n8n vs Zapier vs Lindy: Which Is Best for Your Business?

If you’re stuck between n8n vs. Zapier vs. Lindy.ai, consider that n8n is an open-source platform targeted toward developers aiming for customized AI. Zapier, with over 7,000 integrations, is ideal for individuals and companies that need to streamline data and automations between several applications. 

Lindy is an AI-first platform that allows you to automate sales funnels, CRM, administrative tasks, and several other tasks. Read on to learn more about: 

• Overview of the 3 platforms, including core focus, pricing, and more
• Review of n8n vs. Zapier vs. Lindy, including features, pros, cons, user reviews, and more 
• How to select between Lindy, n8n, and Zapier
• FAQs 
• Why you should pick Lindy as your next AI platform

n8n vs Zapier vs Lindy: Quick Comparison

n8n: Best for developers

n8n is an open-source, low-code platform that lets you automate intricate or highly complex tasks by connecting apps, services, and APIs. It incorporates a range of custom function nodes that let you write a bit of JavaScript or TypeScript right within your workflow for exact task execution. 

Features

• Being open-source, n8n gives you access to its codebase so you can tailor the software to fit your specific needs. Modify existing nodes, create new ones, or even change the platform's core functionality to better integrate with your system's architecture.

• You’ll also be able to join n8n’s developer community and share and get feedback about your custom workflows and vice versa, giving you a broad range of options for dialing in your automations. 

• Although the platform caters to developers, you can quickly create parts of your workflows using n8n’s no-code drag-and-drop interface. However, building out other components of your automations will require more detailed customization. 
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• If you prefer to host automations on your own servers for better security and scalability, n8n probably deserves a spot on your shortlist, as it offers an on-prem option. 

Pricing

n8n offers 4 pricing plans, which make it an option for businesses of all sizes while also providing particular appeal to enterprises and companies that prefer to self-host: 

The Community version On-prem version (free)

Although n8n offers this version for free, you’ll need to have the server architecture and the know-how to maintain it already in place. You’ll be able to download this version of n8n to your servers via GitHub. 

The Starter version ($24/month)

The starter plan provides 2,500 workflow executions monthly and is designed for those who want to test or use n8n without the complexities of self-hosting. This plan accommodates up to 5 active workflows and provides essential n8n features, like APIs controls and more.

You’ll also get access to 100 prebuilt templates to speed up the development process, and debugging and editing features to ensure your workflows run smoothly and error-free.  

The Pro version ($60)

The Pro version allows for up to 10,000 workflow executions and 15 active workflows. You can also collaborate with others on your team on up to 3 projects for speedier development. 

Providing more security features, the Pro Version allows you to grant role-based permissions for each user. It also provides a workflow history of up to 5 days, which means you can go back and find features without losing them. 

The Enterprise version (contact n8n’s sales team)

Targeting large companies and organizations, the Enterprise Version lets you create an unlimited number of workflows and provides an unlimited number of concurrent workflow runs. It also offers amplified development tools, like AWS Secrets Manager and the ability to run your app in multiple environments. 

Ideal users

n8n has plans that appeal to businesses of all types and sizes — from tiny one-person startups to large enterprises that prefer to self-host. However, you (or someone on your team) will need programming experience to properly capitalize on the platform. And if you’re looking to self-host, you’ll need a few IT people to maintain your system.  

n8n use cases

• Data syncing and reporting: With custom-coded commands, extract data from specific database actions, format it, and generate reports. Then, sync it with your CRM platforms or send it to your ERP system.

• E-commerce workflow automation: Automate inventory tracking across several warehouses and process orders and customer notifications. When you detect low inventory levels in Google Sheets, automatically send specific suppliers POs for new stock.

• IoT management: Manage IoT devices by monitoring vehicle systems, controlling multimedia setups, or automating maintenance tasks. n8n can also be integrated with voice assistants like Alexa or Google Assistant for voice control, too.

