Make.com Review 2026: Pricing, Free Plan, Pros and Cons

Make.com review: we tested the free plan, checked every 2026 price and read real user reviews. Credits, AI agents, pros, cons and verdict.

David Oscar

11/4/202631 min read

Most small businesses run on a handful of apps that don't talk to each other, so people end up doing the talking for them.

A new lead lands in a web form, someone copies it into a spreadsheet, and someone else pastes it into the CRM before typing a welcome email by hand. Each step takes only a minute, but those minutes pile up every day, and every copy-and-paste is another chance for a costly typo.

Make is an automation platform that connects those apps so the work moves on its own. You draw the steps on a screen like a flowchart, and Make runs them for you, day and night, without anyone pressing a button.

In this Make.com review, we opened a free Make account, built and ran a test scenario, checked every price on the official pages, and read what real customers say on three review sites, so you can decide whether Make is right for your business before you spend a cent.

Written by David Oscar, Vivid Algo Editorial Team.

Affiliate disclosure: Vivid Algo may earn a commission if you sign up through some links in this article, at no extra cost to you. It doesn't change what we say. If you'd like the details, you can read our full affiliate disclosure. We share this up front because the US Federal Trade Commission asks reviewers to make these kinds of links clear to readers (FTC Endorsement Guides FAQ).

How we reviewed it: We used Make's free plan, which is the plan most readers start on, on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, in Google Chrome. We created a scenario, added modules, ran it once, opened the schedule settings and checked our credit usage. Make didn't give us free access or check our article before publication. For features that are only available on paid plans, we rely on Make's official pricing page and help center, and we say so each time.

Prices: We checked every Make, Zapier, n8n and Pabbly Connect price on their official pricing pages on November 4, 2026, in US dollars. Prices change from time to time, so always check the live Make pricing page before you buy.

Make.com Review: The Short Answer

Make is a no-code automation platform, which means you can connect your apps and build workflows by dragging blocks around a screen instead of writing code. Make says it works with more than 3,500 apps (Make pricing).

Here's our quick verdict before we get into the details:

Best for: small businesses, freelancers and agencies that want powerful, visual automations at a low price and don't mind a short learning curve.
Free plan: $0 forever, with 1,000 credits a month, up to 2 active scenarios and scheduled runs no more often than every 15 minutes (Make pricing).
Paid plans: with monthly billing and 10,000 credits a month, Core costs $10.59 a month, Pro costs $18.82 and Teams costs $34.12, while yearly billing drops these to $9, $16 and $29 a month.
AI tools: Make AI Agents (in beta), the Maia assistant, AI modules and an MCP server are listed on every plan, including the free one.
Customer scores: Make holds 4.6 out of 5 on G2 and 4.8 on Software Advice, but only 2.6 on Trustpilot, where opinions are sharply divided.

If you want more automation power for your money than Zapier offers and you're happy to learn a visual builder, Make is one of the best-value automation tools you can buy today. If you want the simplest possible tool and never want to think about how many steps a workflow uses, it may feel like too much.

Try Make free

What Is Make?

Make is a web application that runs in your browser, so there's nothing to install on your computer. It used to be called Integromat, and G2 still lists it under the name "Integromat by Celonis (Make)" (G2). The footer of Make's website shows that the company is now part of Celonis, Inc. (Make pricing).

A good way to picture Make is as a model train set for your business information. Each app is a station, and the tracks you lay down decide where the data travels, which stops it makes and what gets loaded or unloaded along the way. Once the tracks are in place, the trains run on their own.

In Make's own words, these are the main pieces you'll work with (Make help center):

Scenario: a complete workflow, which Make describes as a series of modules that shows how data moves and changes between apps.
Module: one building block inside a scenario. Make compares modules to bricks that you put together, such as one module that watches for new rows in Google Sheets and another that sends a message in Slack (Make help center).
Trigger: the first module, which starts the scenario whenever something new happens.
Credit: the unit Make uses for billing, where most modules use 1 credit every time they run (Make help center).

Why it matters for a small business

Every task you hand to Make is a task your team stops doing by hand. That might mean saving form leads to a spreadsheet, sending a welcome email, sharing new blog articles on social media, or copying invoices into your accounting software.

If you're new to the idea, our guide to no-code automation for beginners explains the basics, and our small business automation roadmap helps you decide which tasks to automate first.

Who Make Is For

Make suits people who like to see how things work, because its builder displays your entire workflow as a picture that you can follow from start to finish.

It's a strong fit for:

Solo founders and freelancers who want to save hours each week without paying high monthly fees.
Small teams that need workflows with several steps, branches and conditions.
Marketing and sales teams that move leads between forms, CRMs, email tools and chat apps.
Agencies that build automations for clients and need plenty of runs at a low price.
Teams exploring artificial intelligence, since Make lists its AI Agents, AI modules and MCP server on every plan.

