n8n vs Make vs Zapier for Agencies Managing Many Clients

1. How each one charges you

The pricing models differ in what they count, and that matters more than the headline price. All figures below are from the official pricing pages as of October 2026; check current pricing before you quote a client.

• Zapier counts tasks. Triggers do not count, and every action step in a Zap uses tasks, at rates that vary for AI steps and code. Built-in tools such as Filter, Formatter, Paths, Delay, and Looping do not count as tasks. The Free plan includes 100 tasks a month, Professional starts from $19.99 a month, and Team starts from $69 a month. Past your limit you can switch on pay-per-task billing, charged at a higher rate than your plan's tasks (Zapier pricing).
• Make counts credits. Every time a module performs an action (read, search, create, update, transform, iterate) it consumes credits; most actions use 1 credit and some AI features use more. Router and error handler modules do not consume credits. The Free plan includes 1,000 credits a month, unused credits expire at the end of the term, and if you run out, scenarios stop until credits are added (Make pricing).
• n8n Cloud counts executions. One run of a workflow is one execution, regardless of how many steps it has. Starter is €20 a month for 2,500 executions and Pro is €50 a month for 10,000, both billed annually. The self-hosted Community Edition is free (n8n pricing).

A rough illustration of why this matters: a 10-step workflow that runs 1,000 times a month is about 1,000 executions on n8n, but on the other two it is metered per step, so it lands in the thousands of tasks or credits depending on how many of those steps are billable. Short, simple automations cost little anywhere. Long workflows at volume are where per-run pricing pulls ahead.

2. Multi-client structure and who owns what

This is the question agencies skip and regret. When the relationship ends, the client should keep their automations, credentials, and history without a migration project.

• Cleanest default: each client owns their own account or instance, pays the platform directly, and invites you in. Credentials stay in the client's account, billing is transparent, and offboarding is removing your access.
• Agency-owned accounts are convenient for small retainers, but you carry the bill, the data, and the awkward handover later. If you do it, keep one workspace, project, or folder per client, never mix credentials between clients, and write down who owns what.
• Collaboration features cost money on all three. Zapier's Team plan adds shared workspaces, shared Zaps and folders, and shared app connections. On n8n Cloud, shared projects scale with the plan (1 on Starter, 3 on Pro). The free self-hosted n8n Community Edition does not include projects or workflow and credential sharing: only the instance owner and the creator can access a workflow (n8n editions).

One more n8n point for agencies: the self-hosted edition is under the Sustainable Use License, which permits use for your own internal business purposes or non-commercial use. If your plan is to run one n8n instance and sell clients access to it, read the license carefully or talk to n8n first. Building workflows on an instance the client owns avoids the question entirely.

3. Self-hosting and data control

Zapier and Make are cloud services. n8n can run as a cloud service or on your client's own server, which matters for clients with data residency rules, sensitive records, or a security team that wants the automation platform inside their network. Self-hosting is not free in practice: someone has to run backups, updates, and monitoring. I cover that in what self-hosting n8n really costs.

4. Complexity ceiling and custom code

• Zapier supports multi-step Zaps, Paths, webhooks, and Code by Zapier, with limited runtime per code step (the pricing page lists 1 second on Free and 30 seconds on paid plans). It shines for linear "when X, do Y and Z" automations.
• Make handles branching, iteration, and aggregation visually, and lets you build custom apps for any service with a public API.
• n8n includes JavaScript and Python code steps and custom HTTP and GraphQL requests on every plan, which is why it is my default for workflows that call several APIs, transform data heavily, or run AI agents in the middle.

A practical test: if you keep reaching for workarounds to express a loop, a retry, or a data join, you have outgrown the tool for that workflow.

5. Error handling across many clients

With twenty clients, something is always failing somewhere. What you need is to hear about it before the client does. Make has dedicated error handler modules (and they do not consume credits). n8n includes error workflows on every plan, so one alerting workflow can cover many production workflows. On Zapier, check how errors surface on the plan your client is on before you promise anyone a response time.

Whichever you choose, route every client's failures to one place your team watches, with the client name in the alert. My checklist for this is in making n8n workflows production-ready, and most of it applies to the other two as well.

6. When each one is the right call

7. Migrating a client between platforms

There is no button that converts Zaps or scenarios into n8n workflows, and you would not want one. Treat a migration as a rebuild:

• Inventory every automation, its trigger, its apps, and how often it runs. Many will turn out to be dead.
• Rebuild the important ones with proper error handling, dedupe keys, and documentation, not a step-by-step copy.
• Run old and new in parallel against real data, compare outputs, and only then switch the old one off.
• Move one client or one workflow family at a time, so a problem stays small.

Frequently asked questions