Make, Zapier and n8n for an agency: what 5, 10 and 20 client workflows cost

An agency pays for automation in three different units. Make charges credits, one for each module that runs; Zapier charges tasks, one for each successful action step; n8n charges executions, one for each complete run of a workflow regardless of its steps. So the same job produces three different numbers, and the only fair way to compare is to fix the workflow first.

The workflow used here is one that an agency might run for every client: an instant trigger fires, and three actions run for each lead, about 500 runs a month per client, with no loops, routers, AI steps or polling. On that workflow one run is three Zapier tasks, three Make credits and one n8n execution. For 5, 10 and 20 clients pooled into one account the list prices come to $9, $16 and $29 a month on Make Core, $129, $189 and $289 on Zapier Professional (all on annual billing), and €20, €50 and €50 on n8n Cloud. The numbers move a long way if each client needs its own account, which the second table shows. Everything is list-price arithmetic, not a total cost. Related guides: workflow automation pricing, Zapier pricing by task volume, Make pricing by credit volume and switching between platforms.

Zapier has no 30,000-task size, so 20 clients land on the 50,000-task size. n8n Starter's 2,500 executions are exactly the 5-client volume and Pro's 10,000 exactly the 20-client volume, so there is no headroom at either end. Zapier's Team plan lists 25 users, shared Zaps and folders, shared app connections and SAML SSO and costs more at every size ($169, $249 and $399 a month on yearly billing at 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 tasks); it is the Zapier plan built for several people sharing work. We have not priced Make's Teams plan or n8n's self-hosted Business licence for this scenario.

Separate accounts make each client's cost visible and keep their data apart, but they multiply the base price: 20 clients cost $180 a month on Make Core instead of $29 pooled, $780 on Zapier Professional instead of $289, and €400 on n8n Starter instead of €50. Each client needs 1,500 Make credits, which is more than Make's Free plan allows, so Core is the smallest paid plan (Free covers 1,000 credits). Whether to pool client work in one account is a contract, privacy and vendor-terms question that the pricing pages do not answer, so we do not recommend either structure.