Guides / Comparisons

Zapier Alternatives: 5 Automation Tools Compared for 2026

The best Zapier alternatives compared: Make, n8n, Power Automate, IFTTT and custom code. Pricing as of September 2026, limits and who each suits.

Mythex Team · 2026-09-29 · 5 min read

The best Zapier alternatives are Make for visual, complex workflows at a lower price per run, n8n for technical teams who want to self-host or keep data in-house, Power Automate for organisations on Microsoft 365, and IFTTT for simple personal automations. For one workflow that's central to your business, a small custom app that receives webhooks can also make sense. Zapier itself is still the easiest way to connect a very wide range of apps. Switch when cost, limits or data control become a real problem.

What Zapier offers today

As of September 2026, Zapier says it connects 9,000+ apps and lists:

• Free: $0, 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps only.
• Professional: from $19.99/month billed yearly ($29.99 month to month), starting at 750 tasks a month, with multi-step Zaps.
• Team: from $69/month billed yearly ($103.50 month to month), starting at 2,000 tasks a month.
• Enterprise: custom.

All plans include Zapier Tables and Forms, basic access to Zapier Agents, and Copilot, its AI helper for building Zaps.

Why people look for Zapier alternatives

1. Cost at volume. Zapier bills by tasks. A busy workflow can use a lot of them.
2. Complex logic. Branching, loops and data transformation are easier to see on a visual canvas.
3. Data control. Some teams need automations to run on their own servers.
4. Ecosystem fit. Microsoft-heavy organisations may prefer Microsoft's own tool.
5. Simple needs. A few personal automations don't need a business plan.

Zapier alternatives at a glance

How we compared

We compared the publicly stated features, plans and prices on each vendor's own pricing page as of September 2026. We did not do hands-on testing. Each tool counts usage differently (tasks, credits, executions, runs), so price per workflow isn't directly comparable; estimate your own volume before choosing. We left out anything we couldn't confirm on the vendors' sites. Prices are as shown on those pages: US dollars, except n8n, which lists euros.

Make: visual workflows for less

Make lets you build automations, called scenarios, on a visual canvas where you can see branches, filters and data flowing between steps.

• Free: $0, 1,000 credits a month, 2 active scenarios, runs every 15 minutes at most.
• Core: from $9/month for 10,000 credits, with unlimited active scenarios and runs as often as every minute.
• Pro: from $16/month, adding priority execution and full-text log search.
• Teams: from $29/month, adding team roles and shared templates.
• Enterprise: custom, including an on-prem agent for reaching systems on your local network.
• Annual billing saves 15% or more. Make lists 3,000+ apps and access to its AI features on all plans.
• Pick it if your workflows have several branches or high volume and you're comfortable with a slightly steeper learning curve.

n8n: for technical teams and self-hosting

n8n is a workflow automation tool aimed at technical teams, with AI features and room for custom code.

• Community Edition: free to self-host, published on GitHub under n8n's Sustainable Use License, which n8n describes as fair-code.
• Cloud Starter: €20/month billed annually (€24 monthly), 2,500 executions a month.
• Cloud Pro: €50/month billed annually (€60 monthly), 10,000 executions a month.
• Business and Enterprise: higher tiers, with self-hosted options using a licence key.
• Pricing model: n8n charges by workflow executions, regardless of how many steps each one has, with unlimited users and workflows on all plans.
• Pick it if you have someone technical, want to keep data on your own servers, or build long multi-step workflows where per-step pricing gets expensive.

Power Automate: for Microsoft organisations

Power Automate is Microsoft's automation tool, covering cloud workflows and robotic process automation (RPA), meaning software that clicks through desktop apps for you.

• Premium: $15 per user/month, paid yearly, with cloud flows, attended desktop flows and process mining.
• Process: $150 per bot/month, paid yearly, for unattended desktop automation.
• Trial: 30 days.
• Pick it if your team lives in Microsoft 365 and you want automations managed alongside the rest of your Microsoft setup, or you need desktop automation for older software without an API.

IFTTT: simple personal automations

IFTTT ("if this, then that") connects more than 1,000 services, from Google Sheets and Gmail to Discord, with simple trigger-and-action applets.

• Free: 2 applets.
• Pro: $2.99/month ($35.88/year), 20 applets, multi-action applets and webhooks.
• Pro+: $8.99/month ($107.88/year), unlimited applets, AI services, and queries and filter code.
• Pick it if your automations are personal and simple. It isn't designed for complex business workflows.

When a custom app is the better answer

Automation tools are great glue. But if one workflow is central to your business, say, taking a form submission, checking it against your own rules, saving it to a database and notifying a team, running it through several tools can become fragile and costly.

An alternative is to build that workflow as a small app. With an AI app builder like Mythex, you describe what should happen in chat and the AI agent writes the code, including an endpoint that receives webhooks from services such as Stripe or your form tool. Mythex can add a dedicated Postgres database to store what comes in, and on Pro you can export the project or sync it to GitHub. See the webhooks recipe and what is a webhook.

The honest trade-off: a custom app has no library of thousands of ready-made connectors. Each integration is code that calls that service's API, and you maintain it. For connecting many everyday apps, Zapier or Make is faster. Custom code makes sense for the one or two workflows that are core to how your business works. Our guide on how to replace expensive SaaS with your own tool covers when that trade is worth it.

Who each suits

• Non-technical team, lots of different apps: stay on Zapier, or try Make if cost is the issue.
• Complex, high-volume workflows: Make or n8n.
• Data must stay on your own servers: self-hosted n8n.
• Microsoft 365 organisation: Power Automate.
• Simple personal automations: IFTTT.
• One core business process you want to own: a custom app.

Verdict

Zapier is still the easiest option and connects the most apps. Make is the best value for visual, complex workflows. n8n is the pick for technical teams who want self-hosting and control. Power Automate fits Microsoft shops, and IFTTT covers simple personal automations cheaply. Count your monthly runs, list the apps you truly need, and price each tool against that. For ideas on what to automate or build for your team, see internal tool ideas for teams.