Honest comparison for companies in Medellín and Colombia: when to stay on Zapier, when to move to self-hosted n8n, and how DIAN, WhatsApp and Siigo change the math.
Zapier and Make win the first week. n8n wins the year if you have volume in Colombia: WhatsApp, DIAN invoices or hundreds of daily runs. The difference is not “code vs no-code”; it is whether you pay per run and whether your data leaves the country.
Quick table
- Zapier: thousands of connectors, billed per task, excellent for low-volume marketing.
- Make: visual scenarios, mid price, still grows with operations.
- n8n: open-source, self-hosted, AI nodes, full control. Fewer ready-made connectors; more control.
When to stay on Zapier
Under ~1,000 runs a month, a junior who already knows it, and no sensitive data (payroll, DIAN, clinical records).
When to move to n8n
WhatsApp Business with leads every day. E-invoicing. Siigo/Alegra. An agent that classifies and writes to the CRM without a task invoice. A Medellín team that can operate the server.
Hidden costs
Zapier: the plan “looks cheap” until campaign month. Make: complex scenarios get hard to audit. n8n: you pay implementation and hosting, not every click — 12-month TCO is usually lower for SMEs with volume.
How we do it at Veflat
We design the flow, host it self-hosted or on n8n Cloud based on privacy, and document it. We will not sell a migration if Zapier still fits.
Next step
Read how much n8n automation costs in Colombia or book a diagnosis. If the pain is WhatsApp+CRM or DIAN, those landings already have ranges.