NextAutomation.
AUTOMATION PICKER

Find your best automation platform
in 60 seconds.

Make vs n8n vs Zapier vs Lindy vs Pipedream — 15 platforms compared with real 2026 pricing. Personalized top-3 picks. No email gate.

15 platforms compared Live 2026 pricing No sign-up
Why this matters: The wrong automation platform costs you 2–10x more than the right one. Zapier costs $0.08/task; n8n self-hosted costs $0.0001/task. But picking n8n when you need 8,000+ app integrations is just as expensive in time. Each platform's pricing model (tasks vs operations vs executions vs seats) traps different teams differently. We score 15 platforms across your actual workflow needs to find your real best fit.
Question 1 of 5 · Use case

What will you automate?

Pick all that apply.

Lead routing & CRM sync
Forms → CRM, lead enrichment, hot-lead alerts
AI workflows (LLM + agents)
GPT/Claude calls, RAG pipelines, AI agents that act on data
Data sync between SaaS tools
HubSpot ↔ Salesforce, Stripe ↔ accounting, etc.
Marketing automation
Email sequences, ad reporting, content publishing
Internal ops & approvals
Slack alerts, document workflows, employee onboarding
E-commerce / order ops
Shopify → fulfillment, returns, inventory alerts
Web scraping & enrichment
Pull data from sites, enrich leads, monitor pages
Question 2 of 5 · Volume

Monthly automation volume?

Each platform measures volume differently (tasks/operations/executions) — pick the closest range. This is the #1 cost driver.

Under 1,000/month
Testing or very small ops — free tiers handle this
1,000–10,000/month
SMB / solo founder / a few workflows
10,000–50,000/month
Active SMB, agency-client work, multiple flows
50,000–200,000/month
Scaling ops, multi-team, lots of integrations
200,000+/month (high scale)
Enterprise / high-volume agency / mission-critical
Question 3 of 5 · Budget

Monthly budget for the platform?

All-in (platform fee + any add-ons / overages).

$0 (free tier only)
Testing — limits your options to free plans or self-hosted
Under $50/month
Solo founder or hobby project
$50–$200/month
SMB / agency starting out — most SMBs land here
$200–$1,000/month
Growing team — most agency stacks fit
$1,000+/month (scale)
Mission-critical ops — Workato/Tray.io territory
Question 4 of 5 · Build approach

How do you want to build?

Be honest. This is the biggest reason teams pick wrong.

Pure no-code (visual only)
No coding. UI-only. Speed matters more than power.
Low-code (some scripting OK)
Comfortable with light JavaScript/Python, webhooks, APIs
Developer team — full code OK
Want max flexibility, control, lowest per-task cost
Self-hosted (own the infrastructure)
Data sovereignty, lowest cost at scale, dev team available

And how many people will build / edit workflows?

1
2–5
6–20
20+
Question 5 of 5 · Must-haves

Any non-negotiables?

Optional — flag deal-breakers.

Native AI/LLM nodes
First-class GPT/Claude support out-of-box
5,000+ app integrations
Need integrations to obscure tools
Self-hosting option
Data sovereignty / compliance / cost at scale
Code blocks (JS/Python)
Custom logic that visual builders can't handle
Enterprise security (SOC 2, SSO)
SAML SSO, audit logs, role permissions
Best-in-class visual builder
Beautiful drag-and-drop with branching, errors, debugging

Your top 3 matches

Based on what you told us — here's where to start.

Built by NextAutomation.ai — we build AI automation, AI agents, and lead-gen systems for agencies, real estate teams, and B2B SMBs. Need help deploying your chosen platform? Visit nextautomation.ai →
NextAutomation. · Build Unstoppable Businesses · Automation Picker v1 · Pricing accurate as of 2026

Automation Platform Picker — FAQ

Make vs Zapier vs n8n — which automation platform is best?

It depends on your volume, team skill, and budget. Make is the best balance of no-code + power at SMB scale. Zapier has the most integrations (8,000+) but is the most expensive per task. n8n is the cheapest at high volume if you can self-host. The picker scores all 15 platforms against your specific inputs.

What automation platforms are included?

15 platforms: Make, n8n, Zapier, Lindy, Pipedream, Relay.app, Workato, Tray.io, Activepieces, Bardeen, Latenode, IFTTT, Power Automate, Pipefy, and Cassidy.

How do you handle per-seat pricing?

The picker asks how many editors will build workflows. For per-seat platforms (Power Automate $15/user, Pipefy $19/user, Cassidy $40/seat, Bardeen $10/user), the result card shows the seat math line — e.g. "12 editors × $15/seat = +$180/mo" — so the total cost reflects reality.

Does the picker include self-hosted TCO?

Yes. n8n and Activepieces self-hosted aren't free — the picker estimates VPS cost ($5–80/mo) and admin overhead (~2–4 hrs/mo) so you can compare honestly against cloud platforms.

What's the cheapest automation platform at scale?

Self-hosted n8n is the cheapest at 50K+ executions/month (~$70 VPS + admin time vs $1,500+ on Zapier). For cloud-only, Make and Pipedream usually win at mid-volume. Use the picker to model your specific volume.

Why does the picker warn about operations vs tasks vs executions?

Make counts each module run as an operation, Zapier counts each action step as a task, n8n counts full workflow executions. A 5-step workflow run 10K times = 50K ops on Make, 50K tasks on Zapier, but only 10K executions on n8n. The picker surfaces this so you size the plan correctly.