Same job, different maths
n8n and Make do the same thing: take an event from one tool (an inquiry arrived, a new order, a new row in a sheet), pass it through a few steps and write the result into another tool. For a small business both cover ninety percent of needs: inquiries into the CRM, proposals from a template, reports, reminders, sheet sync.
The difference is not in what they can do, but in three things you only see after six months: the bill, the data and the upkeep.
How they charge
Make charges per operation: every step in a flow, every time it runs, spends one operation from the monthly plan. A flow of twenty steps that fires a hundred times a day spends two thousand operations a day. While you are small, the plan is cheap. When the flow works as it should, the bill grows with it.
n8n in its cloud version charges per execution: one pass through a flow counts once, whether it has five or fifty steps. And n8n can be installed on your own server, where you pay nothing per execution, only the server, which for a small business costs about one coffee a week.
Where your data sits
Make is cloud: data passes through their servers, which is fine for most small businesses, but not for every one. A clinic, an accountant, a lawyer, anyone who handles other people's personal data, wants to know where it is. n8n on your own server in the EU means the flow, the keys and the data never leave your infrastructure.
Who will maintain it
Make is easier for someone who is not technical: field mapping is visual and forgiving. n8n has a code node (JavaScript), its own AI and agent nodes and more freedom, and so it asks for someone who can maintain it. If you build flows yourself and have no developer, Make forgives more mistakes. If a studio builds your flows and leaves them documented in your account, n8n gives you more for the same money.
Our pick and why
For clients we build on n8n, with Claude models, for two reasons: per execution pricing does not punish a flow that works well, and the data stays in the client's accounts and on the client's server. We pick Make when a client already has flows on it and the flows are short and rare, so there is no reason to move.
Three questions before deciding
The answers to these three name the tool, before any demo.
- 01How many steps will the flow have and how many times a day will it run in a year, not today?
- 02Does other people's personal data pass through the flow, and where is it allowed to be?
- 03Who maintains it when an API changes, you or someone you pay?
If you want someone to set this up
We deliver the first automation within a week, in your account, with an export and documentation, at a fixed price you get within 48 hours of the call. Write which job eats most of your time, that is where we start.