Pros

• Although the platform only offers 400 native integrations (more than a whole order of magnitude less than Zapier and Lindy), n8n makes up for this with its large assortment of APIs. You can use these to plug into nearly any platform, provided you know how to set up and operate APIs. 

• It allows for cost-effective self-hosting. As long as you can maintain your server environment, you’ll be able to save money on monthly subscription fees. 

• n8n’s low-code, open-source environment makes customization easy (for technical folks). This allows you to custom-configure all your automations to perform granular tasks that perfectly fit your operations. 

Cons

• You’ll need some technical skills to use the platform — it’s designed as a developer tool. If you’re a complete beginner to tech, you’ll struggle with n8n. 

• Setting up and deploying automations on n8n is far from plug-and-play: You’ll need knowledge about networking methods, APIs, and using tools like Docker. This can bog down the building speed of even the most adamant tech lovers. 

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• Even though n8n is targeted at techies who love open source, getting started can be a bit of a chore for anyone, especially when integrating specific third-party tools, like Google OAuth.

What users are saying

• The platform excels at building AI agents and offers a beneficial and active developer community, but setting it up can be time-consuming, even for the tech-savvy. 

• Although it’s not beginner-friendly, n8n offers the tech literate with a cost-effective platform that excels in flexibility in automation building, control, and coding integration. 

Zapier: Best integration selection

Zapier, one of the first movers in no-code workflow automations, integrates with several third-party applications and provides you with automation and data transfer functionalities between them. For example, Zapier can automatically save email attachments directly to your computer without you having to open your inbox.

The system allows you to construct “zaps,” made up of two main elements: triggers and actions. The trigger initiates the workflow, such as receiving a new email in Gmail, and the action is the subsequent step that follows the trigger, like creating a new task in Asana automatically upon that email's arrival.

Although initially built for integrating apps, Zapier has recently branched out into the AI world, offering tools for creating AI agents. These agents can bolster app integration, allowing you to command data transfer in plain English.

Features

• Zapier is currently offers a large number of integrations — you’ll be able to connect to and transfer data from over 7,000 different third-party apps and platforms. 

• The platform has bolstered its functionalities with AI power. You’ll find Agents that fetch data from applications after you command them to, a Canvas tool for designing workflows, and embedded chatbots for real-time customer interaction on websites. 

• Zapier is flexible enough to support complex automations that can be customized extensively, including multi-step workflows with conditions, custom scripting with Python and JavaScript (optional, for techies), and data transformations, catering to detailed and specific operational needs.

Pricing

Zapier.com pricing consists of 4 different plans. The price we provide is for a baseline number of automations. However, if you need more automations, the platform allows you to add them for specialized pricing. You’ll need to visit the pricing page for precise Zapier costs.  

Zapier Free

Zapier considers a task any successful action triggered by the platform, like transferring payment details from QuickBooks to a financial management app. Under the free plan, you can automate up to 100 monthly tasks. 

However, this plan restricts you to two-step tasks: These tasks have one trigger and one action. This plan is ideal for straightforward processes and tinkering with Zapier to determine if it's a good fit. 

Professional ($19.99/month)

This plan lets you automate up to 750 tasks monthly and includes the ability to configure tasks with multiple steps, though Zapier defines no specific limit. It also introduces webhooks, which bolster your capability to manage more complex procedures, such as interacting with external data sources or sending information to particular URLs. 

Optionally, you can expand your task capacity to 1,500 for an additional $20 monthly, totaling $39.99. 

Team ($69/month)

Designed for teams of up to 25, this plan starts with 2,000 monthly tasks and can be scaled up to 100,000. It supports team collaboration with shared app connections and real-time editing of automations.

Additionally, you can apply role-based permissions, such as providing specialized access to advanced multi-step Zaps and webhook features.

Enterprise (contact the sales team)

Tailored for large enterprises, this plan offers extensive customization options for automation, alongside heightened security features including advanced admin controls, single sign-on (SSO), custom data retention policies, and detailed audit logs. It supports unlimited automations and provides a dedicated customer success manager to assist with your organizational needs.

