What are the best alternatives to Zapier, including free and open-source ones?
n8n is the strongest alternative to Zapier: self-host it free for your own business under its fair-code licence, or pay for n8n Cloud at 20 euros or 20 dollars a month by region, billed yearly, for 2,500 workflow runs with unlimited steps, where Zapier is free for 100 tasks a month and Professional starts at $19.99. Make handles branching, data-heavy flows better, with a free plan of 1,000 credits a month. Activepieces is the truly open-source pick (MIT licence) with a free cloud plan of 1,000 credits and Plus at a flat $20 a month. In India, Pabbly Connect bills in rupees, counts only action steps as tasks and sells a one-time lifetime plan (Standard at ₹32,799), and Power Automate Premium is ₹1,250 a user a month on yearly billing if you live in Microsoft 365. n8n 3.0 is in beta with breaking changes and the stable release is due in early December, so wait to upgrade. Rule: Make for visual logic, n8n if someone can run a server, Pabbly to pay once in rupees.
N8n's own explanation of its fair-code licence: free to use, modify and self-host for your own internal business purposes, but not to resell as a hosted service. Read it before you build a client offering on top of n8n.
N8n's announcement of the 3.0 beta (27 October 2026): a reliability and security release with breaking changes, with the stable version due in early December. Anyone self-hosting n8n should read it before upgrading.
You only need one automation tool to sync your source of truth outward, and this helps you choose without trying both. It lays out Zapier as the beginner-friendly option and Make as the cheaper, more flexible one for complex flows. Read it once, pick one, and resist the urge to spread your automations across both.
The maker's own price list for n8n Cloud, billed per workflow run with unlimited steps: Starter at 20 a month billed yearly (shown in euros or dollars by region) for 2,500 executions and Pro at 50 for 10,000, with the self-hosted edition on GitHub.
Zapier's own plans: Free for 100 tasks a month with two-step Zaps, Professional from $19.99 a month with multi-step Zaps and webhooks, and Team from $69 a month for 25 users. The widest app catalogue and the easiest setup for a non-technical owner.
Make's own pricing page: a Free plan with 1,000 credits a month and paid Core, Pro and Teams plans priced by credits, plus a Start-up Plan with 50% off Business for companies under 20 employees.
Activepieces' own plans: Free with 1,000 credits a month and unlimited flows for up to 5 users, Plus at $20 flat a month, Team at $200 flat a month for 25 users. Flat pricing rather than per task.
The source for Activepieces, which calls itself an open source replacement for Zapier: the Community Edition is under the MIT licence and can be self-hosted, with 280+ integrations also usable as MCP tools by AI assistants.
A Zapier rival priced in rupees: a free plan with 100 tasks a month, subscriptions billed yearly, and one-time lifetime plans (Standard at ₹32,799). Triggers and internal steps such as filters and routers do not count as tasks.
Microsoft's India price list: Power Automate Premium at ₹1,250 a user a month paid yearly, GST extra, with a 30-day free trial. The natural pick for a company already on Microsoft 365, Outlook and Teams.