It's a weaker fit for people who want a "set it in two clicks" tool and never want to learn new vocabulary like bundles and mapping, which we cover in more detail near the end.

Make Pricing: Plans Explained (Verified November 4, 2026)

Make prices its plans by credits, so you choose how many credits you need each month and the price changes with that number. The prices below use Make's default setting of 10,000 credits a month, in US dollars (Make pricing).

Make pricing page on yearly billing with Core at $9, Pro at $16 and Teams at $29 a month

Make's plans with monthly billing at 10,000 credits a month. Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo, November 4, 2026.

With monthly billing, the plans cost:

Free: $0 a month.
Core: $10.59 a month, which works out to $1.06 per 1,000 credits.
Pro: $18.82 a month, or $1.88 per 1,000 credits.
Teams: $34.12 a month, or $3.41 per 1,000 credits.
Enterprise: custom pricing, which means you contact Make's sales team for a quote.

With yearly billing, which Make labels "Save 15%," the plans cost:

Core: $9 a month, or $0.90 per 1,000 credits.
Pro: $16 a month, or $1.60 per 1,000 credits.
Teams: $29 a month, or $2.90 per 1,000 credits.

Make pricing page with Free, Core, Pro, Teams and Enterprise plans on monthly billing

Make's plans with yearly billing at 10,000 credits a month. Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo, November 4, 2026.

How credits work

Credits work like arcade tokens, because each time a module runs, it drops a token into the machine. Most actions use 1 credit, while a few AI features use more, depending on how much work they do (Make help center).

Here are the key credit rules from Make's pricing page and help center:

Most modules use 1 credit per operation, and an operation is simply one run of one module.
The Router and error handlers use no credits at all (Make pricing).
A polling trigger uses a credit every time it checks for new data, even when it finds nothing.
AI modules that use Make's AI Provider charge credits based on tokens, which are the small chunks of text that AI models read and write. Make says 1 token is roughly 4 characters of English text (Make help center).
Credits expire at the end of the term, so they don't roll over forever (Make pricing).

What every plan includes

Make lists these features on all plans, including Free (Make pricing):

the no-code visual builder, access to more than 3,500 apps, and customer support;
routers and filters;
Maia by Make, an AI assistant that helps you build scenarios;
AI applications, the AI Content Extractor and AI Web Search (in beta);
Make AI Agents (in beta), the Make AI Toolkit and the Make MCP server;
two-factor authentication, which asks for a second code when you log in;
unlimited users and hosting on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the European Union or North America.

Free plan: $0 forever

The Free plan is a real working plan, not a short trial. According to Make's pricing page, it includes 1,000 credits a month, up to 2 active scenarios, a 15-minute minimum gap between scheduled runs and a 5-minute maximum run time for each scenario (Make pricing).

It also allows files up to 5 MB, 512 MB of data transfer, 7 days of run history (which Make calls execution log storage), one data store holding up to 1 MB, and "90-day expert access to get started."

The Free plan doesn't include the Make Code App or access to the Make API. An API (application programming interface) is like a waiter that carries orders between two computer programs.

Core plan: from $9 a month

Core is the entry-level paid plan, costing $10.59 a month with monthly billing or $9 a month with yearly billing at 10,000 credits. On top of everything in Free, it adds unlimited active scenarios, scheduling as often as every minute, and a 40-minute maximum run time (Make pricing).

Core also raises file sizes to 100 MB and data transfer to 5 GB, keeps 30 days of run history, and unlocks the Make API at up to 60 calls a minute. It includes Make Grid, too, which is a map-style view of how your scenarios connect. For most small businesses, Core is the natural next step once the free plan feels tight.

Pro plan: from $16 a month

Pro costs $18.82 a month with monthly billing or $16 a month with yearly billing at 10,000 credits. It adds priority execution, which moves your scenarios to the front of the queue, plus custom variables, which are saved values you can reuse across many scenarios (Make pricing).

Pro also adds full-text search of your run history, 250 MB files, and credit flexibility with yearly billing, which lets you spend your yearly credits at any point during the year.

Teams plan: from $29 a month

Teams costs $34.12 a month with monthly billing or $29 a month with yearly billing. It adds teams and team roles, so you can control who can edit what, along with shared scenario templates and 500 MB files (Make pricing).

Enterprise plan: custom price

Enterprise is designed for large companies. Make lists custom functions, enterprise app integrations, 24/7 support, overage protection, audit logs, 1,000 MB files and single sign-on, which lets staff log in once with one company account (Make pricing).

What happens if you run out of credits

When you run out of credits, your scenarios stop running. However, webhooks keep collecting incoming data in a queue, so nothing is lost while you sort it out. A webhook is a special web address that an app uses to send data to Make the moment something happens (Make pricing).

To keep things running, you can upgrade, buy extra credits in packs of 1,000 or 10,000, or turn on automatic top-ups on the Core, Pro and Teams plans (Make pricing).

