In this article
The most common question about automation is: "which tool should I use to automate this?" The answer depends less on the tool and more on the problem.
Zapier
- When to use: non-technical teams, simple automations (1-3 steps), standard integrations (Gmail, Slack, Sheets).
- Price: paid plans that rise with the number of tasks.
- Limit: gets expensive quickly as volume grows.
Make (formerly Integromat)
- When to use: visual flows with conditional logic, data manipulation.
- Price: best price-to-value ratio for medium volumes.
- Limit: steeper learning curve than Zapier.
n8n
- When to use: when you want full control, self-hosted, AI integrations, business-critical flows.
- Price: free self-hosted, or a paid cloud version.
- Limit: you need someone technical (or us) to set it up.
To run these numbers for your own case, use the manual process cost calculator. The process automation guide brings the rest of the topic together in one place.
Our default choice
n8n self-hosted. Why? Because your data stays with you, it scales without extra cost, and it integrates with any AI model via API. For SMEs that orchestrate operations and want to keep control of their data, it is usually the most balanced choice.
HB
Written by
Henrique Baeta
Co-Founder & Doer
Writes about AI consulting for operations and processes: how to map and simplify processes, apply AI where it has the most impact and measure the gains.