# Zapier pricing, and the open source alternative you can own

> Zapier prices by the task, so your bill tracks how often your automations run, not how many you build. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System, priced by credit and seat, and you can self-host it for free.

URL: https://zapieralternative.org/zapier-pricing

## Pricing shapes at a glance

Plan shapes from each vendor's own pricing page, checked October 2026.

| | Kortix (recommended) | Zapier | n8n | Make |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | $0 with 200 credits per month, 1 project | $0 with 100 tasks per month | Community Edition, self-hosted, free | $0 with 1,000 credits per month |
| Paid plans start at | $40 per seat per month | Professional from $19.99 per month | Starter $20 per month billed annually | Core $9 per month |
| Team plan | $40 per seat, 2,500 pooled credits | Team from $69 per month, 25 seats | Pro $50 per month, 3 shared projects | Teams $29 per month |
| Billed by | Pooled credits per seat | Tasks per successful action | Executions per workflow run | Credits per module action |
| Enterprise | Custom: VPC or on-prem, SSO, audit logs | Contact for pricing | Contact sales | Custom |
| Self-hosting | Self-host free on your infrastructure | Hosted only | Self-host the Community Edition | Hosted only |
| Open source | Yes | No | Public repo on GitHub | No |

## How Zapier's task-based pricing works

Zapier bills by the task, and a task is one successful action an automation completes. A Zap's trigger and a check for new data cost nothing, so a workflow pays only when it runs an action. The same task pool now covers Zap workflows, AI steps, code, MCP, and the SDK. [Zapier's plans](https://zapier.com/pricing) start with a free tier at $0 for 100 tasks per month, then Professional from $19.99 per month and Team from $69 per month for 25 seats, and a higher task tier lowers the cost per task as volume grows. Enterprise is quoted on request. Every figure on this page was checked October 2026.

## What n8n and Make change about the bill

n8n bills an execution, which is one full run of a workflow no matter how many steps it holds, and its [pricing](https://n8n.io/pricing) starts at Starter for $20 per month billed annually, Pro at $50, and Business at $800 on a self-hosted instance. Its Community Edition is a self-hosted version you run yourself at no cost. Make bills credits instead, where most module actions use one credit; its [plans](https://www.make.com/pricing) run from a free tier of 1,000 credits per month to Core at $9, Pro at $16, and Teams at $29. Make is hosted on its own cloud, so there is no self-hosted floor under its bill.

## When a hosted tool is the cheaper call

A hosted tool is the right answer when volume is low and the workflow should not become your team's problem. The free tiers at Zapier and Make, and n8n's self-hosted Community Edition, cover a few simple automations, and the monthly cost stays small while the count of runs stays small. The shape to watch is that the bill tracks usage. Zapier bills each successful action and Make bills each module action, so a workflow that fans out across many steps or many records grows the bill with it. The plan that was cheap at fifty runs a month is not the plan you are on at fifty thousand.

## When self-hosting changes the cost curve

Self-hosting an open-source system trades a subscription for infrastructure and ownership. You pay for the machine and the upkeep, and in return the software layer stops scaling with your usage. n8n lets you run its Community Edition yourself, and Kortix goes further: self-hosting the whole system is free, and the configuration is a git repo you own. Self-hosting starts with two commands:

```sh
curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash
kortix self-host start
```

Ownership matters once automations stop being a side tool and start carrying real work, because cost then follows the compute you use rather than the number of steps a workflow happens to contain. The [open-source Zapier alternative](/open-source-zapier-alternative) page covers what that setup takes.

## Why Kortix is the open source option to price against

Kortix prices two ways, usage and seat, and the system is open source. The free tier is $0 with 200 credits each month for sandbox compute and one project. The team plan is $40 per seat per month with 2,500 credits per month per seat, pooled across the team, and self-hosting the system is free. Model access is your choice: bring your own API key or connect a ChatGPT subscription you already pay for, so that part of the bill stays yours. Agent Computer compute is billed per second and per resource, about $0.20 per hour for the default machine, and $0 while a session is stopped. The [Zapier alternative overview](/) collects the wider field if you are still choosing.

## Common pricing questions

### Is there a genuinely free Zapier alternative?

Yes. Kortix is free to start at $0 with 200 credits per month and one project, and you can self-host the whole system at no cost. Make's Free plan gives 1,000 credits per month, and n8n's Community Edition is a free self-hosted version. Zapier's own free tier is $0 with 100 tasks per month.

### Is Zapier or Make cheaper?

Make's plans start lower, at $9 per month against Zapier's Professional from $19.99 per month, but the two meter usage differently. Zapier bills each successful action and Make bills each module action, so which one costs less changes with the shape of the workflow. Compare the total for your own run volume rather than the starting price.

### Can I self-host a Zapier alternative?

Yes, for the open-source options. n8n self-hosts its Community Edition, and Kortix self-hosts the full AI Operating System for free, on your own infrastructure or in your VPC. Zapier and Make are hosted only, so neither offers a self-hosted path.

## Run it on your own terms

Start free, self-host at no cost, or compare the whole field.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [See every Zapier alternative](https://zapieralternative.org/zapier-alternatives)