Pick Zapier when the client is non-technical and wants the most app coverage. Pick Make when the flow needs branching and you want it cheap. Pick n8n when the client cares about hosting and data control. Pipedream suits developers, but its 2026 pricing has changed, so check it before you quote.
The four tools at a glance
Prices below come from each vendor's own page where it could be read, and from a dated review where it could not. Plans change often, so confirm before you put a figure in a proposal.
Zapier: free plan with 100 tasks a month. Professional starts at $19.99 a month on the 750-task tier and Team at $69 a month on the 2,000-task tier, according to Zapier's pricing page. It says it connects 9,000-plus apps. Cloud only.
Make: free with up to 1,000 credits a month. Core is $9 a month billed annually ($10.59 monthly), Pro $16 ($18.82) and Teams $29 ($34.12), each with 10,000 credits, per a September 2026 JetAdmin review. Make's own page lists the plan names and the free allowance but not the paid prices, so check it. Cloud only.
n8n: Cloud Starter is €20 a month for 2,500 workflow executions and Pro €50 for 10,000, billed annually, according to n8n's pricing page. You can also host the Community Edition yourself. Business, a paid self-hosted tier, is €667 a month.
Pipedream: a free plan for development only, and a Startup plan at $99 a month billed annually with production use, per Pipedream's pricing page.
The pattern is that Zapier charges per task, Make per credit, n8n per whole workflow execution, and Pipedream per unit of compute. That difference matters more than the headline price, because a flow with many steps costs very different amounts on each.
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The Delivvo team
Delivvo runs the client cycle for service businesses: inquiry, quote, contract, deposit and delivery. Payments go straight to your own account.
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Zapier is the safe default for non-technical buyers
Zapier is the easiest tool to hand to someone who will maintain it themselves. It has the widest app list, a forgiving editor and the most documentation, so a client's office manager can open it a year later and understand what happened.
The cost grows with task volume. A flow with five steps that runs a hundred times a month uses hundreds of tasks. Once a client has ten or more flows, the bill starts to matter and they will begin asking about Make or n8n. That conversation is useful for you, because it is a chance to propose a review.
Use Zapier when:
The client has no technical staff and will not hire any.
Flows are short: a form to a spreadsheet, a payment to an email, a new row to a message.
You sell the setup as a project and the client pays the subscription directly.
Charge a fixed fee for each setup and write down who owns the account. We come back to that below.
Make is the visual middle ground
Make handles branching, loops and data shaping more clearly than Zapier's linear steps, and at the entry level it costs less. A scenario that loops over order lines or routes records by a field is easier to read on Make's canvas.
The trade-off is that clients have usually heard of Zapier and not Make, so you may spend part of a proposal explaining the choice. Make's credit system also rewards efficient scenarios and punishes sloppy ones, so test with real volume before you promise a monthly cost.
Use Make when:
The flow has branches, filters or repeated items.
The client wants a visual diagram they can follow.
The budget is tight and the volume is modest.
n8n is the control choice
n8n runs in the cloud or on your own server, and its pricing counts whole executions instead of individual steps. A workflow with thirty steps is one execution. For long flows that can be much cheaper than per-task pricing.
Self-hosting is what makes it attractive for clients with privacy rules, because data can stay on infrastructure they control. It is also where freelancers need care. n8n uses its Sustainable Use License, which allows use "only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use," and lets you distribute the software only free of charge for non-commercial purposes, according to the licence text on GitHub.
In plain terms, running n8n for your own business, or setting it up for a client to run for their own internal use, fits that wording. Selling access to workflows you host for several clients is a different arrangement. It may need an n8n commercial licence, and I am not the one to tell you which side of the line you are on. Ask n8n, or a lawyer, before you build a hosted service on it.
Use n8n when:
The client has compliance needs or wants their data on their own servers.
Flows are long, with many steps and custom code.
Someone technical, you or the client's team, will look after the server.
Self-hosting adds work: updates, backups, secrets and monitoring. Price that in, either as a retainer or as an explicit handover.
Close-up of a circuit board with glowing connections
Pipedream changed in the last year
Pipedream is the tool for people who want to write code in every step, and its ownership and pricing have moved. In November 2025 Workday announced a deal to buy it, with the price undisclosed and closing expected by the end of January 2026, according to SiliconANGLE. The coverage says Pipedream has more than 3,000 built-in integrations and focuses on connecting AI agents to other software.
