Zapier alternatives for small business

The best Zapier alternatives for a small business are Make for a visual builder at lower cost, n8n if you want to self-host and have someone technical, and the automations built into the work tool you already use. Zapier remains the easiest to start with and has the widest list of app connections, so the question is rarely "is Zapier bad". It is "what happens to my bill and my control when I run more". This comparison covers what each costs, where each falls short and who each suits.

Prices were read from each vendor's own page on 1 November 2026. Plans change often, so open the page before you decide: Zapier, Make, n8n.

Why people look beyond Zapier

Three reasons come up again and again.

Cost grows with use. Zapier bills by task, and each action step in a Zap counts. A workflow with five steps run 200 times a month uses far more tasks than the number of runs suggests. Free is limited to 100 tasks a month.

Free plan limits. Zapier's free plan allows two-step Zaps only, so a trigger and one action. It checks for new events every 15 minutes, so it is not instant.

Control. Zapier is a hosted service. Teams with strict data rules or technical staff sometimes want to run the tool on their own server.

The options at a glance

Zapier

Good at: being the default. It connects thousands of apps, the editor is plain, and templates exist for common jobs. The page lists a free plan, a Pro plan from about 20 dollars a month (750 tasks, billed yearly), and a Team plan from 69 dollars a month (2,000 tasks, billed yearly).

Falls short: price at volume, and the free plan's two-step limit. Task counting rewards simple workflows and punishes long ones.

Make

Good at: a visual canvas where you can see branches, filters and loops, which suits flows that are not a straight line. The free plan gives 1,000 credits a month.

Falls short: it takes longer to learn than Zapier. We could not read paid plan prices on Make's own page in a form we could quote with confidence, and third party sites disagreed, so check Make's pricing page for the current figure. Also read how it counts credits before you compare costs.

n8n

Good at: control. A standard self-hosted version is available on GitHub, and cloud plans start at 20 euros a month (billed yearly) for 2,500 workflow executions. Counting whole executions rather than each step helps long workflows.

Falls short: it suits people comfortable with servers, updates and backups. The pricing page does not state the licence terms of the self-hosted edition in a way we could quote, so read the licence in the repository if that matters to you. The hosted Business plan is listed with waiting list limits.

Built-in automations

Many work tools now include their own rules, so you do not need a separate connector for jobs that live inside them. In nerix, Automations run on a schedule, around a date found in your data or when something happens such as a meeting ending, a task becoming overdue or everyone having signed.

Good at: work that stays inside one workspace, such as weekly task lists, overdue reminders, follow ups after meetings and contract renewal alerts. Anything that reaches other people waits for your yes, a test run shows what each step would do, and there are credit caps and a history.

Falls short: this is early access. It is not a general connector between thousands of outside apps, and it is not meant to be one. If your process starts in a shop system and ends in an accounting tool nerix does not connect to, use Zapier, Make or n8n for that.

How to choose

Ask four questions.

1. Where does the work live? If it moves between many separate apps, you need a connector service. If it stays in one workspace, use that workspace's own rules first.
2. How many steps and how often? Multiply steps by runs per month and compare to each plan's limit. This is the number that decides the bill.
3. Who maintains it? A visual tool in Make or Zapier needs no developer. n8n self-hosted does.
4. What goes wrong if it misfires? Prefer a tool with a test mode, an approval step for outward messages and a log.

A sensible small business path: begin on a free plan with one routine, watch it for a month, and only pay once you know the volume. Our guide to what to automate first lists ten routines that suit that first month.

The short version

Zapier is the easiest start and the widest in apps. Make is the visual option with a free plan of 1,000 credits. n8n is the choice for teams that want to host it themselves. Built-in automations cover work that stays in one tool. Count steps times runs before you compare prices, and confirm every figure on the vendor's page, since these change.