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Make vs n8n: which should a small business pick?
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The short answer
Make and n8n both let you connect apps and automate work without hiring a developer. They look similar on the surface: drag boxes onto a canvas, join them with lines, hit run. The real differences are in how they charge you, how much they expect you to know, and where your data lives.
The quick comparison
| Make | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Per operation: every step that runs uses credits | Per execution: one full workflow run counts once, however many steps it has |
| Free option | Free plan with a small monthly allowance | Free self-hosted Community Edition, plus a free cloud trial with no card |
| Cheapest paid cloud plan | Core plan (see current pricing) | Starter, €20/month for 2,500 executions |
| Learning curve | Gentle; very visual | Steeper; rewards a little technical comfort |
| Custom code | Limited | Built-in JavaScript and Python code steps |
| Self-hosting | No, cloud only | Yes |
| Best for | Short, everyday automations across popular apps | Long or high-volume workflows, AI agents, data you want to keep in-house |
Pricing: per step vs per run
This is the difference that matters most, and it is easy to miss.
Make counts every step. A scenario that watches for a new order, looks up the customer, adds a row to a spreadsheet, and sends an email uses roughly four operations every time it runs. Add a filter, a router or a loop over line items, and that number climbs fast.
n8n counts the whole run once. That same four-step workflow is one execution. So is a twenty-step one. On n8n's Starter plan that means 2,500 runs a month, no matter how long each workflow is.
The practical rule: if your automations are short and run a few hundred times a month, Make's pricing is easy to live with. If they are long, loop over lists, or run thousands of times, n8n usually works out cheaper.
Ease of use
Make is the friendlier of the two. Its canvas is bright and clear, each app has tidy settings panels, and you can build something useful in your first hour without reading documentation.
n8n assumes a bit more. You will meet terms like JSON and expressions sooner, and some apps need you to set up credentials by hand. The pay-off is control: when a ready-made step does not do quite what you need, you can drop in a code step and finish the job.
Apps and integrations
Both connect to the tools most small businesses use: Google Workspace, Slack, Shopify, Stripe, Airtable, Notion, email and more. Make has the larger library of ready-made app connectors. n8n closes most of the gap with its generic HTTP request step, which talks to almost any app with an API, though that takes a little more setup.
Self-hosting and your data
Make runs only in Make's cloud. n8n can run in its cloud or on your own server. Self-hosting is free in licence terms, but you pay for the server and you are responsible for updates, backups and security. For most one-person businesses n8n Cloud is the sensible start; self-hosting makes sense once volume is high or you have data you would rather keep in-house.
Which one should you pick?
Choose Make if
- You are not technical and want results today
- Your automations are a handful of steps each
- You rely on popular apps that have ready-made connectors
Choose n8n if
- Your workflows are long, loop over lists, or run thousands of times a month
- You are comfortable with a little technical setup, or want to learn
- You want the option to self-host or build AI agent workflows
Not sure yet? Both let you start free. Build the same small automation in each, such as "new form entry to spreadsheet row to email", and keep the one that felt natural.