n8n vs Make vs Zapier: which one to automate your business

Quick summary

Prices and plan limits change often, so always check the official pages linked at the end.

Zapier: the fastest way to start

Zapier is the simplest option. It has the largest catalogue of compatible apps and anyone on the team can set up a basic flow in minutes: "when a form comes in, create the contact in the CRM and email me".

Fits when: flows are linear, volume is low and nobody on the team is technical.

Falls short when: flows have many branches and exceptions, or volume grows. Since it charges for each action that runs, a flow with one trigger and nine actions running 1,000 times a month uses around 9,000 tasks.

Make: more logic, same cloud model

Make (formerly Integromat) has a visual editor for building complex flows: loops, filters, alternative routes and error handling. It offers hosting in Europe.

Fits when: you need more elaborate logic than Zapier and prefer not to manage servers.

Falls short when: volume is high, because it also charges for every step run, or when you need a lot of custom code.

n8n: control and volume

n8n is the tool we use most in projects. It can be hosted on your own server and its licence allows use without licence fees for a company's internal processes. In the cloud it charges per full workflow execution, not per step, which changes the numbers a lot for long flows.

Fits when:

• Volume is high and per-task costs spiral in other tools.
• Data is sensitive and you want it to stay in your infrastructure.
• You need custom code or to connect to APIs with no ready-made connector.
• You're going to build AI agents inside the flows.

Bear in mind that: self-hosting means looking after the server, updates, backups and security. If nobody in your company can do it, you need someone to do it for you.

How we choose at Amud

We choose the tool for the project, not the other way round:

1. Simple flows the client wants to maintain themselves: Zapier or Make.
2. Integrations with volume or sensitive data: n8n hosted on European infrastructure.
3. Long processes that must be very reliable, or digital employees: our own services, with n8n for the pieces where it adds value.

In projects with digital employees, the automation tool is only one part. The rest (per-role permissions, human approvals, memory per case file, a log of every action) is built around it. We cover it in systems integration.

The question that matters

Before choosing a tool, choose the process. The best platform won't fix a poorly framed automation. If you don't yet know what to automate first, start with this method for prioritising processes.