The iPaaS Migration Cost Calculator (Zapier vs. Make vs. n8n)

Are you paying the "Zapier Tax"? As your B2B automation stack grows, the cost of moving data between your CRM, marketing tools, and databases scales exponentially.

What starts as a $39/month Zapier subscription often quietly balloons into a $600/month infrastructure bill. Use the calculator above to model your true workflow volume and see exactly how much you could save by migrating your logic to a platform like Make.com or a self-hosted instance of n8n.

How Zapier Calculates "Tasks" vs. Make.com "Operations"

The biggest point of confusion in iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) pricing is how different companies count your data usage. You cannot compare them 1-to-1 without doing the math.

• Zapier (Tasks): Zapier charges for every successful action step in a Zap. The trigger does not count as a task, and filters do not count as tasks (anymore). However, if you have a workflow with 1 trigger and 4 actions, and it runs 1,000 times a month, you are billed for 4,000 Tasks.
• Make.com (Operations): Make charges for every single node that executes, including the trigger, filters, iterators, and routers. If you poll an API every 15 minutes to see if there is new data, Make charges you 1 Operation for every poll—even if the result is empty.
• n8n Cloud (Executions): n8n uses a fairer model. They charge per Workflow Execution. It doesn't matter if your workflow has 2 steps or 50 steps; if it triggers successfully, it counts as 1 execution.

The Hidden Costs of Self-Hosting n8n

Looking at the calculator above, self-hosting n8n or Activepieces looks like an absolute no-brainer. Paying a flat $20/month for a VPS (Virtual Private Server) on Hetzner or DigitalOcean instead of $500/month to Zapier makes perfect financial sense—on paper.

However, as an ops engineer, you must factor in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO):

1. Server Maintenance & Updates: Open-source automation tools require manual updates via Docker. If a node breaks in a new version, you are the one reading GitHub issues at 2 AM.
2. Database Bloat: Every time a webhook fires, the payload is saved in your self-hosted PostgreSQL or SQLite database. Without proper log-pruning configurations, your $20 server will run out of disk space in a month, crashing your entire automation stack.
3. SMTP and Email Limits: Zapier has a built-in email sender. When you self-host, you must configure your own AWS SES or SendGrid SMTP credentials to send notification emails.

When Does It Make Financial Sense to Migrate?

Migrating from one iPaaS to another is not a weekend project. You will have to rebuild custom webhooks, remap JSON arrays, and rewrite Regex parsers.

Calculating Your Migration ROI

To determine if switching from Zapier to Make or n8n is worth it, use this simple formula:

(Monthly Savings x 12) - (Hours to Rebuild x Your Hourly Rate) = First Year ROI

If you are paying $129/month on Zapier, migrating to Make.com ($29/month) saves you $1,200 a year. If rebuilding your 15 critical workflows takes you 20 hours, the migration pays for itself in just a few months.

However, if you rely heavily on Zapier's exclusive, deep-native integrations (like specific legacy CRM triggers that Make doesn't support yet), the cost of maintaining custom API workarounds might outweigh the SaaS savings.

Tired of building from scratch? If you are planning a migration to n8n or Make.com, don't start with a blank canvas. Download our library of pre-built, optimized workflow templates for RevOps and B2B Data Engineering.