The Verdict
Zapier for non-technical users who need automations running in an afternoon. Make for those who need complex multi-step workflows and want to spend less on a monthly basis. Both are genuinely good — the choice is really about your technical comfort level.
Automation is one of the highest-ROI uses of AI tools for small business. We used both Zapier and Make to automate the same workflows — here’s what we found.
The Short Version
Zapier gets you up and running in minutes. Make can do more complex things at a lower price point. If you've never used automation tools before, start with Zapier. If you're comfortable with logic and want more control, Make is worth the learning curve.
What We Liked
- Zapier: Dead simple to set up
- Zapier: 6,000+ integrations
- Make: More powerful logic and routing
- Make: Better value at scale
What We Didn't
- Zapier: Can get expensive at volume
- Make: Steeper learning curve
- Make: Fewer native integrations
The Workflow We Automated
We built the same automation in both tools: when a new article is published on our CMS, automatically:
- Post a tweet with the article title and URL
- Send a Slack notification to the team
- Add a row to an Airtable tracking sheet
- Trigger a 5-email nurture sequence in Mailchimp
Our Content Distribution Automation
CMS Publish
Trigger
Zapier / Make
Orchestrator
Twitter/X
Social post
Slack
Team notify
Airtable
Track article
Ease of Setup
In Zapier, we had the full 4-step automation running in under 25 minutes — including testing. The interface is genuinely intuitive, and the AI-powered Zap builder now suggests the most likely next step based on your workflow.
In Make, the same automation took about 50 minutes. The visual canvas is powerful but takes time to learn. The good news: once you’ve learned it, complex branching logic is much easier to build than in Zapier.
Winner on ease: Zapier
Pricing
| Zapier | Make | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 100 tasks/mo | 1,000 ops/mo |
| Starter | £29/mo (750 tasks) | £9/mo (10,000 ops) |
| Professional | £59/mo (2,000 tasks) | £16/mo (10,000 ops) |
Make is significantly cheaper at every tier. Zapier’s “tasks” model can get expensive quickly — each action in a multi-step Zap counts as a separate task.
Winner on price: Make
Our Verdict
If you’re new to automation and want to get something working this afternoon: Zapier. The simplicity is worth the premium.
If you’re comfortable with a bit of a learning curve and want more power at a lower price: Make.
For most small business owners, we’d say start with Zapier’s free tier, get comfortable with automation as a concept, then evaluate whether you need Make’s additional power.