Zapier vs Node-RED — pricing & features compared
What you'd pay per month
Cheapest qualifying plan for each tool, including overage, at four typical volumes.
| runs / month | Zapier | Node-RED |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $73.5Professional 2k | $8 ✓self-hosted* |
| 5,000 | $193.5Professional 10k | $8 ✓self-hosted* |
| 20,000 | $433.5Professional 50k | $25 ✓self-hosted* |
| 100,000 | $1,149Professional 200k | $45 ✓self-hosted* |
~ = estimated custom-tier pricing (vendor quotes individually; calibrated against public list prices). Assumes 3 workflows, monthly billing, cheapest qualifying plan. Prices verified June 2026 — see the price changelog. * self-hosted = free open-source software; the figure is the server infrastructure (VPS + DB, not a tool fee), ~$8/mo small to ~$150/mo at high volume — assumes light workflows and excludes your ops time.
Get the number for your exact volume.
30 seconds, no signup — your runs, your workflows, all 7 tools ranked.
Feature differences that matter
Only the rows where Zapier and Node-RED actually differ — identical capabilities are left out.
| Feature | Zapier | Node-RED |
|---|---|---|
| Integrations | 9,000+ | 5,000+ |
| Free tier | 100 tasks/mo · Unlimited (within task limit) | Unlimited · Unlimited |
| Steps per workflow | 2 steps (free) | Unlimited |
| Execution timeout | 15 min | No limit |
| Log history | 15 min delay (free) | Full history |
| EU data residency | ✗ | ✓ |
| Self-hosting | ✗ | ✓ |
| AI features | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi-user | ✓ | ✗ |
| License | Proprietary (cloud) | Apache 2.0 |
Same on both: overage model · api access · webhooks · code steps.
Pros & cons
- 9,000+ integrations — most of any tool
- Easiest for non-technical users
- Huge ecosystem
- Most expensive per op
- Free tier severely limited
- No self-host
- Apache 2.0 — completely free
- Node.js code steps
- Best for IoT/hardware
- No cloud option
- Developer-only (no visual UI)
- Limited SaaS integrations
Common questions
Both have free tiers — test with your real workflow
100 free tasks a month on 2-step Zaps — fine for checking whether your apps are supported.
Visit Zapier →An objective cost comparison from each vendor's public pricing pages (June 2026) — not a recommendation; rankings reflect price only, so verify current pricing before deciding. We run an affiliate link for Make (the only one of these tools with a public referral program); the others don't offer one, so those are plain links — affiliate status never affects the comparison. See our affiliate disclosure.