n8n alternatives: five hosted automation tools for a small business that does not want a server

n8n alternatives: when a per-step tool costs less

For a small business that wants hosted tools and no server, the n8n alternatives to price are Pabbly Connect, Zapier, Make, Albato and Integrately. At 10,000 a month, billed monthly, Pabbly Connect Standard ($19 for 10,000 tasks) and Make Core ($16 for 10,000 credits) cost less than n8n Cloud Pro ($60 for 10,000 workflow executions), as read on October 30, 2026.

The units differ. An execution is n8n's word for one run of the whole workflow, however many steps it has. A per-step tool counts each action, so a form response that adds a spreadsheet row, creates a CRM contact and posts a team message uses 1 execution on n8n, 3 tasks on Pabbly Connect and 4 credits on Make. n8n Cloud Starter is $24 a month for 2,500 executions, billed monthly.

The Try Pabbly Connect button opens Pabbly's plans page, where Standard and Unlimited are listed with their terms.

Pabbly Connect: hosted, flat at volume

Pabbly Connect Standard is $19 a month for 10,000 tasks, and Unlimited is $79 a month, both billed monthly. Pabbly says its servers sit in the US Oregon region on Amazon Web Services, so there is nothing to host. Unlimited is for one business and starts with a balance of 100,000 tasks, not an open-ended count.

Its tasks reset monthly with no carry-over. Pabbly Connect vs n8n compares the two plan by plan.

Make and Zapier as n8n alternatives

Make Core is $16 a month for 10,000 credits, billed monthly. Most actions use one credit, and reading data from an app or webhook counts too. Zapier Professional starts at $29.99 a month for 750 tasks, billed monthly, and a free 14-day trial of it needs no credit card.

At 10,000 tasks, Zapier Professional is $193.50 a month, billed monthly, so a per-step tool is not always the cheaper one. n8n vs Zapier compares those two.

Albato and Integrately for a small team

Albato Pro is $22 a month for 1,000 transactions, billed monthly, and a transaction is each step that runs after the trigger. Integrately Starter is $29.99 a month for 2,000 tasks, billed monthly, with 20 automations and one user. Integrately counts conditions and data changes as tasks, not only actions.

When to stay on n8n

Stay on n8n for long workflows that run often. A per-step tool counts every action, so a workflow with many steps uses more units there than on n8n's per-run meter. n8n Cloud also offers a free trial of 1,000 executions with no credit card.

A team with its own server can run the free Community Edition. Its license limits use to internal business purposes, it leaves out some features, and n8n says self-hosting suits teams with infrastructure and technical resources. n8n's page prints no hosting cost. Cheapest automation tool ranks every lowest paid plan.

Pabbly Connect lets you rebuild one workflow on its Free plan, 100 tasks a month, before paying. That plan allows 2 workflows of up to 2 steps.