Cancelling, paying and discounts

If you cancel a paid plan, your account returns to Free at the end of your billing cycle. Make accepts cards, ACH bank transfers and Google Pay (Make pricing).

Make also has a Start-up Plan, and the pricing page says: "Under 20 employees? Check if you qualify for our Start-up Plan and get 50% off Business" (Make pricing).

What Make costs in real life

Credits are easy to burn without noticing, so it helps to do the math before you build anything.

Make's help center gives a clear example for a trigger that checks for new data on a schedule. Checking every 5 minutes uses 288 credits a day, checking every hour uses 24 credits a day (about 720 a month), and checking once a day uses about 30 credits a month (Make help center). Those numbers cover the trigger alone, and every extra module that runs adds more.

Here's what that means on the Free plan. A trigger that checks every 15 minutes runs 96 times a day, which adds up to 2,880 checks over 30 days, almost three times the 1,000 free credits. So on the Free plan, it's smart to check hourly or less often, or to use an instant trigger that only runs when new data actually arrives.

Now consider a paid example. Imagine a small online shop with 300 orders a month, where each order passes through a four-module scenario: a trigger, a step that saves the order to a spreadsheet, a thank-you email and an alert to your team's chat app. That's about 1,200 credits a month, which fits comfortably inside Core's 10,000 credits for $9 to $10.59 a month.

Key Make Features Explained

Make packs a lot of features into one screen. Here are the ones you'll use most, explained in everyday language.

The visual scenario builder

The Scenario Builder is a large blank canvas where you add modules as circles and connect them with lines. The result looks like a flowchart, so you can understand every step at a glance.

Think of it like building with LEGO: each brick does one job, and you snap the bricks together in whatever order the task requires.

Triggers, searches, actions and tools

Make sorts its modules into several groups (Make help center):

Triggers start the scenario. A polling trigger checks for new data on a schedule, and its name usually begins with "Watch," such as "Watch rows." An instant trigger receives data the moment it arrives, using a webhook.
Searches find specific records, such as every row that matches a customer's name.
Actions create, update, retrieve or delete information, such as adding a row or sending a message.
Universal modules let you make a custom API call when Make doesn't offer a ready-made module for what you need.

Make explains the difference between the two trigger types with a helpful comparison. A polling trigger is like checking an airline's website again and again for a discount, while an instant trigger is like the airline emailing you as soon as the discount appears (Make help center).

Make also provides tools, which are built-in modules that don't need an app connection, such as Set variable, Iterator, Aggregator and Data store.

Mapping

Mapping is how you tell Make which piece of information goes where. For example, you can take the subject line from an email and place it inside a Slack message (Make help center).

Make passes information between modules in bundles, which Make describes as boxes of information. Some boxes hold a single item, like an email address, while others hold many items, like a complete order (Make help center).

Filters

A filter sits on the line between two modules and only lets data pass when it meets your rule, such as "only emails with an attachment." If a bundle doesn't match, Make stops processing it at that point (Make help center).

A filter works like a security guard at a door, because only the guests on the list get through.

Routers

A router splits one scenario into several paths, and each path can have its own filter, so different data travels down different roads. You can also set a fallback route, which catches anything that doesn't fit the other paths (Make help center).

Make processes the routes one after another rather than at the same time, so it won't start the second route until the first one finishes (Make help center). Better still, routers use no credits (Make pricing).

Scheduling

You decide when each scenario runs. Make's options include regular intervals, once, daily, weekdays, weekly, monthly, specific dates and on demand (Make help center). The shortest gap depends on your plan, with 15 minutes on Free and 1 minute on paid plans (Make pricing).

Scenario history

Every run is saved in the History tab, where you can see the date, the status, how long it took, the operations completed and the credits used. You can also click Details to look inside each module's data (Make help center).

The history works like an airplane's flight recorder, so when something goes wrong, you can review exactly what happened step by step. Make even lets you re-run a past run with the same trigger data, which it calls a scenario run replay (Make help center).

Templates

Make offers a library of public templates, which are ready-made scenarios that you can copy and adjust. When we opened the library, we saw templates such as "Add webhook data to a Google Sheet" and "Send a Gmail email from a new Google Sheets row."

