Task Automation Tools Compared: Zapier, Make, n8n, TaskJuice

Asana surveyed 9,615 knowledge workers and found they spend 58% of their day on “work about work”: chasing status, copying data between apps, searching for files[1]. That’s the gap task automation tools exist to close. And they all close it the same way, by moving data from one app to another when something happens.

So I’ll take a position up front. Don’t pick between Zapier, Make, n8n or TaskJuice by counting integrations. All four connect to the apps you use. Pick by two things nobody puts on the homepage: what the tool charges you for each run, and who owns the account the automation lives in. Those two decide your bill at scale and your risk the day a client leaves.

What are task automation tools?

Task automation tools are apps that perform a repetitive action for you when a trigger fires: a form is submitted, a deal changes stage, an invoice goes overdue. You define the trigger and the steps once, and the tool runs them every time. Zapier, Make, n8n and TaskJuice are the four compared here.

The category is growing fast. ResearchAndMarkets puts the workflow automation market at $11.63 billion in 2025 and projects $78.26 billion by 2035[2]. That money buys mostly the same building blocks: a trigger, a few actions, some data mapping in between.

Where they differ is underneath.

The billing unit decides what automation really costs

Each tool meters a run differently. Zapier bills per task, meaning every successful action. Make bills per credit, roughly one per module. n8n bills per execution, one per full run regardless of steps. TaskJuice bills for the time your workflows spend running. Same workflow, four very different meters.

Here’s a concrete one. A new lead comes in from a form. The workflow enriches it, tags the source, creates a CRM contact, assigns an owner, posts to Slack, adds it to an email sequence, logs a row in a sheet and sends the rep a text. That’s eight actions after the trigger. It runs 1,000 times a month.

• Zapier: 8,000 tasks a month, since every action counts and the trigger doesn’t. Professional starts at $29.99 a month billed monthly for 750 tasks, so you’re shopping several tiers up, and overage on a monthly plan is billed at 2.5x the per-task rate (1.25x on annual plans)[3].
• Make: about 9,000 credits, because the trigger module uses one too. Every paid plan starts at 10,000 credits, and Core is $12 a month billed monthly[4]. Make switched from operations to credits in August 2025.
• n8n Cloud: 1,000 executions, comfortably inside Starter’s 2,500 for €24 a month billed monthly. Hit the cap on Starter or Pro and runs fail until you upgrade or the month resets[5].
• TaskJuice: if each run takes three seconds, that’s 50 minutes of run time. The $99 Starter plan includes 10 hours.

Honest read: for one business automating its own work, Make and n8n are cheap here, and that’s fine. The picture changes when you add steps, because per-step billing grows with every step and run-time billing doesn’t. A 10-step workflow that finishes in two seconds costs the same on TaskJuice as one slow step that takes two seconds. We wrote up the full math in our pricing model comparison.

Zapier vs Make vs n8n vs TaskJuice: who each one fits

Each of the four task automation tools fits a different buyer. Zapier is the easiest to learn. Make suits visual builders on a budget. n8n fits technical teams who can self-host. TaskJuice is built for agencies running automations for many clients under their own brand. None is best for everyone.

Zapier

The biggest app directory and the gentlest learning curve. If a non-technical team needs a handful of automations this week, Zapier gets them there. The cost is per-task billing that climbs with every step, and none of its subscription plans include white-labeling, so your clients see Zapier.

Make

A visual canvas with branching, iterators and error routes, which suits people who think in diagrams. Cheap at low volume. Make sells a separate White Label product, and its own docs recommend one organization per end customer, but there’s no public price for it[6].

n8n

Open source, self-hostable and execution-billed, which makes it popular with developers. The catch for anyone serving clients: the Sustainable Use License lets you build and run workflows for paying clients, but not host n8n so clients build or edit their own, and not white-label it. That needs a commercial Embed license. n8n doesn’t publish its price, and third-party reports put it at around $50,000 a year[7]. Self-hosting one instance per client also means you own patching, backups and uptime for each one.

TaskJuice

Built for agencies first. You create one workspace per client, each with its own workflows, connections and run history, and a client never sees another client’s data. Your logo and colors go on everything, for most apps workflows fire on events instead of timers, and workflow runs are billed by run time, never per task.

