An automation platform connects the tools you already have. When a form is submitted, a record appears in the CRM. When an invoice arrives, it is checked and filed. Now that every platform offers AI steps, these workflows can also understand, summarise and classify text.
The four main options
| Zapier | Make | n8n | Power Automate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | Huge app catalogue, easy to learn | Visual, branching scenarios | Self-hostable, very flexible | Deeply integrated into Microsoft 365 |
| Billing | per task | per credit | per execution | per licence |
| Entry price | from 19.99 USDP a month | from 12 USDP a month | Cloud from 20 EURP, self-hosted free | included in many Microsoft plans, premium extra |
| Fits | Business teams without IT support | Teams with process know-how | Companies with IT and strict data protection needs | Microsoft-centred organisations |
The pricing model is often underestimated. In Zapier, every step of a workflow counts as a task. A ten-step workflow running 1,000 times a month uses 10,000 tasks. n8n bills per execution, regardless of the number of steps. The n8n Community Edition can be self-hosted free and without an execution limitP. The self-hosted Business edition costs 667 EUR a monthP on annual billing, according to the price list.
Delivery Hero shows how fast it can go. According to an n8n case study, the first production workflow there was built in five hoursH.
The workflow: decision tree
- 01StartA new process should be automated
- 02CheckSensitive data and in-house IT capacity?yes: self-host n8n
- 03CheckDo you work mainly in Microsoft 365?yes: Power Automate
- 04CheckNon-technical team, many SaaS apps?yes: Zapier
- 05ResultComplex visual scenarios, small budget: Make
Building AI steps properly
Most workflows need AI in only one place: where unstructured text has to become a clear category or a fixed format. The prompt then has to be narrow enough for the answer to be processed by a machine.
Assign the following request to exactly one category: invoice, complaint, appointment request, application, other. Reply with the category name only, no other text. Request: {{text}}Limits and risks
- Single points of failure: Many automations depend on the one person who built them. Document every workflow with purpose, owner and a fallback plan.
- Monitoring: Failed runs otherwise go unnoticed until something is missing. Set up failure notifications.
- Self-hosting: Full data sovereignty also means full responsibility for updates, backups and security.
- Prices: List prices as of October 2026, excluding tax. Check with the vendor before buying.
How to start
- Pick a workflow that runs today by copy-and-paste between two tools.
- Estimate runs per month and steps per run.
- Work out the pricing model of each candidate platform with those numbers.
- Build the workflow, document it and set up a failure notification.