AI features: Make AI Agents, Maia and AI modules

Make has added several artificial intelligence features. Here's what Make officially documents today:

Make AI Agents (beta): Make describes an AI agent as a system that acts independently to reach a goal while following rules, "like a skilled assistant." Each agent combines a large language model (the AI "brain" behind tools like ChatGPT), a system prompt that works like a job description, files for context, tools and reasoning (Make help center). The app is in open beta, so its features and pricing may change.
Make's AI Provider: on every plan, Make can connect to an AI model for you, so you don't need your own OpenAI or Anthropic account, and you pay in credits based on tokens. On paid plans, you can also connect your own AI provider and pay that provider directly (Make help center).
Maia by Make: an AI helper listed on all plans (Make pricing). On our free account, the dashboard greeted us with a box that said "Describe your idea and Maia, your coworker, will build it for you," marked as beta.
AI Content Extractor and AI Web Search: built-in AI apps listed on every plan, with AI Web Search still in beta (Make pricing).
MCP server: MCP (Model Context Protocol) works like a universal adapter for AI, letting assistants such as Claude or ChatGPT use your Make scenarios as tools. Our dashboard showed an option to "Build and run scenarios from Claude or ChatGPT."

Here's a simple way to understand the difference. A normal scenario is a train on rails that always follows the same track, while an AI agent is more like a taxi driver who chooses the route for you. That's more flexible, but you need to give the driver clear rules.

Our guide to AI agent platforms explains agents in more depth, and our article on why AI automation makes mistakes shows how to keep them under control.

How to Use Make: Step-by-Step Guide

This guide follows the steps we took on our free Make account, along with Make's official help center. By the end, you'll have a working scenario that runs on a schedule.

Before you start, pick one simple task to automate. A good first project is "when a new row appears in my Google Sheet, send me a message," and Make's own first-scenario guide uses that same idea with Google Sheets and Slack (Make help center).

Step 1: Create your free Make account

Go to the Make sign-up page and create a free account. You don't need to choose a paid plan to begin, since every new account can start on Free.

Make's homepage, where the Try it free and Get started free buttons open the sign-up form. Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo, November 4, 2026.

Once your account is ready, you'll land on your dashboard. Turn on two-factor authentication in your profile settings straight away.

Step 2: Get to know the dashboard

The dashboard is your home base. On our account, it opened with a greeting, a box for describing an idea to Maia, and three options: Create a scenario, Create an AI agent, and Build and run scenarios from Claude or ChatGPT.

Make dashboard with the Maia prompt box and buttons to create a scenario or an AI agent

Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo from our free Make account, November 4, 2026.

The purple bar on the left holds the main menu. The sections you'll use most are Scenarios (all your workflows), AI Agents, Credentials (your saved app connections), Webhooks, Templates and Data stores, which are small tables inside Make where scenarios can save information.

Step 3: Browse templates for ideas (optional)

Before you build from scratch, click Templates in the left menu. You'll see public templates for common jobs, each one showing the apps it uses.

Make public templates library with ready-made scenarios for Google Sheets, Gmail and chat apps

Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo from our free Make account, November 4, 2026.

A template is like a recipe card: you still cook the meal, but you don't have to work out the steps yourself. If one matches your task, click it and follow the setup prompts.

Step 4: Create a new scenario

Click Create scenario in the top-right corner. Make opens the Scenario Builder, showing a large purple plus button in the middle of an empty canvas.

Make Scenario Builder showing a new empty scenario with a large plus button

Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo from our free Make account, November 4, 2026.

Give your scenario a clear name by clicking "New scenario" at the top left, because descriptive names like "New lead to Slack" make life much easier once you have ten scenarios.

Notice the toolbar at the bottom, which holds the Run once and Save buttons. Near it, you'll see the schedule setting, which says "Every 15 minutes" by default, and an on/off switch.

Step 5: Add a trigger module

Click the large plus button to open a panel where you can search for an app. Type the app you want, such as Google Sheets, and Make lists that app's modules.

Make module picker with Google Sheets modules such as Add a Row, Search Rows and Update a Row

Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo from our free Make account, November 4, 2026.

For a trigger, choose a module whose name begins with "Watch," such as Watch New Rows. That's a polling trigger, so it checks your spreadsheet on whatever schedule you set (Make help center).

Next, Make asks you to create a connection, which is where you sign in to your Google account and give Make permission to read the spreadsheet. Then select the spreadsheet and sheet you want to watch.

Make will also ask where to start, such as from now, from a specific date or from the first row. This choice only applies to the very first run (Make help center).

Before you connect any app, think carefully about the access you're giving. Our guide to connecting business apps to automation tools safely explains what to check.

Step 6: Add action modules

Now add the step that does the actual work. Hover to the right of your trigger, click the small plus that appears, search for your second app, such as Slack, and pick an action like Create a Message.

Connect that app the same way. You can keep adding modules in a chain, for example:

Google Sheets: Watch New Rows (trigger).
Slack: Create a Message (action).
Gmail: Send an Email (action).

Each module you add uses credits whenever it runs, so keep your chains as short as the job allows.

Step 7: Map your data

Mapping is where you tell each action which information to use. Click inside a field, like the message text in Slack, and a panel appears with data from earlier modules. Click an item, like the "Name" column from your spreadsheet, and Make places it in the field (Make help center).

You can combine your own words with mapped items, such as "New lead: [Name] from [Company]."

