I absolutely understand this TurfT. Especially when it happens in the middle of your busiest time of year or completely stops part of your operations.
One perspective worth considering before you commit to a full rebuild though. The platform isn't really the problem here. Zapier, Make and n8n all have tradeoffs and switching costs. What you're actually solving for is predictable cost and reliable execution.
For what it's worth I don't treat these as either/or. I regularly run workflows across both Make and Zapier depending on which has the better app connection or the more cost effective processing for that specific task. They're not competitors in practice they're just different tools with different strengths.
N8N with self-hosting is a legitimate path if you have the technical appetite for it. Just know that the maintenance overhead becomes your problem instead of theirs.
The way I think about automation cost is pretty simple. What is this workflow actually worth to my business and what would it cost me to have a person do it instead. When you frame it that way the next Zapier tier usually looks a lot cheaper than it did five minutes ago.
