You've been running invoice automations, affiliate payouts, and contact syncs on Zapier for eighteen months. Last month your bill jumped to ₹24,000. Your automation needs haven't stopped growing—they've accelerated. And you're staring at a choice: pay ₹50K+ next year as task volume climbs, or rebuild your entire workflow stack on a platform that won't penalize you for success. This isn't theoretical. We've helped twelve agencies and SMBs through this exact moment. The math is stark, but the migration path matters just as much as the cost math. Why Zapier's per-task model breaks at scale Zapier charges per task. A task is a single action: an email sent, a row created, a webhook fired. This model works fine when you're running dozens of automations. But at scale, it's brutal. Here's how it compounds for a typical mid-market agency: 100 invoice automations: Each invoice triggers 8–12 tasks (validate, log, notify, post to accounting, sync CRM, tag contact, record commission, trigger payout). That's 800–1,200 tasks per month just from invoicing. At ₹8 per task (Zapier's standard price above the monthly tier), you're at ₹6,400–₹9,600. 50 affiliate payouts: Each payout runs 6 tasks (verify, calculate, check bank, execute transfer, update ledger, notify affiliate). That's 300 tasks/month = ₹2,400. 200 contact syncs: Syncing between your CRM, email, and accounting once per week = 800 tasks/month = ₹6,400. Miscellaneous (webhooks, failed retries, conditional logic): Another 30–40% overhead = ₹1,600–₹2,000. Total: ₹16,800–₹22,000/month. Add one more integration or a second workflow suite, and you're at ₹24K+. The real problem: Zapier's monthly plans cap out at ₹12,000/month (for their Standard tier, around 2,000 tasks). Beyond that, per-task costs apply. You move from a flat rate into variable pricing—and variable pricing scales with your ambition, not your budget. Make's flat model: ₹2,500/month, unlimited tasks Make (formerly Integromat) inverts Zapier's logic. You pay a flat monthly fee. You get unlimited scenarios (Make's term for workflows) and unlimited task execution within that subscription tier. The ₹2,500/month tier gives you: Unlimited operations (their word for tasks) Up to 10 concurrent executions Webhooks, scheduling, and conditional logic included Access to 1,000+ pre-built integrations At 100 invoice automations, 50 payouts, 200 contact syncs, and overhead, you're running 3,500–4,000 operations/month. On Make, your cost is ₹2,500. Flat. No variable overages. Even if you grow to 10,000 operations/month—ten times your current load—your bill stays ₹2,500. You'd only upgrade if you need more concurrent runs or team collaboration features (which bump the tier to ₹4,000–₹6,000/month). But the task overhead never compounds. The catch: Make's UX is steeper than Zapier's. Workflows are visual and modular, but you'll spend 10–15 hours rebuilding workflows you already have on Zapier. The learning curve exists, but it pays back in six weeks of billing savings. n8n: Self-hosted, zero per-task cost, full control n8n is open-source. You host it on your own server (or a VPS). Your cost is server infrastructure—typically ₹1,000–₹2,000/month for a small instance on AWS, DigitalOcean, or Hetzner—and zero per-task fees. For an agency running 3,500+ operations/month, this math is decisive: n8n self-hosted: ₹1,500/month (VPS) + ₹0 per task = ₹1,500/month total. Zapier at 3,500 tasks: ₹24,000/month (and climbing). Make: ₹2,500/month. n8n wins on raw cost. But it comes with operational responsibility: you own the uptime, the backups, the security patches. If your server goes down, your automations stop. If you're not comfortable with DevOps, that responsibility cost is real—either you hire someone or you take the risk. That said, n8n's interface is more intuitive than Make's, and it's deeply customizable. If you have a technical team, the low cost and control justify the overhead. Migration complexity: What you actually rebuild Zapier to Make or n8n isn't a one-click export. You're rebuilding your workflows from scratch. Here's what that costs in time: Simple workflows (single trigger, 3–5 actions): 30–45 minutes to rebuild on Make or n8n. A contact creation trigger that logs to spreadsheet, sends email, and notifies Slack. This is your 80/20 win. Medium workflows (multiple conditions, 8–15 actions): 2–3 hours. Invoice validation (check duplicate, verify GL account, post to accounting, notify approval team, log to CRM, trigger payout if threshold met). This is where you'll spend most time learning Make/n8n's conditional logic. Complex workflows (multi-step approval, error handling, retry logic): 4–8 hours. Affiliate payout with fraud checks, bank verification, retry on decline, escalation to ops team if amount exceeds threshold. This is where Make/n8n shine: their error handling and custom logic beat Zapier's rigid structure. For an agency with 100+ automations, assume 20–30% are simple, 50% are medium, 20% are complex. Total