Here's a handy trick. To see what information a module provides, right-click it and choose Run this module only. A small bubble with a number appears, and clicking it lets you look inside the bundle (Make help center).

Step 8: Test with Run once

Click Run once in the bottom toolbar, and Make runs your scenario a single time, immediately, so you can confirm that it works.

For our test, we built a small scenario called "Vivid Algo demo" with one built-in Tools module, Set variable, which saved the text "Hello from Vivid Algo." After we clicked Run once, Make displayed a green check mark and a bubble on the module, and the result panel showed 1 operation and 1 credit used.

Make Run once result showing one operation and one credit used with input and output bundles

Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo from our free Make account, November 4, 2026.

Click the bubble on any module to see its input and output. The input is what Make sent to the app, and the output is what came back (Make help center).

If something fails, the module displays an error. Open it, read the message, fix the field and run the scenario again.

Step 9: Add a filter or a router (optional)

To add a filter, click the line between two modules, give the filter a name and set a condition, such as "Amount is greater than 100." Only bundles that pass the test will continue (Make help center).

To add a router, right-click the line between two modules and choose Add a router, or click the plus, search for "Flow control" and select Router. Then add a filter to each path (Make help center).

For example, a router could send large orders to your sales team and small orders straight to a thank-you email, with one path marked as the fallback route for anything that doesn't fit.

Step 10: Schedule it and turn it on

When your test works, click Save, then open the schedule setting, which says "Every 15 minutes" by default (Make help center).

Make schedule settings window set to run at regular intervals every 15 minutes

Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo from our free Make account, November 4, 2026.

Choose how often the scenario should run. On our free account, the Minutes field said the value "Must be higher than or equal to 15," which matches the Free plan's 15-minute limit.

Pick a schedule that fits both your needs and your credit budget. As we showed earlier, a 15-minute polling trigger can use about 2,880 credits a month, so hourly is safer on Free. Click Save, then switch the scenario on, and Make will run it automatically from then on.

If you set a schedule only for testing, turn the scenario off afterward, because Make warns that test schedules can use credits you don't need to spend (Make help center).

Step 11: Check your history and credit usage

Open your scenario and click the History tab. Each run shows its time, status, duration, operations and credits, and you can click Details to inspect any run (Make help center).

Your dashboard also shows how many credits you have left. After our test, ours showed 999 of 1,000 credits remaining, 0 of 2 active scenarios and a reset date about a month away.

Make dashboard showing 999 of 1,000 credits left and a usage chart on the free plan

Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo from our free Make account, November 4, 2026.

To see your plan details, click Subscription under My Plan. Our page showed "Free • 1,000 credits / month," the credits we had used, and a side-by-side comparison of the paid plans.

Make subscription page showing the Free plan with 1,000 credits a month and a plan comparison

Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo from our free Make account, November 4, 2026.

Check this page every week at first, since it's the fastest way to spot a scenario that's using more credits than you expected.

Getting the Most From Make's Free Plan

The Free plan can handle real work if you plan around its limits. Here's how.

Choose your two scenarios wisely. You can only have 2 active scenarios at once, so pick the two tasks that save the most time each week. You can build others and keep them switched off until you need them.
Use instant triggers whenever possible. An instant trigger only runs when new data arrives, so it doesn't waste credits on empty checks. Make marks these triggers with a lightning icon (Make help center).
Slow down your polling. If you must use a polling trigger, check hourly or daily instead of every 15 minutes, which is the difference between about 720 and about 2,880 credits a month for the trigger alone.
Add filters early. Place a filter right after the trigger, so unwanted data stops before it reaches the modules that cost credits.
Watch the 5-minute run limit. Large jobs, like processing thousands of rows at once, may need to be split into smaller batches or moved to Core, which allows 40 minutes (Make pricing).
Keep your own records. Free only stores run history for 7 days, so add a step that logs each run to a spreadsheet if you need longer records. Our guide on how to automate Google Sheets workflows shows simple ways to do it.

A Worked Example: Lead Follow-Up for a Small Business

Let's put the pieces together with a realistic example.

Imagine Grace runs a small cleaning company. Customers request quotes through a form on her website, and right now she copies each request into a spreadsheet and emails the customer back by hand, which often takes a full day.

Part 1: Catch the lead immediately

Grace starts her scenario with an instant trigger from her form app, or with a webhook if the form supports one. Now the scenario only runs when a new request actually arrives.

Part 2: Save the lead and reply right away

She adds a Google Sheets "Add a Row" action and maps the name, email, phone number and address into the right columns. Then she adds an email action that sends a friendly "We received your request" message, personalized with the customer's first name.

Part 3: Route bigger jobs to a person

Finally, she adds a router. One path has a filter for requests marked "office" or "commercial," and it sends Grace a chat alert so she can call right away, while the fallback path handles everything else with the standard email.

