Zapier's pricing seemed affordable at first, but now you're paying hundreds per month. Here's a detailed look at the true cost of Zapier and smarter alternatives.

When you first signed up for Zapier, the free plan seemed perfect. Connect a few apps, automate some simple tasks, and watch the magic happen. But then your business grew. You needed more Zaps, more steps, premium apps. Suddenly, you're staring at a $200/month invoice and wondering where it all went wrong.

Let's break down Zapier's pricing and explore when it makes sense to switch to something more cost-effective.

Zapier's pricing tiers (2026)

Free Plan: 100 tasks/month, 5 single-step Zaps. Fine for personal use, but most businesses burn through this in a day.

Starter ($29.99/month): 750 tasks, multi-step Zaps, but still limited to 20 Zaps total. Premium apps cost extra.

Professional ($73.50/month): 2,000 tasks, unlimited Zaps, custom logic with Paths. This is where most small businesses land.

Team ($103.50/month): 2,000 tasks, shared workspaces, and collaboration features. Add users and costs climb fast.

Enterprise: Custom pricing, but expect to pay significantly more for SSO, advanced permissions, and dedicated support.

The hidden costs

Tasks add up fast: Every time a Zap runs, it counts as a task. A Zap with five steps counts as five tasks. High-volume processes can eat through your monthly limit in days.

Premium apps: Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify—many popular integrations require the Professional plan or higher.

Multi-step Zaps: The free and Starter plans limit you to single-step or basic multi-step Zaps. Anything complex requires upgrading.

Filters and Paths: Using conditional logic? That's Professional tier or higher.

Real-world example

A small e-commerce company I worked with was running 15 Zaps to handle order processing, inventory updates, and customer follow-ups. Each order triggered multiple Zaps, consuming about 5,000 tasks per month. At $73.50/month for 2,000 tasks, they had to purchase additional task packs at $15 per 1,000 tasks. Their actual monthly cost? Over $120—and growing as sales increased.

How Make and n8n compare

Make (formerly Integromat): Starts at $10.59/month for 10,000 operations. That's five times more operations than Zapier's Professional plan at one-seventh the cost. Make's visual builder is also more powerful, with true loops, error handling, and data transformation built in.

n8n: Self-hosted option with no per-operation fees. You pay for hosting (as low as $5/month on a VPS) and get unlimited operations. The learning curve is steeper, but the cost savings are dramatic for high-volume users.

When to switch from Zapier

Consider switching when:

Your monthly bill exceeds $100 and keeps climbing
You're constantly hitting task limits before month-end
You need complex logic that Zapier handles poorly
You want to own your automation infrastructure

When to stay with Zapier

Stick with Zapier if:

You have simple, low-volume workflows
You value ease of use over cost efficiency
Your team isn't technical and needs the simplest possible interface

Making the transition

Switching automation platforms doesn't have to be painful. Start by documenting your current Zaps—what they do, what apps they connect, and how often they run. Then rebuild the most critical workflows on your new platform and test thoroughly before switching over.

Need help evaluating your options? Book a Workflow & Automation Strategy Session to get a personalized cost analysis and migration plan. Stop overpaying for automation that should be saving you money.

Zapier Pricing Breakdown: Why Small Businesses Outgrow It