Make vs Zapier: is the app catalog worth the price?
Make gives you more automation per dollar: $9 a month buys 10,000 credits, while Zapier's Professional plan starts at $19.99 for 750 tasks and bills each successful app action as a task, with AI steps costing more (both prices billed annually). Zapier's argument is its catalog and its polish: 9,000+ apps and the gentlest learning curve in the category.
TL;DR verdict
Make for value and complex flows: routers, iterators and 10,000 credits for $9. Zapier when your exact app pairing exists only in its catalog, or when non-technical staff must build automations unassisted.
| Make | Zapier | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan | $9/mo billed annually, $10.59 monthly (Core) | From $19.99/mo billed annually, $29.99 monthly (Professional) |
| What it includes | 10,000 credits (1 credit ≈ 1 module operation) | 750 tasks at the entry tier; each successful app action is a task (Filter, Formatter and Paths are free; AI steps can cost more) |
| Free plan | 1,000 credits/mo, 2 active scenarios | 100 tasks/mo, two-step Zaps only |
| Multi-step and logic | Routers, iterators, aggregators on every paid plan | Multi-step from Professional up |
| App catalog | 3,000+ apps, plus an HTTP module for any API | 9,000+ apps, the largest catalog |
| Data location | EU or US region (AWS), chosen per organization | US-centric cloud |
| Learning curve | Visual canvas, moderate | Gentlest in the category |
| Strongest at | Complex scenarios per dollar | Instant setup and long-tail apps |
Which we'd pick, scenario by scenario
Marketing team automating forms, ads and email
Make. These flows are multi-step by nature, and multi-step flows are exactly where Zapier's per-task billing adds up fastest.
Solo founder gluing two niche SaaS tools
Zapier. If both apps sit in the catalog, the Zap exists in ten minutes, and at low volume the price gap is a coffee a month.
EU company with GDPR-sensitive flows
Make. Pick the EU data center when you create the organization, and the question of where your processor stores data is settled before anyone asks it.
Zapier's price reputation is outdated in one direction and accurate in another. The entry point dropped: Professional now starts at $19.99 a month billed annually, for 750 tasks; the $49 people still quote buys the 2,000-task tier. What has not changed is the meter. Every successful app action in a Zap is a billed task (Filter, Formatter and Paths are free; AI steps cost more), so a flow with six standard app actions on 500 leads burns 3,000 tasks a month, while the same flow on Make uses about 3,500 credits (Make counts the trigger too) from a 10,000 pool that costs $9. Zapier prices tasks so volume punishes you; Make prices operations so complexity is nearly free. That sentence covers most of the comparison, and it is why Make is our default for SMB automation work. The exception we take seriously is the long tail: when a client runs a vertical SaaS nobody else integrates, Zapier is often the only platform with a native connector, and a native connector beats a week of HTTP-module reverse engineering. Before deciding on catalog size alone, run the three-way numbers in Make vs n8n vs Zapier.
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Frequently asked
Is Make cheaper than Zapier?
Per unit of work, clearly: $9 buys 10,000 Make credits, while Zapier starts at $19.99 for 750 tasks and counts each successful app action as a task (both billed annually). At tiny volumes the gap barely matters; multi-step flows at volume are where Zapier invoices surprise people.
Does Make have fewer integrations than Zapier?
Yes: Make lists 3,000+ apps against Zapier's 9,000+. In practice Make's HTTP module and webhooks can talk to any API, which closes most gaps at the cost of some setup work.
Which is easier for a non-technical team?
Zapier, by a wide margin. If nobody technical will ever touch the account, Zapier's linear editor prevents more mistakes. Make's canvas can do more, and it also gives you more ways to get lost.
Which process costs you the most?
Thirty minutes, free. You leave with a concrete fix plan and what the process costs you. The plan is yours, even if you build it without us.
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