What this costs Grace

Suppose Grace receives 150 requests a month. Each one runs the trigger, the spreadsheet step, the email and sometimes the alert, which is roughly 3 to 4 credits per lead, or about 450 to 600 credits a month. Since the router itself uses no credits, this could fit inside the Free plan's 1,000 credits, as long as it's one of her two active scenarios.

For more ideas like this, see our guide on how to automate lead follow-up with AI.

Support and Learning Curve

Make's help center is detailed and well organized, with step-by-step guides and clear examples for each feature (Make help center). The pricing page lists customer support on all plans, "90-day expert access to get started" on Free, and 24/7 support on Enterprise (Make pricing).

Be ready for a learning curve, though. Vocabulary like bundles, mapping, iterators and aggregators takes time to absorb. In our test, the basics were easy to follow, but reviewers on Trustpilot and Software Advice often say complex scenarios take real effort to set up, as you'll see in the customer section below.

The best way to learn is to build one small scenario, run it and look inside the bundles. After two or three attempts, the system usually starts to click.

Is Make Safe?

Any tool that connects to your email, files and customer records needs to earn your trust. Here's what Make offers, based on its pricing page:

Two-factor authentication on every plan (Make pricing). The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) says multi-factor login makes you far less likely to be hacked (CISA), so turn it on the day you sign up.
Hosting on AWS, with a choice of the European Union or North America (Make pricing).
Audit logs and single sign-on on Enterprise. An audit log works like a security camera recording that shows who changed what and when.

You also play an important part. The US Small Business Administration advises small businesses to train staff, use strong passwords and limit who can access sensitive data (SBA). In Make, that means connecting apps with the least access each scenario needs, removing connections you no longer use, testing with sample data first, and reviewing AI agent outputs before they reach customers.

If you use Make's AI features, consider reading the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, a free guide from a US government agency on identifying and managing AI risks (NIST).

Make vs Zapier vs n8n vs Pabbly Connect

Make has three main competitors for small businesses, and each one measures usage differently, so let's compare them in plain language. We checked all of these prices on their official pages on November 4, 2026. For a wider list, see our guide to the best no-code automation tools for small businesses.

Make vs Zapier

Zapier is the best-known name in automation, and it measures usage in tasks (Zapier pricing). Its Free plan costs $0 with 100 tasks a month and two-step Zaps. Professional starts at $29.99 a month with monthly billing or $19.99 a month with yearly billing, and Team starts at $103.50 a month with monthly billing or $69 a month with yearly billing.

Zapier is often considered simpler for very basic jobs. However, Make's free plan provides 1,000 credits compared with Zapier's 100 tasks, Make's paid plans start much lower, and Make includes routers and filters on its free plan. If you want visual, multi-step workflows on a small budget, Make usually comes out ahead.

Make vs n8n

n8n is popular with technical users, and it counts workflow executions, meaning one full run of a workflow counts once no matter how many steps it contains (n8n pricing).

On November 4, 2026, n8n's Starter plan cost $24 a month with monthly billing or $20 with yearly billing for 2,500 executions. Pro cost $60 a month or $50 with yearly billing for 10,000 executions, and Business cost $960 a month or $800 with yearly billing for 40,000 executions, which n8n labels as self-hosted.

n8n also offers a free Community Edition that you can self-host. Self-hosting is like owning a house instead of renting, because you get full control but also handle the repairs, such as servers and updates.

n8n can be cheaper for very long workflows, since extra steps don't increase the count. Make is easier for non-technical people and has a free cloud plan with no server to manage. One Trustpilot reviewer, Ava Garcia, described Make's free plan as "Much more generous free tier compared to n8n" (Trustpilot).

Make vs Pabbly Connect

Pabbly Connect counts tasks, but it doesn't count internal steps like filters, routers and formatters (Pabbly Connect pricing). Its Free plan costs $0 with 100 tasks a month. Standard costs $19 a month with monthly billing or $16 a month with yearly billing for 10,000 tasks, and Unlimited costs $79 a month with monthly billing or $69 a month with yearly billing for unlimited tasks.

Pabbly's Unlimited plan appeals if you hate counting tasks. In our view, Make's builder is more visual, and its free plan gives 10 times more monthly usage, with 1,000 credits compared with 100 tasks. You can read our full Pabbly Connect review for the details.

Which one should you pick?

Pick Make if you want visual, powerful workflows at a low price and a strong free plan.
Pick Zapier if you want the simplest possible setup and don't mind paying more.
Pick n8n if you're technical and want to self-host or run very long workflows.
Pick Pabbly Connect if you want unlimited tasks for one predictable price.

What Customers Say About Make

We read Make's reviews on three major review sites on November 4, 2026. Here's what we found:

Trustpilot: 2.6 out of 5, rated "Poor," from 170 reviews, with 49% of reviews giving 5 stars and 36% giving 1 star (Trustpilot).
G2: 4.6 out of 5 from 461 reviews, including 365 five-star and 78 four-star reviews (G2).
Software Advice: 4.8 out of 5 from 410 reviews, with users rating ease of use at 4.3, customer support at 4.5, value for money at 4.7 and functionality at 4.7 (Software Advice).

