From Zapier to self-hosted n8n: when the switch pays off.

You run IT at a mid-sized company. Over the past two years your operations teams have grown Zapier or Make to more than 40 workflows. Billing is per task, and the monthly bill is heading toward five figures. We work out whether self-hosted n8n pays off for you. If it does, we migrate the workflows and hand the documented system to your team.

Book a first call Or write to us, one sentence is enough.

Focus areas

Buy-vs-build audit with a clear recommendation
Two weeks. We list every workflow in Zapier or Make and compare the costs over three years against a self-hosted setup, including the effort to run it. You get a clear recommendation. If switching doesn't pay off, we tell you.
Migration while day-to-day work continues
We map the workflows, run Zapier and n8n side by side for a while and switch over step by step, usually 5–10 workflows a week. Each workflow is tested in n8n before the old one is turned off. That keeps the risk to day-to-day operations low.
Your IT runs it afterwards, not us
n8n runs on your own infrastructure: Docker, Kubernetes or an EU cloud. Monitoring, backups and secrets management are documented and handed to your team at the end of the project. Costs no longer grow with every run, and you don't need us to operate it. For workflows with fixed rules, n8n is a good tool. As soon as a step reads free text, makes decisions or works with agents, we build in code, on eve: every change is documented and comparable, every run has tests and a log, an error can be traced to the line, and a rollback is switching back to the previous state. Click-built workflows are quick to make but hard to check once they grow: no comparison between two states, no tests, debugging in the browser. You notice it at 40 workflows; at 200 you pay for it.

Why Zapier and Make costs climb as you grow.

Zapier and Make are a good start, especially for the first 20 workflows. Both bill by usage: the more workflows you have and the more often they run, the higher the bill. A self-hosted setup mainly costs hosting and upkeep, and those costs barely grow with the number of runs. In a model calculation for a typical mid-sized company, we arrived at Zapier costs of 14,800 €/month. In a situation like that, a migration can pay for itself within a few months. But not every setup is worth moving. How complex the workflows are, what your team can operate and which vendor strategy you follow need to be clear first. In the buy-vs-build audit we inventory your workflows, compare total costs over three years (licenses, hosting, upkeep) and give you a clear recommendation. If the switch pays off, we plan the migration. If it doesn't, we tell you. You can take the results to your internal team, build with us or work with another partner.

Related projects and patterns

Use casePlanning firm, 2026
Tenders at planning firms: 30 minutes of review instead of 10 hours of bid work a day
How an agent tuned to a specific firm's profile can cut ten staff hours of daily bid work down to thirty minutes of review, without relying on generic tender AI. A use case study based on our production-ready prototype.
20×
Less time on bid work (projected from the firm owner's baseline)

Matching offers

Product Build
Weeks, not quarters
An idea or a first version needs to become something that runs day to day.
Running system, design, cloud setup, documentation, handover
Audit
Two weeks
Something has to change, but it's not yet clear where the lever is.
Baseline in numbers, action roadmap, architecture sketch, next step
Fractional CTO
Monthly, ongoing
You're responsible for technology, but your team lacks someone with the experience for it.
Architecture reviews, reporting, mentoring, on call for outages

Frequently asked

What do we get from the audit?

An inventory of all workflows, a three-year cost comparison between Zapier or Make and self-hosting, an assessment of the technical risks of migrating and, if the switch pays off, a migration plan. You can use the results internally, build with us or work with another partner. There's no obligation to continue with us.

When does self-hosting not pay off?

With fewer than 15–20 production workflows, a workflow count that swings a lot, or a team without experience running containers. In those cases Zapier or Make usually cost less than running your own system, hosting and upkeep included. The audit says so plainly. We don't recommend migrations that don't pay off.

What happens to our existing Zapier workflows during the migration?

They keep running. We rebuild them in n8n alongside and switch them over one at a time, usually 5–10 per week. Each workflow is tested in n8n before the old one is turned off. Once the last one has moved, you can cancel the Zapier subscription.

Can our team run the n8n stack on its own afterwards?

Yes, the project is set up for exactly that. We build custom nodes for your internal systems, document the rules for how workflows are built and run a handover workshop with your team. The goal is that your team runs the system on its own after handover. If you'd like support after that, there's a maintenance contract or our Fractional CTO offer for strategic IT decisions.

Let's talk.

Write us three sentences about what it's about. On working days you'll usually get a first assessment from Kevin Ludwig within 24 hours. Or book 30 minutes on video right away.