n8n vs Zapier in 2026: Why I Switched (And Saved €2,000/Year)

I used Zapier for 3 years. Then I switched to n8n and never looked back. Here's why — with real numbers. The Cost Problem Zapier's pricing in 2026: Starter : $29.99/mo (750 tasks) Professional : $73.50/mo (2,000 tasks) Team : $103.50/mo (2,000 tasks + collaboration) At Professional tier, that's $882/year for 2,000 tasks/month. n8n self-hosted: $0/year for unlimited executions. Even n8n Cloud starts at $24/mo with 2,500 executions. Over 3 years on Zapier, I spent roughly €2,400 . My n8n VPS costs €5/month = €60/year . Feature Comparison (2026) Feature Zapier n8n Pricing Per-task Unlimited (self-hosted) AI Integration Built-in (limited) Full (any model via API) Custom Code JavaScript only JavaScript + Python Self-hosting No Yes (Docker) Branching Logic Basic IF/THEN Full programming logic Sub-workflows Yes Yes Error Handling Basic retry Advanced (try/catch, custom) Community Nodes No 900+ community nodes Data Privacy Cloud only Your server, your data Webhook Speed ~1-5 seconds <500ms (se