Software Advice is a Gartner review site in the same family as Capterra. We used it because Capterra's page didn't load for our capture tool on the day we checked.

Trustpilot page for Make with a 2.6 Poor TrustScore from 170 reviews and star breakdown

Make's Trustpilot score and star breakdown. Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo, November 4, 2026.

Software Advice ratings for Make with 4.8 overall and ease of use, support, value and functionality

Make's overall rating and secondary ratings on Software Advice. Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo, November 4, 2026.

How to read these scores

The gap between 2.6 and 4.8 looks enormous, but it makes sense once you look closer. A review score is like a restaurant's star rating, because it tells you how diners felt rather than whether the dish you want is any good.

On Trustpilot, the reviews are split into two camps: almost half give 5 stars and over a third give 1 star, with very few in between. Trustpilot also notes that Make has "No recent history of asking for reviews," which means recent reviews arrived unprompted, and frustrated people are often the most likely to write those. Make has replied to 94% of its negative reviews there (Trustpilot).

G2 and Software Advice mostly collect reviews from business users, who tend to judge the tool on its features, and that's where Make scores highly. Either way, the most useful habit is reading the 1-star and 2-star reviews, because they reveal the problems you're most likely to face yourself.

Common themes in customer reviews

Across all three sites, the same story appears. Fans praise Make's power, its flexibility and its visual builder, and many also praise its support team. The complaints focus on the learning curve, errors in complex scenarios and how quickly credits can add up. Fittingly, the lowest Software Advice score is ease of use, at 4.3 (Software Advice).

What users like

Victoria Miranda, Trustpilot, July 10, 2026 (5 stars):

"Make is an excellent automation platform. It's powerful, flexible, and allows you to build workflows for almost any use case. What impressed me the most, however, was their customer support."

Trustpilot review by Victoria Miranda praising Make as powerful and flexible with great support

Victoria Miranda's review on Trustpilot. Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo, November 4, 2026.

Chirag M., Software Advice, May 2026 (5 out of 5):

"Super easy to build workflows for almost any use cases… The simple UI/UX of make, is helpful for non technical person to understand and create workflows without any issues and hassle."

Software Advice review by Chirag M. calling Make easy to build workflows and best for beginners

Chirag M.'s review on Software Advice. Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo, November 4, 2026.

Kate G., Software Advice, October 2026 (5 out of 5):

"The onboarding process was smooth but what really changed the overall experience was Claude Code connection - it works excellent."

Software Advice review by Kate G. saying Make onboarding was smooth and works well with Claude Code

Kate G.'s review on Software Advice. Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo, November 4, 2026.

What users dislike

Wayne Thompson, Trustpilot, September 19, 2026 (1 star):

"What a complex rubbish automation to set up. Even with the assistance of AI we were going around in circles."

Trustpilot review by Wayne Thompson saying Make was complex to set up, with a reply from Make

Wayne Thompson's review on Trustpilot, with Make's reply. Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo, November 4, 2026.

Matyas Z., Software Advice, August 2026 (3 out of 5):

"There are an astonishing number of potential errors, many of which are very complex to fix; sometimes entire processes have to be scrapped."

Software Advice review by Matyas Z. rating Make 3 out of 5 and describing complex errors

Matyas Z.'s review on Software Advice. Screenshot taken by Vivid Algo, November 4, 2026.

These reviews match what we experienced. Make is powerful and the basics are approachable, but bigger scenarios demand patience, so start small, test often and build up gradually.

Make Pros and Cons

Pros

Generous free plan: 1,000 credits a month, routers, filters and AI features, with no time limit.
Low paid prices: Core starts at $9 a month with yearly billing for 10,000 credits.
Visual builder: you can see your entire workflow at a glance, which makes it easier to follow and fix.
Huge app library: more than 3,500 apps, plus custom API calls when an app is missing.
Free routers: branching your workflow doesn't use any credits.
Strong AI tools: AI Agents, Maia, AI modules and an MCP server, all listed on every plan.
Detailed run history: you can inspect every step of every run and even replay it.

Cons

Learning curve: vocabulary like bundles, mapping and iterators takes time to learn.
Credits add up: every module run and every polling check uses credits, so busy scenarios cost more.
Tight free limits: only 2 active scenarios, a 15-minute minimum gap and 7 days of history.
Complex errors: reviewers say large scenarios can produce errors that are difficult to fix.
AI features in beta: Make AI Agents and AI Web Search may still change in features and price.
Mixed Trustpilot score: a 2.6 rating shows that a real share of users leave frustrated.

