n8n Alternatives (2026): 7 Picks, Self-Hosted and Cloud

Zapier's pricing page lists more than 9,000 app integrations and describes the Free plan as 100 tasks a month with unlimited Zaps, Tables and Forms. Two-step Zaps are listed for Free and multi-step Zaps under the paid Professional tier. Zapier's help center says a Zap with filters or searches counts as multi-step, and that Free Zaps with polling triggers check for updates every 15 minutes.

Pricing is per task, so a high-volume workflow gets expensive in a way n8n's per-execution model avoids: n8n counts a whole workflow run as one execution regardless of steps. Our [Zapier pricing guide](/work/zapier-pricing/) lists every tier, and our [n8n vs Zapier](/work/n8n-vs-zapier/) comparison covers the direct trade-offs.

Skip it if you need to self-host or run very high volumes cheaply.

Make's pricing page lists a Free plan with 1,000 credits a month, 2 active scenarios, a 15-minute minimum interval between scheduled runs and a 5-minute maximum execution time. Each module action in a scenario normally uses one credit, with some features, such as built-in AI tools, using more. Credits replaced the older operations billing unit, so older articles quoting operations refer to the same allowance.

Make's own comparison page lists the main difference from n8n: Make does not offer self-hosting, while n8n can run on your own infrastructure. Make cites app counts of 3,000 to 3,500 depending on the page, so treat the exact figure as approximate. Credits expire when a subscription term ends.

Skip it if you need to host the platform yourself or run automations more often than every 15 minutes on a free account.

Activepieces says its core is MIT-licensed and that only an enterprise directory is under a separate commercial license, which contrasts with n8n's Sustainable Use License. The vendor says the self-hosted Community Edition has unlimited runs and users with no credit system, and can run with Docker or Kubernetes. It leaves out projects, SSO, audit logs and Git Sync.

The pieces catalog lists more than 700 integrations, with counts varying by page, and the vendor says every piece is included on every plan. Its pricing page lists a cloud Free plan with 1,000 credits a month, unlimited flows and up to 5 users, though the page's table says credits reset daily while its FAQ says monthly. Check the live page before relying on it.

Skip it if you need the widest catalog of ready-made app connections.

Windmill describes itself as an open-source workflow engine and developer platform, and its pricing page lists a free, self-hosted Community Edition with unlimited executions, up to 3 workspaces and 50 users. The brand page says the project is released under AGPLv3, which requires offering modified source to users if you run a modified version as a network service. Windmill says enterprise features such as SAML/SCIM and dedicated workers live in a separate proprietary codebase.

The getting-started docs describe a cloud free plan with 1,000 monthly executions, which conflicts with the pricing page's unlimited wording for self-hosted use, so the two figures probably describe different deployments. Windmill's comparison pages are vendor-written and frame n8n as less suited to code-heavy work.

Skip it if nobody on the team writes code.

Node-RED's about page describes it as a flow-based programming tool, originally developed by IBM's Emerging Technology Services team and now part of the OpenJS Foundation. The editor runs in a browser: you drag nodes from a palette onto a canvas, wire them together and deploy the flow to the runtime in a click. The runtime is lightweight and runs on Node.js, and the site says it suits low-cost hardware such as the Raspberry Pi as well as the cloud.

The license page says Node-RED is licensed under Apache 2.0 with copyright held by the OpenJS Foundation, and that additional third-party nodes you install may carry their own licenses. That is a permissive license, and the tool has the least hand-holding for business users of the seven.

Skip it if you want a hosted service or a catalog of polished business-app integrations.

Pabbly's pricing page lists a free plan with unlimited workflows and team members and 100 tasks a month, with no credit card required, and a Pabbly help article confirms the 100-task allowance. The vendor says action steps count as tasks, while steps such as filters, routers and delays do not.

Pabbly's integration pages advertise connections with 1,000 or more apps, though app counts differ between pages, which is a fraction of Zapier's listed catalog but enough for common business tools. Paid plan figures vary between Pabbly's pages by currency and date, and one page labels a plan unlimited while saying it does not offer unlimited tasks, so check the current pricing page before buying. We found no independent audit or security certification in the pages we read, so ask Pabbly directly if you handle sensitive data.

Skip it if you need a very large catalog of ready-made connections or want to self-host.

Microsoft's licensing documentation says users with a Microsoft 365 license or the free plan can only use standard connectors, while most other license plans and trials add premium connectors. It also lists a lower daily action limit for Microsoft 365 and free contexts, 6,000, than the 40,000 listed for Premium. The per-user Premium plan lists cloud flows as unlimited and includes attended desktop flows and process mining. Check the current price on Microsoft's pricing page, because older pages still show retired plans.

Microsoft's licensing FAQ says the per-flow plan and the unattended RPA add-on were removed from the price list on February 1, 2024, and existing per-flow licenses continue to work, though some Microsoft guides still mention them. Flows can also be billed per run through an Azure subscription.

Skip it if your company is not on Microsoft 365 or you want transparent task-based pricing.