What You'll Need
n8n Cloud or self-hosted n8n instance
Hetzner VPS or Contabo VPS for self-hosted deployment
DigitalOcean as an alternative hosting option
Basic understanding of APIs and workflow concepts
Temporal vs n8n vs Zapier API Automation Costs
A practical guide covering temporal vs n8n vs zapier api automation costs.
TL;DRAI
n8n self-hosted on Hetzner ($10/month) slashes 90% costs vs Zapier Enterprise ($1,500–5,000/month) for 10M monthly executions. Architecture (not UX) governs TCO; self-hosting avoids per-task billing that penalizes high-volume workloads.
1,121 words~5 min read
