Zapier to self-hosted n8n
Per-task pricing stops making sense at volume. Moving the automation onto self-hosted n8n cut the cost per run and removed the ceiling.
The problem
The automation worked; the bill did not
Zapier is the right answer until run volume makes it the wrong one. At that point the choice is to cap the automation, or to move it somewhere the marginal run is close to free.
The migration was not a lift and shift. Each workflow was reviewed against what the business actually needed now, and several were consolidated or dropped rather than rebuilt.
How it ran
Staged, with nothing switched off early
Audit
Every Zap catalogued: trigger, volume, actual business purpose.
Rebuild
Workflows rebuilt in n8n on hardened self-hosted infrastructure.
Parallel run
Both systems live together until output matched.
Cutover
Zapier switched off only once the n8n version had been proven.
Automation costs outgrowing the automation?
Start here
Start with the audit
A written architecture record and a staged plan, useful whether or not I build the rest.