Ideal users

Zapier is ideal for a wide range of users, from solo entrepreneurs to large enterprises. The platform's ability to automate tasks across various applications makes it a versatile tool for anyone looking to optimize productivity and streamline operations. 

Small to medium businesses can benefit from its easy-to-use interface and powerful integration capabilities, which allow for quick setup and deployment of automation workflows. However, it also has functionalities that appeal to large organizations, too. 

Zapier has over 7,000 integrations, and can cover any business's needs in most industries. However, it’s unsuitable for medical companies needing HIPAA-compliant solutions: Zapier does not meet the HIPAA regulatory standards.

Zapier use cases

• Automatically update a row in your Notion database with customer details when a payment is made via Stripe.
• Notify your marketing team via Slack when a designer has completed a new graphic on Canva. 
• Create support tickets on Zendesk when you receive customer inquiries in Gmail. 

Pros

• Zapier’s AI features can speed up your workflow and enable the quick setup of complex automations across various systems.

• It provides a large selection of premade integration templates, which adds to the simple functionality of the chatbot-style building interface. 

Cons

• As your scale of automation increases, Zapier’s cost can escalate, particularly for higher tiers required for extensive custom scripting and large numbers of tasks, potentially making it less accessible for smaller businesses on tight budgets.

• Although its ability to build AI agents can add extra functionality, you can’t pick a specific LLM, which might be a problem if you need advanced functionalities.

• Zapier's non-compliance with HIPAA limits its applicability for businesses handling sensitive medical data, which is why many healthcare companies seek out Zapier alternatives.

What users are saying

• Many folks praise Zapier’s integration capabilities but aren’t keen on its slow response time when they email support about resolving technical issues. 

• Freelancers and entrepreneurs generally enjoy the services Zapier offers, but are concerned about costs increasing as their businesses grow. 

Lindy: Best for AI automation and more

Lindy is an AI-first automation platform that allows you to create personalized AI agents, or “Lindies.” Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface uses a flowchart-style builder to create workflows seamlessly. The platform also offers a robust collection of prebuilt templates to implement powerful workflows in minutes.

Lindy is purpose-built for AI-powered automations, making it easier to incorporate advanced AI agents directly into your workflows. The platform delivers flexibility tailored to your needs, streamlining email management, meeting productivity, sales funnel tasks, and loads more.

Features

• Lindy is a “pick your own LLM platform,” providing you with an array of options to better serve you. Select a simple model like Gemini 2.0 Flash Lite for drafting emails or scheduling meetings, but let a powerful one, like ChatGPT-4o, cover your inbound/outbound calling needs. 

• By partnering with Pipedream, Lindy offers more than 5,000 new actions and integrations with over 2,500 apps. This makes connecting with popular business tools like HubSpot, Slack, and Notion a piece of cake. For instance, take new client data from your CRM and send it via Slack to all your account managers to keep everyone updated.

• If you’re a healthcare business that wants to automate processes, you’re in luck. Lindy is HIPAA-compliant, and also provides a super-useful tool for healthcare professionals, medical scribe, which records and summarizes patient interactions. 
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• Lindy can join your meetings and take meeting notes, offering actionable key takeaways, summarizing all the decisions and key points brought up. 
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• You can create multiple Lindies that can work together to execute multi-step tasks. For example, one Lindy can scrape web data about a company, another will draft up personalized emails to the procurement department, and another can set up a meeting between their team and your sales reps. 

Pricing

Free

Get started for free by automating up to 400 tasks per month (400 credits) and selecting your preferred large language model. Build a knowledge base with a capacity of up to 1 million characters — perfect for creating simple chatbots that can quickly answer FAQs and provide customer support.

Pro Version ($49.99/month) 

Scale your automations to up to 5,000 monthly tasks and expand your knowledge base to 20 million characters. The Pro Plan includes advanced features such as webhooks for deeper integrations, Lindy meeting recording, and more. 

