Zapier→n8n−$20/mo · −$240/yr

Your automations, as exported workflows you own forever.

Medium2–3 hoursdocker compose ready

Why switch

▸Zapier bills per task — a busy team burns $20→$100+/month for what is a cron job and two webhooks.
▸n8n workflows are JSON files: version-control them, self-host them, run unlimited tasks.
▸Self-hosted n8n connects to anything with an API, including your own internal services.

01
Deploy n8n
One container plus a volume for encrypted credentials. The AltStack compose persists everything under /home/node/.n8n.
bashrun on your server
```
mkdir n8n && cd n8n
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aa-humaaan/thealtstack/main/docker-deploy/n8n/docker-compose.yml
docker compose up -d
```
02
Inventory your Zaps
List each Zap: trigger, actions, task run-rate. Delete the ones that fired twice last quarter — migrate only what earns its place.
03
Rebuild the top five first
n8n nodes exist for Gmail, Slack, Sheets, Notion, Discord, HTTP and more. Rebuild the top five Zaps; you will learn the editor and can decide the fate of the long tail.
04
Move credentials into n8n's vault
Store OAuth tokens as n8n credentials — encrypted at rest with your N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY, which lives only on your server.
05
Schedule and monitor
Cron triggers replace polling Zaps. Add an error workflow that pings a Mattermost channel — you get better failure alerting than Zapier's email.

⚠Zapier's built-in app logic (filters, paths) maps to n8n IF/Switch nodes — expect a rebuild, not an import.
⚠Some SaaS APIs need custom header auth — the HTTP Request node covers it.
⚠n8n self-hosted updates monthly; pin and back up the volume before upgrading.