Zapier's ₹800-per-month starter plan feels affordable until you add up what you actually build. The real cost sits in the per-task pricing that kicks in once you exceed their monthly task ceiling. For teams running 2000+ automations monthly—which happens faster than you'd expect if you're connecting CRM, email, invoicing, and messaging—you'll either hit overage charges or jump to a plan that costs 3–4× what you budgeted. Make and n8n offer flatter per-workflow pricing that scales differently. Let's work through the actual math. How Zapier's task model breaks at scale Zapier charges per "task"—one task is a single data point flowing through a Zap. A single automation that watches for new CRM deals, sends a Slack message, creates an invoice line item, and logs to a spreadsheet burns four tasks. If you have 50 active Zaps doing this kind of work, you're at 200+ tasks per execution cycle. The ₹800 plan (approximately $10 USD) includes 750 tasks per month. That sounds like enough until you run the real numbers: 100 automations, averaging 3 tasks each: 300 tasks/month. You stay under 750. Cost: ₹800. 500 automations, 3 tasks each: 1500 tasks/month. You exceed 750; overage kicks in at ₹0.70 per 100 tasks. Add ₹525 in overages. Cost: ₹1325. 1000 automations, 3 tasks each: 3000 tasks/month. Overage bill: ₹1575. Total: ₹2375. Zapier now recommends their ₹2800 plan (125,000 tasks), but that's a 3.5× jump. 2000 automations, 3 tasks each: 6000 tasks/month. You're well into the ₹2800-per-month tier. At this scale, you're paying ₹0.47 per 100 tasks above the ceiling—but you hit the ceiling at 6000 tasks, so you're forced to upgrade. The trap: teams don't build 2000 automations at once. You add 5–10 Zaps per month over a year, and by month 8 or 9, your bill doubles without warning. Make's linear pricing model Make (formerly Integromat) charges per "operation"—roughly equivalent to Zapier's task, but with a crucial difference: they price per active scenario (workflow), not per execution. Make's transparent tier breakdown (as of late 2024): Free: 1,000 operations/month, 1 active scenario. ₹0. Basic: 10,000 operations/month, 10 active scenarios. ~₹680/month. Standard: 50,000 operations/month, 100 active scenarios. ~₹1700/month. Professional: 200,000 operations/month, 1000 active scenarios. ~₹3400/month. At 2000 automations running 3 operations each (6000 operations/month), Make's Professional tier ($40 USD / ~₹3400) includes 200,000 operations. You're at 3% utilization. Compare that to Zapier's forced ₹2800 tier—Make is already 20% cheaper, and you're not anywhere near hitting the ceiling. Make also offers per-operation overage pricing (~₹0.10 per 1000 extra operations) if you go over, but it's optional. You don't automatically jump tiers. n8n's one-time setup cost vs. monthly subscription n8n inverts the model. Self-hosted n8n is open-source and free. Cloud n8n pricing: Free: 1 workflow, 5 executions/minute. ₹0. Pro: 50 workflows, 200 executions/minute. ~₹540/month. Business: 500 workflows, 500 executions/minute. ~₹1080/month. Enterprise: Custom (unlimited workflows). Starts ~₹5400/month for very large teams. n8n counts "executions," not individual data points. If one workflow runs and processes 100 records in a single execution, that's one execution, not 100 tasks. This is why n8n scales differently than Zapier. At 2000 automations running at typical SaaS cadence (once per hour, daily, or weekly), you're looking at 2000–5000 executions/month—well within the Business plan (500 executions/minute means ~20M executions/month theoretically). Cost: ~₹1080/month. Self-hosted n8n costs only server hosting (~₹500–1000/month on a modest cloud instance). Real TCO at three scales: 100, 1000, 5000 automations Scenario A: 100 automations, 3 tasks/operations each per month Monthly execution: ~300 tasks or operations. Zapier ₹800: Starter plan covers it. Make ₹680: Basic plan covers 10,000 operations. n8n self-hosted ₹750: Server only, free software. Setup time: Zapier 20 hours (UX is fastest), Make 25 hours (steeper learning curve), n8n 40 hours (self-hosting, configuration). At ₹600/hour in loaded labor cost, setup adds ₹12K (Zapier) to ₹24K (n8n). Winner at this scale: Zapier, amortized over 12 months. Scenario B: 1000 automations, 3 tasks/operations each per month Monthly execution: ~3000 tasks or operations. Zapier ₹1375 (₹800 base + ₹575 overage): You're in overage hell. Add setup time ₹12K amortized = ₹2392/month all-in. Make ₹1700: Standard plan covers 50,000 operations. Same setup as above: ₹1700/month all-in. n8n self-hosted ₹750: Server + domain. Setup time amortized: ₹750/month all-in. Winner: n8n, but requires technical chops. Second place: Make (simplicity + cost). Zapier now costs 3× as much as n8n at same scale. Scenario C: 5000 automations, 3 tasks/operations each per month Monthly execution: ~15,000 tasks or operations. Zapier ₹2800 (forced upgrade to handle volume): Plus setup amortized = ₹2817/month all-in. You hit exec