Prices in USD. UK visitors see GBP tier pricing on our pricing page. All figures based on real 2026 project quotes, not vendor list prices.
Short answer: a single custom workflow built and handed over costs
| Option | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier (small business plan) | $20–$70 / mo | Per-task pricing. Runs up fast at scale. |
| Make (Core plan) | 0–$30 / mo | Cheaper per operation than Zapier. |
| n8n Cloud | $20 / mo | Per-execution, unlimited workflows. |
| n8n self-hosted | $0– 5 / mo | Hosting cost only. Full control. |
| Freelancer (per workflow) | $400–$5,000 | One workflow, no system. |
| Agency — single workflow | ,000–$3,000 | Scoped, documented, handed over. |
| Agency — full system | $3,000– 2,000 | 4–6 connected workflows, shared data. |
| Agency retainer | $500–$3,500 / mo | Ongoing maintenance and new flows. |
Zapier starts at $20/mo but any real business use lands in the $70–$300/mo band. Zapier charges per task, and a task is one step in a workflow — a five-step workflow that runs 100 times a day burns 15,000 tasks a month.
Make (formerly Integromat) is roughly 40–60% cheaper than Zapier for equivalent volume. UI is more complex, but the ceiling is much higher.
n8n is free on self-hosted (you pay for the server, around $5– 5/mo) or $20/mo on n8n Cloud. It's open source, so no vendor lock-in — you can walk with the workflows if you switch providers. Full comparison: n8n vs Zapier vs Make.
A freelancer builds a workflow for $400 to $5,000 depending on complexity and where they're based. What you usually don't get: error handling, monitoring, documentation, retry logic, or a handover you can maintain. The workflow runs until something changes upstream — a Slack API deprecation, a schema change in your CRM — and then it silently breaks.
An automation agency charges more because the deliverable is bigger. Same ,000–$3,000 single-workflow price band, but you get a scoped fixed price, a delivery date, monitoring, documentation, credentials handover, and 30 days of post-launch support to catch what the audit missed.
If you're deciding between hiring an agency, bringing it in-house, or using a freelancer, here's the full cost comparison:
| Approach | Upfront Cost | Ongoing Cost | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY (Zapier/Make) | $0 | $20-$600/mo tools | Simple 2-3 app flows, technical team available |
| Freelancer | $500-$5,000 | $0 (one-off) | Single workflow, technical oversight available |
| Agency (project) | $2,000- 2,000 | $0-$500/mo maintenance | Complex workflows, no in-house expertise, need delivery guarantee |
| Agency (retainer) | $0 | ,000-$3,500/mo | Ongoing optimization, multiple workflows, strategic automation |
| In-house hire | 0,000-$20,000 (recruiting) | $45,000-$75,000/yr salary + tools | 5+ workflows, strategic automation capability, long-term investment |
Hidden costs to factor in:
The break-even calculation: If building the workflow yourself would take more than 40 hours, hiring an agency is cost-effective.
Example: A £3,000 agency project costs less than 40 hours of senior developer time (at £75/hour). That developer stays focused on product work, and you get a tested, documented workflow with post-launch support. The agency also brings pattern-matching from similar builds — what took them 20 hours might take your team 60-80 hours of trial and error.
Full comparison guide: Agency vs In-House Automation
Rough back-of-envelope: multiply the hours per week a workflow costs someone by their loaded hourly rate, times 52. If the annual cost of the manual work exceeds 50% of the build price, it pays back in under six months.
Example: 5 hours a week of manual quote follow-up at $30/hr loaded cost = $7,800 per year. A $3,000 automation build pays back in 4.6 months and keeps returning $7,800 every year after. That doesn't count the revenue lift from quotes that now get followed up instead of forgotten — which is usually where the real payback lives.
We've seen this across industries. Food wholesalers replacing spreadsheet-heavy order intake, commercial cleaning companies automating quote follow-up — same pattern: manual work that costs hours every week pays back automation in months, not years.
Related guides: what is workflow automation, fixed-price vs retainer, agency vs in-house, and custom vs no-code templates.
For a single custom workflow built and handed over: ,000 to $3,000. For a multi-workflow system with shared data: $3,000 to 2,000. Ongoing retainer: $500 to $3,500 per month. These are agency prices for done-for-you builds. DIY on Zapier or Make can be under 00 per month in tool cost, but the build time is on you.
Workflow automation agencies charge £2,000-£8,000 per project (UK) or $2,000- 2,000 (US) for fixed-price custom builds. Monthly retainers range from £800-£2,500 ( ,000-$3,500). This includes discovery, workflow design, build, testing, documentation, credentials handover, and 30-day post-launch support. Compare this to hiring in-house: £45k-£75k/year salary plus tools, or DIY where you invest 40-100 hours of your team's time per workflow.
Three variables. First, whether you're buying software (Zapier, Make, n8n cloud) or a build (agency, freelancer, in-house). Second, how many workflows and how much data volume. Third, whether the vendor charges per execution, per user, or fixed per project. Fixed-price project billing is usually the cheapest total cost of ownership if the scope is stable.
Zapier starts around $20/mo but real business use lands at $70 to $300/mo. Make is cheaper at 0 to $30/mo for equivalent volume. n8n is free self-hosted or $20/mo on their cloud — the same workflows cost roughly 60% less to run than Zapier at scale.
Rates range from $50/hr for offshore Zapier work to $250/hr for senior consultants. A single workflow typically takes 8 to 20 hours to build properly, so you're looking at $400 to $5,000 per workflow, plus tool cost. Freelancers rarely include documentation, monitoring, or handover.
A scoped fixed price, a delivery date, error handling, monitoring, documentation, source workflows handed over, credentials transferred, and 30-day post-launch support. The build is designed to survive without the agency.
The rough test: if a workflow takes one person 5 hours a week at $30/hr, it's costing $7,800/year. A $3,000 one-off build breaks even in under 5 months and keeps returning value every year after. Higher-value workflows (sales follow-up, quote generation) usually pay back inside a month. For example, Beamide's outbound infrastructure achieved a 52.9% open rate and 50% qualified-conversation-to-deal conversion.
Start with ,000 to $3,000 for the single highest-cost workflow. See it work. Then move into a system or retainer as you find more bottlenecks. Businesses that try to automate everything in one $50K project usually stall.
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