Zapier vs Node-RED vs n8n: Speed, Lag, and Spend

A pragmatic, no-bull comparison for teams that care about real throughput, predictable latency, and cost control.

Modexa

6 min read

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Oct 17, 2025

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Zapier vs Node-RED vs n8n — measured on throughput, latency, and cost. A field guide with benchmark patterns, configs, and trade-offs you can actually use.

If you’ve ever stared at a spinning “Running Zap…” while a customer waits, you know the truth: automation is only fun when it’s fast, cheap, and stable. Let’s put three heavyweights — Zapier, Node-RED, and n8n — under the same light and talk speed, lag, and money without the fluff.

How I Tested (The Ground Rules)

You can’t compare apples to workflows, so here’s the simple harness I use on client projects:

• Workload: bursts of 10k webhook events (JSON payload ~1.5 KB), each doing: validate → enrich (1 HTTP call) → transform → write to DB (HTTP/SQL API).
• Metrics:
• Throughput (TPS): sustained events per second at steady state.
• Latency (p50/p95): end-to-end per event.
• Cost Lens: recurring platform spend + ops effort to keep it healthy.
• Infra Baselines: