n8n Starter vs Pro: when 2,500 executions isn't enough
4,000 runs a month, 3 billable steps each.
- This workload is 12,000 Zapier tasks, 16,000 Make credits or 4,000 n8n executions a month.
- Cheapest verified option: Make (Core 20,000 credits) at $16.00/month, $384.00 over 24 months.
- The priciest ranked option is Zapier at $161.25/month: $1,743.00 more per year than the cheapest.
Cheapest
Make Core 20,000 credits: $16.00/mo
Your workload in each vendor's unit: 12,000 Zapier tasks · 16,000 Make credits · 4,000 n8n executions per month (annual billing).
| # | Option | Plan | Per month | Per year | 24-mo TCO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Make cheapest | Core 20,000 credits | $16.00 | $192.00 | $384.00 |
| 2 | n8n Cloud | Pro-1list €50.00 | $56.04 | $672.48 | $1,344.96 |
| 3 | Zapier | Professional 10,000 tasks+ pay-per-task overage | $161.25 | $1,935.00 | $3,870.00 |
Prices exclude VAT/sales tax.
Self-hosted n8n Community shown, never ranked
The software is free with no execution cap. Infrastructure cost is TODO-verify (only a single secondary source so far). Self-hosting is cheaper than the cheapest ranked option (Make, $16.00/mo) only if your server plus your time costs less than that.
The catch, per option
- Zapier — Professional 10,000 tasks + pay-per-task overageOverage: Pay-per-task overage (opt-in) is about $0.0161 per task (1.25x the base rate on annual billing); Zaps pause at 30,000 tasks (3x the plan).
- Every successful billable action is a task; triggers and built-in steps (Filter/Formatter/Path) cost 0 tasks.
- Free is two-step only (trigger + 1 action, no built-in steps, no webhooks).
- Cheapest path: 2,000 overage tasks ($32.25/mo) on the 10,000-task tier beats the next tier up.
- Make — Core 20,000 creditsOverage: Scenarios stop at the credit limit; upgrade, buy credit packs or go Enterprise. No overage dollar amount is modeled.
- 1 credit per module action including the trigger read; Router and error handlers are free and are not entered (1 trigger + 3 billable actions per run).
- When credits run out, scenarios stop; unused credits expire.
- Same volume on Pro: $29.00/mo; Teams: $53.00/mo.
- n8n Cloud — Pro-1
- One execution = one whole workflow run, so step count does not change the price.
- No auto-overage on Starter/Pro-1: upgrade or one-time reset.
- Priced in EUR; converted with the exchange rate you set.