Updated October 2026 · hands-on opinion, not vendor copy
Quick verdict: Zapier for speed and app coverage: it connects more services than anyone and onboarding is nearly zero-effort. Make for power: visual multi-step scenarios with loops, iterators and error handlers that Zapier cannot express without paid code steps.
Zapier wins on breadth (7,000+ integrations) and polish — most people ship their first automation in minutes. Make wins on depth: a visual canvas where one scenario can loop over arrays, branch on conditions, aggregate and retry, all while consuming a single operation budget.
Zapier prices per task and strong filters count toward nothing; Make prices per operation, and multi-step loops can consume them quickly — but a single Make scenario often replaces several Zaps. Do the math on your specific workload.
n8n is source-available and self-hostable for free with the same integrations philosophy; it only makes sense if you are comfortable running a small server — which, on this site, you probably are.
Non-technical users or teams standardizing on one tool: Zapier. Builders who want complex logic without code: Make. Tinkerers with a server: n8n.