The pricing page I read lists a free plan for development, a Startup plan at $99 a month billed annually, and custom Business pricing. That is a different shape from older guides that talk about low-cost tiers. Treat any Pipedream figure from before 2026 as out of date.
For a freelance client, the question is stability. A tool that is being absorbed into a large vendor may change terms. That is not a reason to avoid it, but it is a reason to avoid building a client's core process on it without saying so.
Use Pipedream when:
The client's team writes JavaScript or Python and wants version control and real code.
The work is event-driven and developer-led, such as webhooks and API calls.
You are comfortable that its direction may change.
A simple way to choose
Match the tool to who will own the flow after you leave.
A non-technical owner and short flows: Zapier.
A non-technical owner who wants a visual map and lower cost: Make.
A technical owner or strict data rules: n8n.
A developer team: Pipedream, or plain code.
If you are unsure, ask three questions in the intake call. Who will fix this when it breaks? Where is the data allowed to live? How many times a month will it run? Our guide to running a discovery call has more questions to ask.
When a client asks you to choose, write down why. Six months later, when they ask why you used Make, the answer should be in the proposal.
Who owns the account and who pays
Settle ownership before you build. Create the automation account in the client's name, with the client's payment method, and add yourself as a collaborator. If you build in your own account and export later, you will end up supporting their business from your login.
Put three things in the contract:
Who pays for the tool subscription, and what happens if the price changes.
Who is responsible when a flow stops because an app changed its API. Maintenance is a separate service, not a free warranty.
What you hand over: exported workflows, documentation and credentials, and by when.
Retainers work well here, because automations need maintenance. Our post on all-in-one versus best-of-breed tools is useful when a client asks whether they need several tools stitched together at all.
How Delivvo handles the client side of an automation project
Delivvo does not compete with these four tools. It runs the work around them: the inquiry, the scope, the contract, the deposit and the handover, so each automation job is sold and delivered in a consistent way.
Here is how an automation freelancer uses it:
A prospect fills in your inquiry form. Add fields for the tools they use, how many times a month the flow will run and where their data must live.
The lead lands on your lead board. An automation can send an instant reply with your price list and booking link.
You send a quote with packages: an audit, a build, and a monthly maintenance add-on.
The client signs the contract and pays the deposit through one link. Delivvo creates the client, the project, the invoice and the payment schedule.
You deliver the exported workflows, documentation and handover notes through the client portal. Clients open it with a one-time code, and you can ask them to approve each deliverable.
Maintenance goes on a recurring invoice, and a late-payment automation sends reminders at 7, 14 and 30 days until it is paid.
Delivvo also connects to the tools in this post. Zapier, Make and n8n connect by signing in, and the public API and signed webhooks are on the Pro plan, so you can trigger your own flows when a lead arrives or an invoice is paid.
Clients pay you through your own gateway, and Delivvo takes 0%. Every document has a verification code. You can start on the free plan with no card.
If you are building your own stack, our guide to the solopreneur tool stack lists what to pay for.
FAQ
Which is cheapest, Zapier, Make, n8n or Pipedream?
For small volumes, Make's Core plan at $9 a month on annual billing is the cheapest paid cloud option listed here. n8n's Community Edition costs nothing to download, but you pay for the server and your time. Pricing models differ, so test with a real workflow.
Is n8n free for freelancers?
The Community Edition is free to download, and the licence allows use for your own internal business purposes. Offering hosted workflows to clients as a paid service may need a commercial licence, so check with n8n before you build a business on it.
Is Pipedream still worth using?
Yes, for developer-led work. Check the current pricing first, because the plans and the company's ownership have changed. For non-technical clients, Zapier or Make are easier to hand over.
Should the client or I own the automation account?
The client. Create the account in their name and add yourself as a collaborator. That keeps the business logic with the business, and it makes handover clean if you part ways.
Can I charge a monthly fee for maintaining automations?
Yes, and you should. Apps change their APIs and flows break. A maintenance retainer covers monitoring, fixes and small changes, and it gives you steady income between builds.
Delivvo runs the whole client cycle for service businesses, from the first inquiry to the quote, contract, deposit, invoice and delivery, so every automation project is scoped, signed and paid before you build. Clients pay you directly through your own gateway, and Delivvo takes 0%. Start free
