| Platform | Hosting | 1k / mo | 10k / mo | 100k / mo | 1M / mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n8n Starter (Cloud) | SaaS | €20 | €50 | €300+ | €667+ |
| n8n Self-hosted (Community Edition) | Self-hosted | €5 | €5 | €15 | €60 |
| Zapier Starter | SaaS | $29.99 | $103.50 | $1,073.50 | N/A |
| Make Core | SaaS | $10.59 | $10.59 | $54.99 | $549.90+ |
| Activepieces Cloud | SaaS | Free | $25 | $100 | $500+ |
| Activepieces (Self-hosted) | Self-hosted | $5 | $5 | $15 | $60 |
| Windmill (Self-hosted) | Self-hosted | $5 | $5 | $20 | $100 |
| Windmill Cloud | SaaS | $0 | $40 | $400 | Enterprise |
| Pipedream | SaaS | Free | $19 | $89 | $249+ |
| Custom Code (Node.js + Postgres + Render/Fly) | Self-hosted | $7 | $7 | $25 | $80 |
Per-row notes
- n8n Starter (Cloud). 2.5k executions on Starter. Pro at €50/mo for 10k. Business at €667/mo for 40k. Above 40k = Enterprise.
- n8n Self-hosted (Community Edition). Fair-code license. €5 VPS handles ~50k executions/month before vertical scale required.
- Zapier Starter. Tasks-based. Above ~50k tasks/mo Zapier becomes uneconomical for most SMEs.
- Make Core. Operation-based. 10k ops on Core. 100k on Pro. Enterprise above that.
- Activepieces Cloud. Open-source incumbent. Free tier 1k tasks. Plus $25/mo for 10k. Self-hosted = free.
- Activepieces (Self-hosted). MIT license. Same VPS economics as n8n self-hosted.
- Windmill (Self-hosted). Open-source. Heavier resource footprint than n8n for the same workload due to TypeScript/Python/Go execution.
- Windmill Cloud. Free 1k executions. $40/mo for 10k. Above 100k = custom pricing.
- Pipedream. Free tier 10k credits. Above 100k typically requires Advanced tier.
- Custom Code (Node.js + Postgres + Render/Fly). Render small instance $7/mo, scales by CPU/RAM not by execution count. The cost ceiling is engineering hours, not platform fees.
Methodology
Prices captured on 2026-06-02 from each vendor's public pricing page. SaaS rows use the cheapest tier that includes the listed execution volume. Self-hosted rows assume a single small VPS (1-2 vCPU, 2-4 GB RAM, $5-20/mo on Hetzner, DigitalOcean, or Render) plus negligible Postgres and storage cost.
"Custom code" assumes the workflow is built in TypeScript or Python on a Node.js / FastAPI base, deployed to Render or Fly.io, with Postgres for queue and audit log. The bottleneck is engineering hours up front, not monthly infra.
All figures are list prices for new customers. Annual prepay, startup credits, partner discounts, and non-profit pricing are not modelled.
How to cite
This dataset is published under CC BY 4.0. You are free to share and adapt with attribution.
Suggested citation:
NodeSparks (2026). "Automation Platform Pricing 2026 — Real Monthly Cost at SME Scale." https://www.nodesparks.com/data/automation-platform-pricing. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
Source posts
- Zapier vs n8n vs Make vs custom code: the honest 4-way comparison — full methodology and worked examples.
- n8n alternatives in 2026 — and when to skip n8n entirely — Activepieces, Windmill, custom-code comparison with code.
- The 2026 SaaS Replacement Playbook — the framework behind these numbers.
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Same data as the table above, CC BY 4.0.
Last updated 2026-06-02. Spotted an error or outdated price? Tell us — we update this dataset quarterly.
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