You can also make and receive up to 30 non-concurrent phone calls in English (priced per minute by country). Need extra automation tasks? Add 1,000 for just $10/month.

Business Version ($299.99/month)

Tailored for growing businesses, this plan supports 30,000 monthly tasks, premium actions, and an extensive knowledge base like the Pro Plan. Additionally, it provides unlimited concurrent phone calls in over 30 languages and includes priority support for faster assistance from Lindy’s team. This plan is designed for larger organizations aiming to scale their workflows seamlessly.

Enterprise Version (contact Lindy)

Need more than 30,000 monthly automations? The Enterprise plan’s got you covered, providing as many automations as you need. You’ll also get live onboarding and support, so you’ll be able to understand every last bit of the platform. Lindy will even provide you with a dedicated account manager to ensure everything goes smoothly.  

Ideal users

No matter what your industry or how large or small your business is, Lindy has a plan for you.

Lindy use cases

• Build a Lindy that detects when important emails need a response and will write a follow-up email. Lindy will also remind you to nudge the recipient if no response is received within three days. 

• Lindy's Meeting Coach provides personalized feedback and analysis of your meetings within minutes, providing tips about boosting your communication skills through concise and actionable coaching reports. 

• You’ll also get tons of tools to bolster your sales funnel. Find and organize leads with a People Data Labs integration, and then automatically draft personalized emails to reach out to each one with the option to schedule a meeting with one of your reps. 

Pros

• The platform offers affordable pricing for large volumes of automations which can help nearly any business, from scrappy startup to established Fortune 500. 

• Lindy offers a seamless AI agent-building platform — create agents from premade templates to automate workflows fast. 

Cons

• If you only need to make integrations without AI between third-party apps you already use, it might be better to go with a platform that’s geared toward integrations only. 

• The workflow-mode builder might not be as intuitive as those used to the step-by-step walkthroughs provided by chatbot-style workflow builders.

What users are saying 

• Founders enjoy using Lindy’s convenient automation features, which have saved them tons of time in the long run.

• Others enjoy Lindy’s email automation features and use the platform to replace Zapier workflows. 

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Which Should You Choose?

Now that you have an excellent idea of the differences between the platforms and each one’s unique abilities, it’s time to determine which best suits your needs. When comparing n8n vs. Zapier vs.Lindy, keep the following in mind:

Go with n8n if:

• You’re a developer or techie: Although you won’t need to be a full-stack developer with over a decade of experience, you’ll need to understand how to write basic JavaScript and Python commands for customized automations and how to use APIs for data transfer between tools. 

• You have open source experience: This one’s a no-brainer, but you’ll need experience using open source platforms. Open source platforms allow you to manipulate the code and architecture to fit your needs the best, but they also carry a few security risks that you’ll always need to be aware of. 

• You want to self-host: Neither of the two n8n alternatives offers on-prem hosting. If you’re 100% certain that you need an automation platform that lets you run it from your servers' safe and high-maintenance environment, n8n might be for you. 

Go with Zapier if:

• You work with many platforms: Zapier excels at integrating with over 7,000 apps, covering everything from email and social media platforms to advanced project management tools. This allows you to reduce the potential for human error and free up time by letting Zapier transfer data and automate tasks for you. 

• You need simple 1 or 2-step automations: Although it does offer agent-building capabilities, Zapier focuses primarily on creating simple automations between apps. If you need to scale, you can also set up complex sequences of tasks with it’s more advanced AI capabilities. 

• You’re looking for a super simple workflow builder: Zapier is known for its intuitive no-code interface that simplifies the automation creation process. Users can drag and drop different components to create zaps (automations) without coding knowledge. You can also chat with it in natural language to build automations, making it accessible for anyone to start automating tasks immediately. 

Go with Lindy if:

• You want AI-first task executions: Unlike other platforms, Lindy’s focus on AI provides an intuitive platform for creating custom agents, accommodating both beginners and advanced users. Whether deploying chatbots, writing emails, or building sales funnel workflows, Lindy simplifies the process with its drag-and-drop flowchart builder.

