Three serious automation platforms have permanent free tiers. The differences between those tiers decide which one you should learn.
Short answer
Zapier’s free plan gives 100 tasks a month with the widest app coverage. Make gives 1,000 credits a month with far more capable logic but a 15-minute minimum interval between runs. n8n can be self-hosted free with no usage limit at all, if you have someone who can run a server. Start with Zapier to learn the concept, move to Make when the task limit bites, and to n8n when data control or volume makes it worthwhile.
The three free tiers compared
| Feature | Zapier | Make | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Non-technical teams automating between SaaS apps | More complex automations at a lower running cost | Technical teams who want control, self-hosting or data residency |
| Pricing | Free 100 tasks/mo; Professional from $19.99/mo; Team from $69/mo | Free 1,000 credits/mo; Core $12/mo; Pro $21/mo; Teams $38/mo | Self-hosted community edition free; Cloud Starter from €20/mo (annual); Pro from €50/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automation | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Thousands of apps including Gmail, Slack, Sheets, HubSpot, QuickBooks | 3,000+ apps, HTTP module for anything else | 400+ nodes, HTTP request node, custom code steps |
| Facts checked | 28 August 2026 | 28 August 2026 | 28 August 2026 |
| Go to tool | Try tool | Try tool | Try tool |
What each free plan actually allows
- Zapier free: 100 tasks per month, unlimited workflows, Tables and Forms included. A “task” is one action, so a three-step workflow consumes three tasks per run. That is roughly 33 runs a month — enough to learn, not enough to operate.
- Make free: 1,000 credits a month and a 15-minute minimum interval between scenario runs. Materially more headroom than Zapier’s free tier, and the branching and error handling are better, but the interval rules out anything that must react immediately.
- n8n community edition: self-hosted, free, no usage cap. The cost is infrastructure — someone has to run, secure and update it.
Recommended tools
Visual automation platform with more control than a linear workflow builder.
Best for: More complex automations at a lower running cost
Pricing: Free 1,000 credits/mo; Core $12/mo; Pro $21/mo; Teams $38/mo
Connects thousands of apps into automated workflows, now with AI steps.
Best for: Non-technical teams automating between SaaS apps
Pricing: Free 100 tasks/mo; Professional from $19.99/mo; Team from $69/mo
Source-available workflow automation you can self-host, with strong AI agent support.
Best for: Technical teams who want control, self-hosting or data residency
Pricing: Self-hosted community edition free; Cloud Starter from €20/mo (annual); Pro from €50/mo
Meeting recorder and notetaker with CRM integrations and an AI assistant.
Best for: Sales and client teams who need meeting notes in the CRM
Pricing: Free plan; Pro $18/mo ($10 annual); Business $29/mo ($19 annual); Enterprise $39/seat annual
Customer service platform with the Lyro AI agent for resolving common questions.
Best for: Small ecommerce and service businesses handling repetitive enquiries
Pricing: Free 50 conversations/mo; Starter $24.17/mo; Growth from $49.17/mo; Lyro AI agent from $32.50/mo
What to build first
Do not start with the most annoying task. Start with the most repeated one, because that is where a small saving compounds. Three that work well as a first build:
- Form to record to notification. A new enquiry creates a CRM or spreadsheet record and posts to your team channel, with an AI step summarising the enquiry in one line.
- Meeting to follow-up draft. A notetaker finishes, the transcript goes to an AI step, and a draft follow-up email lands in your drafts folder for you to check and send.
- Inbox triage. Incoming email is classified — quote request, supplier, invoice, noise — and routed or labelled, with anything ambiguous left alone.
Where automation goes wrong
Where it helps
- High-volume, low-variation, rules-based steps
- Moving data between systems that will not integrate
- Classification and summarisation before a human decision
- Anything you currently do by copy-paste
Where it does not
- Processes that change every time they run
- Steps where an error is expensive and unnoticed
- Sending anything to a customer without a human check, at least at first
- Automating a broken process — you get the same mess, faster
- Building something only one person understands
The rule that keeps automation safe
Keep a human in the loop wherever the output leaves your organisation or touches money. Drafting a customer email is a good automation; sending it unread is not, until you have watched it behave correctly for weeks. And document what you built — an automation nobody understands becomes a liability the moment it breaks, which it will, when an API changes.
Frequently asked questions
Which free automation tool is best for a beginner?
Zapier, because the mental model is simplest and app coverage is widest. Expect to outgrow the 100-task limit quickly if the automation is genuinely useful.
Is n8n really free?
The self-hosted community edition is, with no usage cap. You pay in server cost and maintenance time, which is only a saving if someone can do that work.
Do I need to code?
No for Zapier and Make. n8n can be used without code, but you will hit situations where a small code step is the practical answer.