Make Alternatives

If Make doesn't feel right, here are the strongest alternatives, with today's starting prices:

Zapier: simpler for basic jobs, with a free plan of 100 tasks and Professional from $19.99 a month with yearly billing (Zapier pricing).
n8n: best for technical users who want to self-host, with cloud plans from $20 a month with yearly billing (n8n pricing).
Pabbly Connect: free internal steps and an Unlimited plan from $69 a month with yearly billing (Pabbly Connect pricing).

Not sure what kind of automation you need? Our explainer on AI workflow automation breaks down the options.

Who Should Use Make (and Who Should Skip It)

Make is a good fit if you:

want to automate tasks across many apps without writing code;
like seeing your workflow as a picture;
need branches, filters and multi-step workflows;
want a strong free plan to learn on and a low price as your usage grows;
want to experiment with AI agents inside your automations.

You may want to skip it if you:

want the simplest tool possible and only need one or two basic connections;
don't want to track credits at all;
need very long workflows and are comfortable self-hosting, where n8n may cost less;
need a fully finished AI agent product today, since Make's is still in beta.

Your First Week With Make: A Simple Plan

You don't need to automate everything at once. Here's a calm plan for your first week:

Day 1: Sign up, turn on two-factor authentication and explore the dashboard.
Day 2: Browse templates and copy one that fits a task you do often.
Day 3: Build your own two-module scenario and click Run once.
Day 4: Add a filter so only the right information passes through.
Day 5: Schedule the scenario hourly and switch it on.
Day 6: Check the History tab and your remaining credits.
Day 7: Estimate how much time you saved and choose your next task.

Move to Core when you need more than 2 active scenarios, runs more often than every 15 minutes, more than 1,000 credits a month, or more than 7 days of run history.

Common Mistakes to Avoid With Make

Polling too often: a 15-minute trigger can use about 2,880 credits a month by itself.
Skipping tests: always click Run once with sample data before switching a scenario on.
Leaving test schedules running: turn off scenarios you only scheduled for testing.
Forgetting filters: without a filter, every bundle flows through every paid step.
Giving too much access: connect apps with only the permissions each scenario needs.
Building huge scenarios first: start with two or three modules and expand from there.
Trusting AI blindly: review what AI agents write before it reaches a customer.

For more on catching errors early, see our guide on how to automate data entry with AI.

Frequently Asked Questions About Make

Is Make really free?

Yes. Make's Free plan costs $0 forever and includes 1,000 credits a month, up to 2 active scenarios and scheduled runs no more often than every 15 minutes (Make pricing).

How much does Make cost?

At 10,000 credits a month, Core costs $10.59 a month with monthly billing or $9 with yearly billing, Pro costs $18.82 or $16, and Teams costs $34.12 or $29. Enterprise has custom pricing. We checked these prices on November 4, 2026 (Make pricing).

What is a credit in Make?

A credit is Make's billing unit. Most modules use 1 credit each time they run, routers and error handlers use none, and some AI features use credits based on tokens (Make help center).

What happens when I run out of credits?

Your scenarios pause until your credits reset or you add more, while webhooks keep queuing incoming data so it isn't lost. You can buy extra credits or upgrade at any time (Make pricing).

Is Make better than Zapier?

For most small businesses on a budget, Make delivers more for less. Its free plan offers 1,000 credits compared with Zapier's 100 tasks, and its paid plans start lower, although Zapier can feel simpler for very basic jobs.

Is Make good for beginners?

Yes, if you're willing to learn. The basics are approachable and the templates help a lot, but bigger scenarios require more patience, as several reviewers point out.

Does Make have AI features?

Yes. Make lists Make AI Agents (in beta), Maia, AI applications, the AI Content Extractor, AI Web Search (in beta) and an MCP server on every plan (Make pricing).

Can I cancel Make at any time?

Yes. When you cancel a paid plan, your account moves to the Free plan at the end of your billing cycle (Make pricing).

Final Verdict

Make is one of the best-value automation tools for small businesses in 2026. Its free plan is generous enough to handle real work, its paid plans start at just $9 a month with yearly billing, and its visual builder lets you create workflows that would cost far more elsewhere.

It isn't the simplest tool available. You'll need an afternoon to learn how modules, bundles and mapping fit together, and you'll need to keep an eye on your credits. The divided Trustpilot score is a fair warning that complex setups can frustrate some people.

But if you start small, test with Run once and grow one scenario at a time, Make can quietly remove hours of busywork from your week.

Our advice: open a free account, build one small scenario this week, and upgrade to Core only when you outgrow the free limits.

Start with Make for free

References

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking

https://www.make.com/en/pricing

https://www.g2.com/products/integromat-by-celonis-make/reviews

https://help.make.com/create-your-first-scenario

https://help.make.com/types-of-modules

https://help.make.com/credits

https://help.make.com/step-10-schedule-your-scenario

https://help.make.com/mapping