The Honest Summary First
n8n self-hosted — best for builders who can deploy to Railway or Render. Free forever. Most powerful. Steeper learning curve.
Make (formerly Integromat) — best for non-technical users who need complex logic. Free tier is generous (1,000 operations/month). Accepts local payment for paid plans.
Zapier — most integrations, most expensive, free tier is too limited for real work. Requires a USD card for paid plans. Hard to justify unless the specific integration you need only exists on Zapier.
Paystack Integration
| Platform | Native Paystack | Webhook support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| n8n | No native | Yes, via webhook | Build your own trigger |
| Make | No native | Yes | Webhook trigger works perfectly |
| Zapier | No native | Yes, via webhook | Works but expensive |
All three work with Paystack via webhooks. None have a native Paystack integration. The webhook approach works fine for most use cases.
The Free Tier Reality
n8n self-hosted: Unlimited everything. Host on Railway ($5/month) or Render (free tier). One-time setup. Runs forever for free.
Make free: 1,000 operations/month, 2 active scenarios. Good for testing, hits limits fast in production.
Zapier free: 100 tasks/month, 5 Zaps. Barely useful. Runs into limits on day 2.
Our Recommendation
Start with Make for learning. Move to self-hosted n8n as soon as you need more than 2 automations running. Never pay for Zapier unless a specific integration genuinely only exists there.
