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Pricing

Automation Pricing 2026: Complete Guide

January 20, 202611 min

Real TCO of Junyr, n8n, Make, Zapier, LangGraph. Hidden costs (infra, apps, DevOps), operations/tasks traps. Junyr from €179/month all-inclusive.

Automation Pricing 2026: Complete Guide

Pricing for automation platforms varies wildly: from free (open-source n8n) to $100+/month (Zapier Professional). This comprehensive guide compares Junyr, n8n, Make, Zapier, and LangGraph to help you understand the true cost.


TL;DR: Pricing Comparison

PlatformStarting PriceHidden CostsTotal First Year (3 Agents)
JunyrPlan Entrepreneur❌ None (all-inclusive)Plan Entrepreneur x 12
n8n (self-hosted)€0 (open-source)✅ Server + DevOps + Email€800-1,200
Make€9/month✅ Email accounts€315-400
Zapier$29.99/month✅ Email + CRM$700-1,200
LangGraph€0 (open-source)✅ Development + Infrastructure€8,000-15,000

Verdict: Junyr offers the best value for business users (all-inclusive, no hidden costs).


1. Junyr Pricing: Simple & All-Inclusive

Pricing Tiers

PlanPriceAgentsWork HoursWhat's Included
PersonalPlan Personal140h/agent (human equivalent)Email + CRM + Storage
EntrepreneurPlan Entrepreneur340h/agent (human equivalent)Email + CRM + Storage
SMEPlan SME1040h/agent (human equivalent)Email + CRM + Storage

What's Included (No Extra Cost)

  • Professional email: Each agent gets sales@junyr.app or sales@yourcompany.com
  • Integrated CRM: Contact management, interaction history
  • Storage: 1 GB/agent for documents and datasets
  • Hosting: Fully managed cloud infrastructure
  • Updates: Automatic software updates
  • Support: Email support included

Real Example (3 Agents)

Use case: Sales, Support, Accounting agents

Cost:

  • Entrepreneur plan (3 agents)
  • Annual: Plan Entrepreneur x 12 months

Hidden costs: €0 (everything included)

Total first year: Plan Entrepreneur x 12 months


2. n8n Pricing: Free Software, Expensive Infrastructure

Pricing Options

OptionPriceInfrastructureTarget
Community (Self-hosted)€0You manageDevelopers with DevOps skills
Cloud Starter$20/monthManagedSmall teams (2,500 executions)
Cloud Pro$50/monthManagedGrowing teams (10,000 executions)

Hidden Costs (Self-Hosted)

ComponentCost/MonthNotes
Server (VPS)€10-50DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS
Database (PostgreSQL)€0-20Can run on same server or separate
Email (Gmail/Outlook)€17.253 mailboxes × €5.75
DevOps time€200-4005-10 hours/month × €40/hour
Monitoring (Sentry, Uptime)€10-30Error tracking, alerting

Total monthly cost: €237-517/month = €2,844-6,204/year

Real Example (3 Agents)

Use case: 3 n8n workflows (Sales, Support, Accounting)

Cost (Self-Hosted):

  • n8n software: €0
  • Server (DigitalOcean $20/month): €18
  • PostgreSQL: €0 (same server)
  • Gmail (3 mailboxes): €17.25
  • DevOps time (10 hours/month × €40): €400
  • Monitoring (Sentry): €15
  • Total monthly: €450.25
  • Annual: €450.25 × 12 = €5,403/year

Cost (Cloud Pro):

  • n8n Cloud Pro: $50/month = €46
  • Gmail (3 mailboxes): €17.25
  • Total monthly: €63.25
  • Annual: €63.25 × 12 = €759/year

Hidden costs: DevOps time (self-hosted) or limited executions (cloud).

Total first year: €759 (cloud) to €5,403 (self-hosted)


3. Make Pricing: Operations-Based Model

Pricing Tiers

PlanPrice/MonthOperationsExtra Cost
Free€01,000 ops-
Core€910,000 ops€1/1,000 ops
Pro€1610,000 ops€0.80/1,000 ops
Teams€2940,000 ops€0.60/1,000 ops

Hidden Costs

ComponentCost/MonthNotes
Email (Gmail/Outlook)€17.253 mailboxes × €5.75
CRM (HubSpot/Salesforce)€45Optional but recommended

Real Example (3 Agents)

Use case: 100 emails/day processed with CRM sync

Operations calculation:

  • 100 emails/day × (1 email trigger + 1 CRM action + 1 notification) = 300 ops/day
  • 300 ops × 30 days = 9,000 ops/month

Cost:

  • Make Core: €9/month (10K ops)
  • Gmail (3 mailboxes): €17.25/month
  • HubSpot CRM: €45/month (optional)
  • Total monthly: €26.25-71.25
  • Annual: €315-855/year

Hidden costs: Email accounts + optional CRM.

Total first year: €315-855


4. Zapier Pricing: Industry Leader, Premium Price

Pricing Tiers

PlanPrice/MonthTasksMulti-StepPremium Apps
Free$0100
Starter$29.99750
Professional$73.502,000
Team$103.502,000

Note: "Premium Apps" (Salesforce, HubSpot) require Professional plan minimum.

Hidden Costs

ComponentCost/MonthNotes
Email (Gmail/Outlook)$183 mailboxes × $6
CRM (HubSpot/Salesforce)$45Required for Premium Apps

Real Example (3 Agents)

Use case: 100 emails/day processed with HubSpot CRM

Tasks calculation:

  • 100 emails/day × (1 trigger + 1 CRM action) = 200 tasks/day
  • 200 × 30 days = 6,000 tasks/month

Cost:

  • Zapier Professional: $73.50/month (HubSpot = Premium App)
  • Gmail (3 mailboxes): $18/month
  • HubSpot CRM: $45/month
  • Total monthly: $136.50
  • Annual: $136.50 × 12 = $1,638/year (≈ €1,506)

Hidden costs: Email + CRM mandatory for business use.