• You want one simple platform: Lindy is ideal for handling operational tasks, like managing customer inquiries, recording meetings, or automating lead generation and outreach. With plans allowing you to automate anywhere from 400 to over 30,000 tasks per month, Lindy scales for small and large teams. 

• You need a HIPAA-compliant platform: Lindy offers a secure and reliable, HIPAA-compliant solution. This makes it suitable for handling sensitive patient information and medical data while maintaining privacy and security regulations. 

Frequently asked questions

What is the main difference between Zapier and n8n?

The main difference between Zapier and n8n lies in functionality. Zapier is a cloud-based automation tool offering over 7,000 connections between multiple apps for data transfer and workflow automation. It also provides an extensive library of pre-built integrations for ease of use.

n8n, on the other hand, is open-source and can be self-hosted or used via a cloud solution, offering deeper customization and flexibility. Because it’s open-source, you can modify its code to suit your specific needs, providing a more tailored automation experience — but, unlike with Zapier, you’ll need some technical skills to use the platform.

Is n8n better than Zapier?

If you’re not a techie and aim to build automations between a staggering number of third-party apps, Zapier’s your go-to. 

Yet, n8n offers a distinctive advantage for folks with tech skills as it’s an open-source platform. This allows for greater customization and control over workflows, which can be particularly valuable for tech-savvy users or those needing customized integrations that go beyond standard offerings. 

Additionally, because n8n can be self-hosted, it appeals to larger organizations concerned with data privacy and those who want to manage their own server infrastructure.

Can I self-host Zapier?

Zapier doesn’t currently offer any self-hosting options. Only n8n lets you host on-prem. 

Does Lindy support no-code automation?

Lindy supports no-code automation, allowing you to build your own automated workflows without coding skills. Yet, the platform uses natural language processing and machine learning with a drag-and-drop interface, so you can automate a variety of tasks in customer support, HR management, sales, and more. 

Plus, Lindy offers over 2,500 third-party integrations by partnering with Pipedream, providing for data transfer and automations between software.

Ultimately, Lindy is excellent for individuals, entrepreneurs, and businesses of all sizes that want to free up more time with a simple platform that lets their automations run on autopilot.

What makes Lindy different from Zapier and n8n?

Lindy stands out from Zapier because of its affordability. For instance, you can handle up to 5,000 tasks for $49.99/month, but Zapier charges $89/month for up to 5000 tasks. 

n8n offers up to 10,000 automations monthly for $60/month. Yet, you need to know how APIs work and have a working knowledge of Python or JavaScript to use n8n. Lindy doesn’t require any programming or technical skills.

Lindy: True AI automations without programming 

Although n8n is a solid developer tool and Zapier still has the most integrations, Lindy is your best option if you’re aiming to create affordable workflows with AI.

Choosing between n8n vs. Zapier vs. Lindy doesn’t have to be complicated — here’s how Lindy can bolster your workflows: 

• No-code ease: Lindy’s drag-and-drop interface doesn’t require any programming or technical knowledge. You can also create automations in minutes by picking one of Lindy’s pre-built templates.  

• Pick your LLM: Lindy lets you choose the large language model you need for each automation. For simple automations like website research and database scraping, use an LLM like Gemini or Claude 2.0. But if you need more reasoning power for something like a chatbot or voice AI, you can select a model with loads of juice, like ChatGPT 4o or Claude 3.0 Sonnet. 

• Cost-effective affordability: Lindy’s free version lets you execute up to 400 monthly automations tasks. Then, get the paid version, which provides up to 5,000 monthly automations for cost-effective workflows. 

• Enterprise security and more: Lindy ensures your information stays under Fort Knox-level lockdown. It provides 24/7 real-time threat monitoring, end-to-end encryption, role-based permissions, and HIPAA and SOC 2 compliance. 

Automate your workflows in an easy, no-code way, and sign up for Lindy today for free.

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