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n8n is the open-source workflow automation tool that competes with Zapier and Make. I have been running it for saas.pet's content pipeline for 6 months. Here is my honest take on self-hosting n8n versus paying Zapier, and whether it is worth the hassle. What n8n does that Zapier cannot n8n is an open-source workflow automation platform with 400+ built-in integrations. You connect nodes on a visual canvas: when X happens in one app, do Y in another. The killer difference from Zapier: you control where it runs. Self-host on a $5/month VPS or run on n8n Cloud at $20/month. No per-task pricing, no 'you hit your zap limit' emails. For high-volume workflows, the cost difference is dramatic. I run n8n on the same $6/month HK server that hosts my proxy. 12 workflows handle saas.pet's entire content pipeline: daily data fetch from GitHub Trending API, transform JSON, write to data files, trigger build, push to git, notify me on Telegram. The same workflows on Zapier would cost $73.50/month (Professional plan with 2,000 tasks). On n8n, $6/month for the server plus $0 for the software. The self-hosting overhead is real—updates, SSL certs, monitoring—but for 12+ active workflows, the savings are $800+/year. If you only have 2-3 simple zaps, stay on Zapier's free tier. If you have 5+ workflows with volume, n8n pays for the hosting in month 1. My 6-month setup for saas.pet I run n8n in Docker on the HK server. The initial setup: install Docker, pull n8n image, configure nginx reverse proxy, set up SSL via Certbot. That took about 2 hours the first time. Now I can deploy n8n in 15 minutes on a fresh server. The 12 workflows: (1) Daily GitHub trending fetch via saas.pet/api/trending, (2) data transform to unified JSON, (3) write to data/YYYY-MM-DD.json, (4) trigger build-ci.mjs, (5) git add + commit + push, (6) Telegram notification with commit SHA, (7) weekly sitemap health check, (8) monthly backup of reviews/ JSONs to S3, (9) uptime ping every 15 minutes, (10) DNS health check,

Disclosure up front: I'm Oded, co-founder of UniPaaS, the FCA-authorised Payment Institution (No. 929994) behind paas.build - so this is a vendor writing about his own product. That said, the three Base44 mechanics below are documented Base44 surfaces, and they work with any external payments API, not just ours. The wall Tell Base44 "add payments" and it installs Stripe or Base44 Payments (powered by Wix), plus Tranzila/Max for Israel. Both main options are solid if you qualify: Stripe is excellent infrastructure with first-class docs, and the Wix-powered option is native to the platform. The fine print is where builders hit a wall: Stripe live mode needs verified business and banking information before you can take a real payment. Base44 Payments requires "a business and bank account based in one of the supported countries" (their docs). The top payments request on Base44's own feedback board is "a way to setup other payment providers other than Stripe" - precisely because not every country is supported. Base44 webhooks only fire while someone is actively using your app, so 3am subscription renewals, retries and dunning silently don't run. If you have a registered company in a supported country and mostly sell one-off purchases, use the built-in Stripe path. It's the smoothest. The rest of this post is for everyone else. Base44 gives you three documented ways to wire in an external provider. I tested all three with paas.build. Here's each, and when it fits. Insertion point 1: custom MCP connection (build-time) In Base44: Settings → Account → MCP connections → Add custom MCP . Name: paas.build Server URL: https://paas.build/sse Auth: API key (your paas.build key) That's the legacy SSE endpoint Base44's form takes; streamable HTTP lives at https://paas.build/mcp for agents that support it. Base44's AI treats MCP connections as tools it can call when your request needs external data or actions. So in the editor chat you can say "use paas.build to create a live merchan

Every week I was burning the same hours doing the same thing: opening tabs, copying data, pasting it into a spreadsheet and starting over. The work was mindless. It was repetitive. It was exactly the kind of task that shouldn't require a human being in 2024. So I built an n8n scraper workflow that now handles all of it automatically — and here's exactly how I did it. The Problem Worth Automating Keeping product data current is non-negotiable for tech content research. Specs change. Prices shift overnight. Availability fluctuates without warning. Before automation, that meant manually visiting product pages and logging updates into a tracking sheet — a process that consumed three to five hours every single week. The inefficiency compounded fast. I missed updates between check-ins. Formatting stayed inconsistent across entries. The cognitive overhead of context-switching between dozens of tabs left me mentally depleted before I even reached the analytical work. Data collection wasn't just slow — it actively degraded everything downstream. Something had to change. Why n8n and Not Something Else I evaluated several tools before committing. Zapier is polished but expensive at scale and frustratingly rigid with custom HTTP behavior. Make (formerly Integromat) offers more flexibility yet its pricing model penalizes heavy usage quickly. Python scripts give you full control but demand ongoing maintenance and provide no visual debugging environment for non-engineers. n8n threads the needle cleanly. It's open-source and fully self-hostable so there are no per-task fees regardless of volume. Its visual node editor makes workflow logic instantly readable. Its native HTTP Request node handles custom headers, authentication and response parsing without a line of external code. For a scraping workflow that needs to stay reliable, repeatable and maintainable — n8n was the clear answer. Building the Scraper — Step by Step Step 1 — Schedule the Trigger Every automated workflow needs a

Verdict: Quick verdict: Zapier wins on simplicity and breadth — 7,000+ integrations, no-code setup, great for non-technical users. Make (formerly Integromat) wins on power-per-dollar — complex multi-step workflows at a fraction of Zapier's price, with a visual canvas that's genuinely better for complex logic. n8n wins if you're technical and willing to self-host — unlimited workflows, unlimited runs, zero ongoing cost after setup. For most small businesses: Make. For enterprises with non-technical teams: Zapier. For technical founders or developers: n8n. The automation tool market matured a lot between 2022 and 2026. Zapier, once the clear leader, is now meaningfully more expensive than its competitors — and Make and n8n have closed most of the feature gaps. If you're still paying Zapier prices without re-evaluating, you're almost certainly paying 3-5x what you need to. This comparison covers all three tools honestly, including their limits — because the right choice depends heavily on your technical comfort level and workflow complexity. The three tools at a glance Factor Zapier Make n8n (cloud) Free tier 100 tasks/month, 5 Zaps 1,000 ops/month, unlimited scenarios 2,500 steps/month, unlimited workflows Paid starts at $19.99/month (750 tasks) $9/month (10,000 ops) $20/month (10,000 steps) Native integrations 7,000+ 1,500+ 400+ (plus HTTP for anything) Visual workflow editor Linear, simple Canvas, branching Node-based, very flexible AI integration Yes (AI actions) Yes (AI modules) Yes (LangChain, OpenAI, etc.) Self-hosted option No No Yes (free, unlimited) Learning curve Low Medium High (developer-focused) Zapier — the everything-just-works option Zapier's advantage is breadth and simplicity. 7,000+ apps (essentially anything with an API), a straightforward "trigger → action" model, and enough guardrails that non-technical users rarely get stuck. If you need to connect Salesforce to Slack to Google Sheets without touching any code, Zapier is the fastest path from id