Total first year: €1,506


5. LangGraph Pricing: Free Software, Expensive Development

Pricing Model

LangGraph is free and open-source, but requires custom development.

Hidden Costs

ComponentCostNotes
Development (Initial)€8,000-15,0002-4 weeks of AI engineering
Infrastructure€50-200/monthServer, database, Redis
LLM API costsVariableOpenAI, Anthropic, Google
Maintenance€2,000-4,000/month20-40 hours/month × €50-100/hour

Real Example (3 Agents)

Use case: Custom AI agent system

Cost (First Year):

  • Initial development: €10,000
  • Infrastructure: €100/month × 12 = €1,200
  • LLM API costs: €50/month × 12 = €600
  • Maintenance: €3,000/month × 12 = €36,000
  • Total first year: €47,800

Note: This assumes you have an AI engineering team. If you hire contractors:

  • AI engineer: €500-800/day × 20 days = €10,000-16,000

Total first year (with contractors): €47,800-53,800

Who is it for?: Companies with AI engineering teams building custom products.


6. Comparison Table: Total Cost of Ownership (3 Agents, First Year)

PlatformSoftware CostHidden CostsTotal Year 1
Junyr (Entrepreneur)Plan Entrepreneur x 12€0Plan Entrepreneur x 12
n8n (Cloud Pro)€552€207 (email)€759
n8n (Self-hosted)€0€5,403 (infra + DevOps)€5,403
Make (Core)€108€207 (email)€315
Make (Core + CRM)€108€747 (email + HubSpot)€855
Zapier (Professional)€905€601 (email + CRM)€1,506
LangGraph€0€47,800 (dev + infra)€47,800

Ranking (cheapest to most expensive):

  1. Make (Core, no CRM): €315
  2. Junyr (Entrepreneur): Plan Entrepreneur x 12 months
  3. n8n (Cloud Pro): €759
  4. Make (Core + CRM): €855
  5. Zapier (Professional): €1,506
  6. n8n (Self-hosted with DevOps): €5,403
  7. LangGraph (Custom development): €47,800

7. Hidden Costs Breakdown

What Counts as "Hidden Costs"?

Cost TypeExamplesWho Pays?
Email accountsGmail, Outlook, Microsoft 365All platforms except Junyr
CRM subscriptionsHubSpot, Salesforce, PipedriveAll platforms except Junyr
InfrastructureServer, database, Redisn8n (self-hosted), LangGraph
DevOps timeSetup, monitoring, updatesn8n (self-hosted), LangGraph
Development timeBuilding custom agentsLangGraph
MaintenanceBug fixes, API changesAll platforms (varies)

Junyr vs Competitors: Hidden Costs Comparison

PlatformEmailCRMInfrastructureDevOpsDevelopment
Junyr✅ Included✅ Included✅ Managed✅ Managed✅ No-code
Make❌ €17/month❌ €45/month✅ Cloud✅ Managed✅ No-code
Zapier❌ $18/month❌ $45/month✅ Cloud✅ Managed✅ No-code
n8n Cloud❌ €17/month❌ €45/month✅ Managed✅ Managed✅ No-code
n8n Self❌ €17/month❌ €45/month❌ €50+/month❌ 10h/month✅ No-code
LangGraph❌ Build it❌ Build it❌ €100+/month❌ 40h/month❌ 2-4 weeks

8. Which Platform Offers the Best Value?

For Business Users (SMEs)

Winner: Junyr (Entrepreneur plan)

Why:

  • All-inclusive (email + CRM + storage included)
  • No hidden costs
  • Immediate productivity (no configuration)
  • Best value per agent

Runner-up: Make (€315/year without CRM)

Why:

  • Slightly cheaper if you already have email + CRM
  • But requires manual workflow configuration

For Technical Teams with DevOps

Winner: n8n Self-Hosted (€5,403/year with DevOps)

Why:

  • Full control over infrastructure
  • Unlimited workflows
  • Can integrate with internal systems

Note: Only makes sense if you have a dedicated DevOps team.

For AI Engineering Teams

Winner: LangGraph (€47,800/year first year, €37,800/year after)

Why:

  • Infinite customization
  • Can build unique AI products
  • Best for companies building custom solutions

Note: Not suitable for business users.


Conclusion

Choose Junyr if:

  • You want all-inclusive pricing (email + CRM included)
  • You don't want hidden costs
  • You're a business user (not a developer)
  • You want immediate productivity

Choose Make if:

  • You already have Gmail + HubSpot
  • You're comfortable building workflows manually
  • You need high-volume operations (40K+/month)

Choose Zapier if:

  • You need exotic app integrations (8,000+ apps)
  • You already have email + CRM
  • Budget is not a concern ($1,500/year acceptable)

Choose n8n if:

  • You have a DevOps team
  • You need full control over infrastructure
  • You want to self-host for data privacy

Choose LangGraph if:

  • You have an AI engineering team
  • You're building a custom AI product (not standard automation)
  • Budget is €50,000+ for first year

Next: Discover Multi-Tenant B2B SaaS Comparison or Why Choose Junyr in 2026?

#pricing#tco#hidden-costs#comparison#budget
JT

Junyr Team

AI Platform Team

The Junyr team builds AI workforce tools that help European SMEs recruit, train, and manage autonomous AI agents for everyday business tasks.