<img referrerpolicy="no-referrer" src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fam6we37cv9kxxvdukunn.png" alt="A deep comparison of Zapier, Make, and n8n covering automation costs, AI orchestration, scaling limits, and workflow complexity.

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Automation demos are easy. You watch a 5-minute YouTube video, drag a trigger to an action, and feel like you've just automated your entire business.

Then month two starts.

That's when you realize that "one-click" simplicity is a trap. Most teams don’t switch from Zapier to n8n because of a missing integration.…