobody has documented.
When is Make the right choice?
When the logic is genuinely complex and you want to see it. Make’s visual canvas handles branching, iteration, and error handling better than a linear step list.
Pricing starts at 9 dollars a month for Core, 16 for Pro, and 29 for Teams, which undercuts Zapier at comparable volumes. Routers and error handlers consume no credits, so building defensively costs nothing extra. AI Agents are available in beta across plans, using Make’s provider or your own model key.
Enterprise adds custom functions, on-premises agent access, advanced security features, and overage protection.
Watch for: the same per-action metering as Zapier, and a canvas that becomes hard to read once a scenario grows past a certain size.
When is n8n the right choice?
When data cannot leave your network, when workflows are long and high volume, or when your team is comfortable writing code inside a workflow.
n8n is the only option here you can self-host, which settles data residency questions that block the other three in regulated environments. Cloud plans run from 20 euros a month for Starter with 2,500 executions, 50 euros for Pro with 10,000, and 667 euros for Business with 40,000 plus SSO, SAML, LDAP, Git version control, and the self-hosted option.
Per-execution pricing is the structural advantage. Long workflows cost the same as short ones, so the orchestration patterns that get expensive on Zapier and Make are simply not a budget event here.
It is source-available under a fair-code license rather than a standard open source license, which means usage restrictions apply. Have legal read the terms before you assume open source rules.
Watch for: it expects more technical skill than the other three, and self-hosting means you own uptime, upgrades, and backups.
What about data residency and self-hosting?
Only n8n can run entirely inside your own infrastructure. Power Automate inherits your Microsoft tenant’s residency, while Zapier and Make are software as a service.
For BFSI and healthcare buyers, this is frequently where the decision ends before features are discussed. If customer records, protected health information, or payment data pass through the automation layer, the question becomes which vendor your security team will accept processing that data, and the answer narrows the field fast.
A practical pattern for mixed estates: run n8n self-hosted for workflows touching regulated data, and use Power Automate or Zapier for everything internal and low risk. Two tools with clear boundaries beat one tool forced into a job it cannot legally do.
What to do next
Take the three workflows you actually want to automate first and count their steps and monthly runs. Multiply those out against per-task, per-credit, and per-execution pricing, then check whether any of the three touch regulated data. Those two numbers plus that one question usually decide the tool without a pilot.
Scadea services for automation work
Scadea builds automation across all four of these platforms for enterprises in banking, insurance, healthcare, and manufacturing. Hyperautomation and low-code covers platform selection and the build, and intelligent process automation covers the processes where automation needs judgment rather than rules.
Where workflows cross several systems, data integration and iPaaS handles the connective layer, and low-code governance and compliance keeps a growing estate of flows auditable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Power Automate included with Microsoft 365?
Microsoft 365 includes limited automation capability, and the premium connectors, desktop flows, and process mining that most enterprise work requires sit in the paid plans starting at 15 dollars per user per month.
Which is cheaper, Zapier or Make?
Make generally costs less at comparable volumes, starting at 9 dollars a month against Zapier’s 19.99 annual entry. Both meter per action, so compare using your real step counts rather than plan headlines.
Why is n8n so much cheaper for large workflows?
It charges per execution, meaning one run of an entire workflow, however many steps it contains. Zapier and Make charge per step, so a twenty-step workflow costs roughly twenty times more per run on those platforms.
Is n8n open source?
It is source-available under a fair-code license, which permits self-hosting and internal use while restricting some commercial resale scenarios. Have legal review the current terms before treating it as standard open source.
Can any of these handle desktop or legacy applications?
Power Automate is the only one here with desktop RPA, in both attended and unattended modes. The other three work through APIs and webhooks.
Which tool is best for AI agent workflows?
All four now offer agent features. n8n and Make give the most control over models and logic, Zapier makes agents easiest to start with and meters them separately from tasks, and Power Automate integrates with Copilot inside the Microsoft stack.
Do we need more than one of these?
Many enterprises run two: one governed platform for regulated or business-critical processes, and one lightweight tool for departmental automation. Define which workloads belong where before the second tool arrives on its own.
What governs an automation estate once it grows?
Ownership records, environment separation, data loss prevention policies, and a periodic review of what each flow touches. Power Automate ships the most admin tooling for this, and the others need process to fill the gap.
Read next: Enterprise Hyperautomation: Combining Low-Code, AI, and Process Mining