Why the account model matters once you automate for clients

If you automate for other people, the account model matters more than price. A shared workspace with a folder per client means one wrong credential sends client A’s data to client B. One isolated account per client means a mistake stays inside one client, and offboarding means handing over one workspace.

Most task automation tools were designed for a company automating itself. One login, one billing account, one pile of connections. That works until you’re an agency with 12 clients and someone picks the wrong “HubSpot (2)” connection from a dropdown.

We’ve covered the agency side in depth in task automation tools for agencies, including how Zapier, Make and n8n each try to bolt multi-client onto a single-company design. The short version: true multi-tenancy beats workspace folders for the same reason separate bank accounts beat one account with sticky notes.

When a single task becomes a workflow

A single automated action, like posting a Slack message when a form arrives, is task automation. Chain several actions toward an outcome, like onboarding a client end to end, and it’s workflow automation. Most real needs start as a task and grow into a workflow within a month, so buy for the workflow.

The distinction sounds academic until you see how it hits your bill. We broke it down in task automation vs workflow automation, with examples of where the line sits and why per-task pricing quietly discourages you from building workflows properly. If you want the broader primer, start with what workflow automation is.

Where to start automating

Start with the tasks you repeat most often across the most clients, not the ones that annoy you most. Log two weeks of work, multiply frequency by minutes by the number of clients, and automate the top three. Client onboarding, monthly reporting and lead routing win this test for most agencies.

We wrote a step-by-step method for that in how to automate repetitive client tasks. And if you serve one industry, the right tool mix depends on its apps and its clock. Real estate is the sharpest example, because a lead that waits 15 minutes for a polling check is often a lead lost. See the best task automation tools for real estate.

How to choose a task automation tool

Choose with a short test instead of a feature grid. Price one real workflow at your real volume on each tool. Check whether each client can get its own isolated account. Check whether your brand or the vendor’s shows up. Then check what happens when a run fails at 2am.

• Price your real workflow. Count steps and monthly runs, then work out the bill under each meter. Don’t trust “starts at”.
• Ask where client data lives. Separate account per client, or one shared account with folders?
• Check the branding. Does the client see your name, or a “Powered by” badge?
• Check the trigger. Does the tool react to events through webhooks, or check every 15 minutes?
• Plan the exit. If a client leaves, can you hand over their automations without rebuilding them?

Frequently asked questions

What is the best task automation tool?

There isn’t one best tool. Zapier is best for fast, simple setups by non-technical teams. Make is best for visual builders who want low cost. n8n is best for developers who will self-host. TaskJuice is best for agencies that run automations for several clients under their own brand.

Which task automation tool is cheapest?

At low volume and few steps, Make and n8n Cloud are the cheapest paid cloud plans, starting around $12 and €24 a month billed monthly. Costs shift as workflows grow: per-task and per-credit bills rise with every step, while execution and run-time billing don’t. Price your own workflow before deciding.

Are task automation tools and AI agents the same thing?

No. Task automation tools run steps you define, the same way every time. AI agents decide their own steps, which makes them flexible but harder to predict and audit. Most teams get the best results putting AI steps inside a defined workflow rather than replacing the workflow.

Can I use one task automation tool for all my clients?

You can, but check the account model first. Using one shared account for every client mixes their credentials and run history together. A multi-tenant tool gives each client an isolated account under one agency login, so nothing crosses between clients.

If you’re automating for clients, try TaskJuice. Starter is $99 a month for three client workspaces, each fully isolated, with your branding on top and 10 hours of run time included. Your clients see your name. You see every workflow from one account.

[1] Asana Anatomy of Work Index 2023, Business Wire: businesswire.com/news/home/20230308005268/en

[2] Workflow Automation Market Report, ResearchAndMarkets via Business Wire: businesswire.com/news/home/20251021500740/en

[3] Zapier pricing: zapier.com/pricing

[4] Make pricing: make.com/en/pricing

[5] n8n pricing: n8n.io/pricing

[6] Make White Label: Manage organizations and teams, Make Developer Hub: developers.make.com/white-label-documentation/manage-organizations-and-teams

[7] n8n Embed and OEM licensing guide, Nordflux: nordflux.de/en/guides/n8n-embed-oem-embedding-n8n-into-your-own-product