Some links on this site are affiliate links: if you buy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes our rankings or numbers. How this site earns.
What counts as a task?
The same workflow uses very different amounts of each platform's allowance. Here is every platform's billing unit, in its own words.
One workflow, six counts
A workflow that runs 1,000 times a month, has 4 action steps, and checks for new data every15 minutes (2,880 checks a month) uses:
| Platform | Units a month | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier | 4,000 | tasks |
| Make | 6,880 | credits |
| n8n Cloud | 1,000 | executions |
| Activepieces | 1,000 | runs |
| Pabbly Connect | 4,000 | tasks |
| Integrately | 4,000 | tasks |
Units aren't comparable on their own: what each costs depends on the plan. Put your own workflow in the calculator to see the monthly price.
Zapier: tasks
Each action step counts. The trigger is free. Triggers, polling checks and built-in tools like Filter and Formatter are free.
"When Zapier performs an action successfully, it counts as a task. Each successful action in a Zap counts as a separate task."
Source: Zapier pricing
Make: credits
Each module counts, the trigger included. A polling trigger uses one on every check, even when nothing new arrived. The trigger counts too, and a polling trigger uses a credit on every check, even when it finds nothing.
"Each module action in your scenario, like adding a Google Sheet row or fetching Gmail account data, counts as one credit."
Source: Make pricing
n8n Cloud: executions
One per run, however many steps the workflow has. One execution per run, however many steps. Self-hosting the Community Edition is free apart from your server.
"An execution is a single run of your entire workflow. It doesn't matter how many steps are in the workflow or how much data it processes. It's still a single execution."
Source: n8n Cloud pricing
Activepieces: runs
One per run, however many steps the workflow has. One credit per run; AI steps cost extra credits.
"A run is one credit however many steps it has, and AI is the exception that sits on top, because we are paying the model provider on your behalf."
Source: Activepieces pricing
Pabbly Connect: tasks
Each action step counts. The trigger is free. Triggers and internal steps (filter, router, formatter) are free.
"Any action performed within your workflow is considered a task. Triggers are not included in the task count. Only action steps are included. Internal tasks of Pabbly Connect, such as Filter, Router, and Formatter, are not counted as tasks."
Source: Pabbly Connect pricing
Integrately: tasks
Each action step counts. The trigger is free. Conditions, searches and data edits count as tasks too, so real use is often higher than shown.
"Every successful execution of action, condition / branching, modify data (inline in an action or independent step), search (inline in an action or independent step) is counted as a task."
Source: Integrately pricing
Platforms that don't charge per run
- Microsoft Power Automate sells a licence per user or per flow, with a daily cap on actions (40,000 a day on Premium per user) rather than a monthly allowance.
- IFTTT limits how many applets you can have (2 free, 20 on Pro, unlimited on Pro+), not how often they run.
Prices checked against each platform's official pricing page on .