Zapier vs Make: Which Automation Tool to Choose?

10 AI

October 10, 2026

Short answer: choose Make if you want the most automation for the least money and you are comfortable building visual, branching scenarios. Choose Zapier if you want simple, linear automations that a non-technical colleague can maintain. The two bill differently, so the cheaper option depends on how many steps your workflows have.

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Quick verdict

Make publishes a 1,000-credit free plan and paid plans that start at 10,000 credits for a listed $12 a month. Zapier publishes a 100-task free plan and paid plans that start from $19.99 a month. Those numbers are not like for like, because a Zapier task and a Make credit count different things. For a workflow with several actions, Make is likely to cost less per run. For a two-step job you want running in ten minutes, Zapier asks less of you.

Zapier vs Make at a glance

	Zapier	Make
Free plan	$0. 100 tasks a month, unlimited Zaps, two-step Zaps only	$0. 1,000 credits a month, 2 active scenarios, 15-minute minimum interval, no time limit
Paid tiers listed	Professional from $19.99 a month; Team from $69 a month (25 users); Enterprise on request	Core $12, Pro $21, Teams $38 a month (each priced for 10,000 credits); Enterprise custom
Usage unit	Task: a successful action step	Credit: 1 per module action by default
What is free to run	Triggers, Filter, Paths, Formatter, Delay, Looping, Tables, Forms; failed steps	Router and error handler modules
Volume range	Tiers from 100 to 2 million tasks a month	10,000 credits up to “8M+” on a slider
Minimum run interval	Not confirmed on the pages checked	15 minutes on Free, 1 minute on Core and above
Multi-step workflows	Professional and above	Free plan includes routers and filters
Date checked	8 October 2026	8 October 2026

Both vendors display a dollar sign. Make does not name the currency on its pricing page, and Zapier lists USD among the currencies it accepts, including GBP, without showing GBP amounts. We have not converted anything into pounds.

How each tool counts usage

Zapier counts tasks. A task is any successful action that runs. Triggers never use a task, and polling for new data is free. Filter, Paths, Formatter, Delay, Looping, Digest and Storage steps are excluded, as are failed and skipped steps. Zapier’s own example is a Gmail, Dropbox and Slack Zap: the Dropbox upload and the Slack message are two billable actions, so ten runs use 20 tasks.

Make counts credits. Credits replaced the older term “operations”. By default one operation equals one credit, and each module action in a scenario, such as adding a Google Sheets row, counts as one. Router and error handler modules do not consume credits. Some modules cost more: the Make Code App costs 2 credits per second of execution on paid plans, and AI features can use credits by tokens, file size or processing time.

One gap matters for your budgeting. The Make pages we opened do not state whether a trigger module uses a credit, so we have shown both outcomes in the example below.

Key differences

Pricing for zapier

Zapier rewards workflows that are short, because only actions count and each one costs a task. Make charges per module, so a long scenario with many steps burns credits quickly, but the entry price for 10,000 credits is lower than Zapier’s entry paid price.

Free plans

Zapier’s free plan allows unlimited Zaps, but only two-step ones and only 100 tasks a month. Make’s free plan gives you ten times the usage and routers and filters, but caps you at two active scenarios and a 15-minute minimum interval. It also limits executions to 5 minutes, files to 5 MB and log storage to 7 days.

Branching and control

Both tools offer routing logic and neither charges for it: Zapier does not count Paths, and Make does not charge credits for Router modules. Make’s visual builder lays the branches out on a canvas, which suits complex flows. Zapier multi-step Zaps need the Professional plan.

AI features

Zapier lists AI fields on Professional and above, plus Copilot, AI troubleshooting and AI Custom Actions in beta, and separate Agents, Chatbots and MCP products with their own plans. Make lists Maia for building automations by conversation, 350+ AI apps, an MCP server, and AI Agents in beta, with its AI Provider available on all plans or your own LLM key on paid plans. Make notes that some advanced AI features can use more credits. We could not confirm which AI features sit on which Make tier.

Winner by use case

Simple two-step Zaps: Zapier. A trigger plus one action is exactly what its free plan allows, and the task maths is easy to follow.
Multi-branch scenarios: Make. Routers are free to run, routers and filters are on the free plan, and the canvas shows every branch at once.
High volume: Make on published entry prices, with a caveat. Zapier’s per-tier prices were not shown on the page we read, so we cannot price a large Zapier plan. Check the calculator for your volume on both.
Non-technical team: Zapier, for linear workflows. Make’s modules and routers reward people who think in flow diagrams, which takes longer to learn.

