The verdict in three sentences
At 700 EUR a month, or 8,400 EUR a year, a stack of 45 Zapier workflows costs more than a well-run migration from year two onwards. Self-hosted n8n (20 EUR a month of server plus about 5,000 EUR excl. VAT of setup) is the best option for most SMEs, while custom code (10,000 to 25,000 EUR excl. VAT) is justified above 50,000 tasks a month or as soon as sensitive data flows through. Zapier remains relevant for a handful of simple, low-volume workflows.
Why the Zapier bill explodes
Zapier bills per task: every successful action in a workflow counts. A workflow that creates a contact, sends an email and updates a Google Sheets row uses three tasks each time it runs. With 45 workflows built up over four years by different employees (quote follow-ups, CRM and invoicing sync, Slack alerts, accounting export), a 30-person SME in Toulouse or Dublin quickly reaches 40,000 to 60,000 tasks a month and lands in the plans costing several hundred euros. Add duplicate workflows, others broken for months, and no documentation.
| Tool (public pricing, 2026 order of magnitude) | Monthly cost | Billing model | Data hosting | Ideal profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | 20 to 800 EUR | Per task (every action) | United States | Fewer than 10 simple workflows |
| Make | 9 to 300 EUR | Per operation, cheaper at equal volume | Europe or United States | 10 to 40 workflows, visual logic |
| n8n Cloud | 24 to 800 EUR | Per full workflow execution | Europe | Team without a server |
| Self-hosted n8n | 20 to 60 EUR of server | Unlimited | Your server in the EU (Dublin, Frankfurt, Paris) | High volume, sensitive data |
| Custom code (Node.js, Python) | 30 to 150 EUR of hosting | Unlimited | Your infrastructure | Over 50,000 tasks, complex business logic |
n8n bills per execution of a whole workflow rather than per step: an 8-step workflow triggered 1,000 times costs 1,000 executions, versus 8,000 tasks on Zapier.
The real cost of a migration over 3 years
Migration is not copy and paste. You need to inventory the 45 workflows, remove duplicates and dead ones (often 20 to 30% of the total), consolidate the rest, handle errors and document. Out of 45 workflows, 28 to 32 usually remain to rebuild.
| Migration scenario | Setup (excl. VAT) | Annual cost | 3-year total | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stay on Zapier | 0 EUR | 8,400 EUR | 25,200 EUR | None |
| Migrate to Make | 3,000 to 4,500 EUR | 1,800 to 3,600 EUR | 8,400 to 15,300 EUR | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Self-hosted n8n + maintenance | 5,000 EUR | 240 EUR server + 1,800 EUR maintenance | 11,120 EUR | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Custom code | 10,000 to 25,000 EUR | 1,200 to 3,000 EUR | 13,600 to 34,000 EUR | 6 to 12 weeks |
| Hybrid: n8n + 3 coded services | 9,000 to 14,000 EUR | 2,400 EUR | 16,200 to 21,200 EUR | 6 to 8 weeks |
Self-hosting means someone must watch the server: backups, n8n updates and failure alerts. Without that maintenance contract (100 to 200 EUR a month), the saving turns into a risk. In Dublin, local freelance rates of 600 to 900 EUR a day push a comparable migration to 7,000 to 12,000 EUR.
When to move to custom code
Three signals justify development: volume above 50,000 tasks a month with peaks, health or payroll data that must not pass through a third-party tool, and business logic that goes beyond conditional branches (pricing calculations, stock rules, bank reconciliation). It is also the time to add artificial intelligence: automatic sorting of incoming emails, data extraction from PDF purchase orders or personalised follow-ups, for 0.5 to 3 EUR per thousand documents in API costs.
Mini case study
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Nathalie runs a 30-employee industrial maintenance SME in Toulouse and pays Zapier 700 EUR a month. The audit of her 45 workflows reveals 9 duplicates and 6 inactive ones: 30 are rebuilt on self-hosted n8n on an OVH server in Roubaix for 5,000 EUR excl. VAT, with 150 EUR a month of maintenance and 20 EUR of server. Annual cost: 2,040 EUR instead of 8,400 EUR, i.e. 6,360 EUR saved per year and payback in 9.5 months. She then adds an AI module that extracts purchase order data, saving the sales assistant 6 hours a week. The same numbers apply to Sarah, operations manager of a similar firm in Dublin, hosting on an AWS or Hetzner EU region.
FAQ
Is n8n really free?
The self-hosted community edition is free under a fair-code licence, with no execution limit for internal use. You pay for the server (20 to 60 EUR a month) and maintenance time.
How long does migrating 45 workflows take?
Allow 4 to 6 weeks, including one week of audit and two weeks running in parallel with Zapier to check results. The final switch happens workflow by workflow, with no downtime.
What happens if a workflow fails at night?
n8n and custom code send an email or Slack alert with the error and retry automatically up to 3 times. The maintenance contract provides a fix within 4 to 24 business hours.
Does my data stay in Europe?
With self-hosted n8n, yes: the server can sit with OVH, Scaleway, Hetzner or an AWS Dublin region, which simplifies GDPR compliance. With Zapier, data transits through the United States.
Do we need an in-house developer?
No. A tool-savvy employee can edit n8n workflows after 1 day of training (600 to 900 EUR), and maintenance covers the rest.
Let's scope your project. Send us your Zapier or Make workflow export and your monthly bill: we will price the audit and migration, from 5,000 EUR excl. VAT for n8n to 25,000 EUR for custom code, with a 4 to 12 week timeline. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
