I get the "Zapier or Make" question at least once a week. And every time my answer is the same: it depends. I know that's frustrating. But I'll explain what it depends on. And I'll tell you what I personally choose.
I use both tools at kaminski.link agency. Zapier for clients who want simplicity. Make where more logic is needed. And personally? n8n. But more on that in a moment.
Pricing - where the drama begins
Zapier changed their pricing in 2025 and a lot of people got upset. Rightfully so.
Zapier Starter: $19.99/month for 750 tasks. Sounds ok? But a "task" is every step in an automation. Got a flow with 5 steps? One run = 5 tasks. 750 tasks is 150 runs. That's less than 5 per day.
Make Core: $9/month for 10,000 operations. An operation is also every step, but for $9 you get 13 times more than Zapier. On paper, Make crushes it. In practice too.
But there's a catch. Make counts data transfer. The free plan has 1 GB. If you're moving files, images, or large JSONs - it runs out fast. Zapier doesn't count that.
My calculation for a typical client (500 runs/month, 3-5 steps per flow):
- Zapier: $49-99/month (Professional plan)
- Make: $9-16/month (Core plan)
- Annual difference: $100-250 in Make's favor
Interface and learning curve
Zapier is dead simple. Pick a trigger. Pick an action. Connect. Done. Your grandmother could figure it out (well, maybe not grandma, but your accountant definitely could).
Make is a visual editor with modules connected by lines. It looks like a flowchart. And it works like a flowchart. You can do branches, loops, filters, error handling. But you need 2-3 hours to get comfortable with the interface.
If you're automating simple things - a new lead from a form goes to CRM and Slack - Zapier is enough. And faster. But if you want to see which automations save 10 hours a week, Make gives you more options. If you need conditional logic - a client from London gets a different offer than one from Manchester, and VIPs go to a separate queue - Make handles that without hacks.
Integrations - quantity vs quality
Zapier boasts 6,000+ integrations. Make has 1,500+. Sounds like a knockout? Not really.
90% of those 6,000 Zapier integrations are niche apps you'll never use. HubSpot, Slack, Gmail, Notion, Google Sheets, Airtable - they're all available on both platforms.
But if you use some exotic CRM or a specialized industry tool - check if Make supports it before switching. Because it might not.
Both tools have webhooks and HTTP requests. So technically you can connect to anything with an API — for example, a website chatbot. But in Make it's more pleasant - you visually see the data, you can map it, transform it. In Zapier it's more "paste the URL and pray."
What about n8n?
Right. This is where I come in with my personal favorite.
n8n is an open-source alternative. Self-hosted, so you only pay for the server ($12-25/month for a VPS). Zero limits on operations. Zero limits on flows. Full control over your data.
In LetMeWork.ai - our ERP/CRM system - the entire automation backend runs on n8n. Hundreds of flows, thousands of runs per day, cost: $22/month for a server. One of them is AI-powered email automation.
But n8n isn't for everyone:
- You have to self-host (or pay for n8n Cloud - then the price approaches Make)
- Debugging is harder
- Doesn't have as many ready-made templates
- You need someone technical for implementation
If you have someone tech-savvy in your company - n8n. If not - Make. If you want to set up a simple automation in 15 minutes and go grab coffee - Zapier.
Verdict - who should use what
Let me break it down by specific scenarios:
- Solo business, simple automations, no time to learn: Zapier
- Small business, more complex flows, price matters: Make
- Company with a tech person, lots of automations, full control: n8n
- Agency implementing for clients: Make for clients, n8n internally (that's what we do at kaminski.link)
And most importantly - don't get attached to a tool. All three can do webhooks and HTTP requests. You can have Zapier for simple flows and Make for complex ones. Nobody's stopping you.
The best automation is the one that works and you don't have to touch for months. The tool is secondary. What matters is the logic, the data, and a clear goal. Any of these tools can handle the rest.