Worked pricing example

Take a workflow that runs once per form submission: a new submission arrives (trigger), a row is added to a spreadsheet (action 1) and a chat message is sent (action 2). Assume 400 submissions a month.

Zapier: 2 actions x 400 runs = 800 tasks. The trigger is free. That exceeds the 100-task Free plan and the Free plan is limited to two-step Zaps, so you would need a paid plan with a task tier of at least 800. The pricing page does not list a price for that tier.
Make: 2 actions x 400 runs = 800 credits. If the trigger module also costs one credit, 3 x 400 = 1,200 credits. The first figure fits inside the 1,000-credit Free plan; the second does not and would need a paid plan starting at 10,000 credits.

Now scale up to a five-action workflow with 2,000 runs a month. Zapier: 5 x 2,000 = 10,000 tasks. Make: 5 x 2,000 = 10,000 credits before any trigger cost, which is the 10,000-credit basis on which Core is listed at $12 a month. Adding the trigger, if it counts, gives 12,000 credits and moves you up the slider. In both cases, Filter, Paths and Router steps would not add to the total, so the difference lies in how you design the flow.

The takeaway: the unit is similar (one billable step, one unit), but Make’s published entry tier is cheaper and includes more units. What you cannot see from the pages is the Zapier price at 10,000 tasks, so do that comparison inside the calculator before you commit.

Limitations of each

Zapier: The free plan is capped at 100 tasks and two steps. Pay-per-task overage is billed at a higher rate, and if it is switched off, Zaps pause until the next usage period.
Make: The free plan allows only two active scenarios. If credits run out, scenarios stop until more are added. Unused credits expire at the end of the term, except annual prepaid credits, which last 12 months.
Both: Costs can rise when AI steps are involved, and we did not test either product. This comparison rests on published vendor documentation only.

Best for Zapier

Zapier suits small teams who want a short chain of actions connecting two apps, who value a lower learning curve, and who do not need branching on day one. It also makes sense if you want one vendor for automation, agents and chatbots, or if you want a 14-day Professional trial with no credit card to try multi-step Zaps first.

Best for Make

Make suits people who build workflows with many steps or branches, who want routers and filters without paying first, and who want a lower entry price for a 10,000-unit allowance. It is also the better fit if you want a visual canvas, a minimum run interval down to one minute on paid plans, and are happy to watch how modules consume credits.

Alternatives to consider

n8n: Prices in euros, billed annually: Starter 20 euros a month for 2,500 workflow executions, Pro 50 euros for 10,000. An execution is one run of the whole workflow, so step count does not change the bill. A self-hosted Community Edition is available on GitHub.
Microsoft Power Automate: Premium is £11.50 per user a month, paid yearly, excluding VAT, and includes cloud flows and desktop flows. It makes most sense if your team already works inside Microsoft 365.
Read next on URIVIO: our guide to choosing AI tools that fit your workflow and our marketing software comparison. If you plan to hand work to AI agents, read why AI agents fail in production, and if automation feeds your analytics, why marketing teams lose tracking data.

Frequently asked questions

Is Zapier or Make cheaper?

On the entry prices published, Make is cheaper: $12 a month for 10,000 credits against Zapier Professional from $19.99 a month. Zapier does not show per-tier prices on the page we read, so a full comparison needs the vendor calculators.

Can I use either for free?

Yes. Zapier Free gives 100 tasks a month and two-step Zaps. Make Free gives 1,000 credits a month, two active scenarios and a 15-minute minimum interval, with no time limit.

Do failed runs use up usage?

On Zapier, failed and skipped action steps do not count as tasks. The Make pages we opened do not state a rule for failed modules, so check Make’s documentation before relying on that.

Which is easier for beginners?

Zapier is generally the gentler start for simple linear workflows. Make asks you to think in modules and routers, which pays off on complex flows. This is a judgement, not a measured result.

Does either tool support AI agents?

Both publish AI features. Zapier lists Agents, Chatbots and MCP; Make lists AI Agents in beta and an MCP server. Availability by plan should be checked on each vendor page.

Final recommendation

If you are starting from nothing and your first automations are copy-a-lead, send-a-message jobs, begin on Zapier’s free plan, because it asks the least of you and the unit is easy to reason about. If you already know your workflows will branch, run several steps or grow in volume, begin on Make, because routers and filters are available without paying and the entry paid tier is cheaper per unit.

The reason comes down to counting. Both charge for each successful action, but Make reaches 10,000 units at a lower listed price, and its free plan lets you prototype branching logic. Zapier charges you for that complexity from the start, yet repays it with a simpler tool. Choose by workflow length, not by brand.

Related reading: Best AI Automation Tools and Agents.