Tired of busywork?

3 ways to automate work with AI

Compared by ease, extensibility & cost (observed pricing)

Three approaches to automating work — by ease, extensibility and cost. Options, not recommendations.

Last updated 2026-06-06 · prices observed 2026-06-02 (official pages)

No-code

Quickest to set up

Automate in a few clicks

For: Automate the easy way first

MakeVisual automation$9/month

⚖ Make vs Zapier →

ChatGPTAI stepFree〜 / usage (API)

Gmail / SlackApps I/OYour apps

$9〜/mo (sum of paid entries, observed)

+ infra free to start

Pro / Scale

Flexible · high volume

Handles complex, high-volume flows

For: Build complex flows

n8nAdvanced automationFree/OSS · usage

ClaudeReasoning & extraction$20/month

⚖ Claude vs ChatGPT →

OpenRouterModel routingUsage-based

$20〜/mo (sum of paid entries, observed)

+ infra free to start

Open Source / Self-host

Low cost · self-hosted

Lowest running cost

For: Keep costs low, own it

n8nAutomation (self-hosted)Free · OSS (your server)

OpenRouterModel routingUsage-based

PostgreSQLDataFree · OSS

Free to start (usage-based / self-host)

+ infra free to start

Representative patterns split by speed / flexibility / cost. No subjective claims or adoption rates (adoption data not yet accumulated).

Common questions

Easiest way to automate work?

The No-code stack — Make + ChatGPT + your apps. A few clicks.

For complex, high-volume flows?

The Pro stack — n8n + Claude + OpenRouter.

Open source / self-hosted?

n8n + OpenRouter + PostgreSQL — OSS, lowest cost.

Observation only — no predictions, no recommendations. Representative stacks shown with observed pricing and sources. You decide what to build. © TraceBottle for AI