The Showdown

Zapiervstrigger.dev

Why pay monthly fees for Zapier when you can self-host trigger.dev for free? Let's look at the facts.

Zapier

The Expensive Option

  • Closed Source (Black box)
  • Expensive monthly fees per user
  • Data stored on their servers
WINNER

trigger.dev

The Freedom Choice

  • 100% Open Source Code
  • Free forever (Self-hosted)
  • You own your data completely
Interactive Calculator

Calculate Your "SaaS Tax"

SaaS pricing is designed to scale with your success. See how much wealth transfers from your bank account to Zapier's shareholders.

10 people
150100200+
$

*Estimated standard pricing for Zapier. Adjust if needed.

Estimated Annual Waste
$1,440
Monthly Burn Rate$120
5-Year Projection$7,200
Cost with Self-Hosted$0
Start Saving Today

Calculations based on 10 users at $12/mo.

Detailed Breakdown

0
Strict timeout limits
No timeout (Long-running)
1
No-code GUI
Code-first (TypeScript)
2
Basic execution logs
Real-time step tracing