Every small business owner who asks me about automation asks the same question first: which tool? The two names that come up are always Make and Zapier. Both connect your apps and move work between them without code. Both will happily take your money. But at small-business volumes they are not the same purchase at all. One of them costs noticeably less than the other at entry level, and the free tier of one of them can actually run a real workflow while the other cannot.
I choose and wire automation tools for small businesses as part of my work, so this is not a feature list copied from two pricing pages. It is the money-and-headache comparison I walk a client through before anyone pays anything: what 100, 500 and 2,000 monthly runs cost on each, which free tier can run a real workflow, and which one a non-technical owner will still be using in six months.
Quick Verdict:
- Start on Make if your budget is zero or tight. Its free tier runs a real multi-step workflow, and its first paid step starts at about $12 a month on annual billing.
- Choose Zapier only if you want the widest app choice and the gentlest setup, and you accept paying about two-thirds more at entry level for that comfort.
- Never compare headline allowances. Convert everything to runs first, because Make and Zapier do not count the same thing.
- Pick the tool whose bill you will still be happy to pay in six months, not the one that looks easiest on day one.
Contents:
- The one difference that decides everything: credits vs tasks
- The free tiers, honestly compared
- What 100, 500 and 2,000 runs a month actually cost
- Where Zapier genuinely wins
- Which one will you still be using in six months?
- My recommendation, in one paragraph
- The honest limits of this comparison
- The weekly checklist
- Frequently Asked Questions
The one difference that decides everything: credits vs tasks
Before any number makes sense, you need the counting difference, because the two tools do not count the same thing.
Make counts credits. Make used to call the same unit an operation, and renamed it to credit in August 2025. For ordinary apps, one credit is roughly one module that runs inside a scenario. A scenario with four modules uses about four credits each time it runs.
Zapier counts tasks. One task is roughly one successful action step in a Zap. The trigger does not count, and built-in tools such as filters and formatters do not count either. That last point helps Zapier a little: a Zap with a trigger, a filter and two actions uses two tasks per run, not four.
That means you cannot compare 100 tasks with 100 credits as if they were the same unit. Always do the maths in runs, not in the headline allowance. I do that maths openly below, using a conservative planning assumption of four units per run on both tools, even though Zapier's real count will be a little lower because its trigger is free. If the maths still favors one tool under that generous assumption, the verdict is safe.
The free tiers, honestly compared
All figures in this section were checked on 2 November 2026 against the Make pricing page and the Zapier pricing page. Prices change, so check both pages before you pay.
Make's free plan gives you 1,000 credits a month, multi-step scenarios, 2 active scenarios, and a 15-minute minimum interval between checks. That matters more than the number. A real lead follow-up workflow, new form entry, AI draft, owner approval, send, is four or five steps. On Make's free tier you can build it exactly like that, and 1,000 credits covers roughly 250 such runs a month. For a small business getting a handful of enquiries a week, that is a real, working automation, free. The limits to watch are the 2 active scenarios and the 15-minute checks, not the step count.
Zapier's free plan gives you 100 tasks a month, unlimited Zaps, but only 2-step Zaps, and checks every 15 minutes. That last limit is the deal-breaker. A two-step Zap can move data from A to B, but it cannot do the useful version of the job: capture, draft, approve, send. And 100 tasks at, say, three tasks per run is only about 33 runs a month. Zapier's free tier is a trial. Make's free tier is a tool.
If your budget is zero, the verdict is not close: start on Make.
Is Make cheaper than Zapier?
What 100, 500 and 2,000 runs a month actually cost
Assume a typical small workflow of four units per run, form in, draft written, approval recorded, message sent. Prices below are annual billing, checked 2 November 2026. Monthly billing costs more on both tools.
- 100 runs a month (400 units): Make free covers it, inside its 1,000 credits. Zapier free does not, 400 tasks blows past the 100-task limit, and the 2-step cap means the workflow cannot be built as designed anyway.
- 500 runs a month (2,000 units): Make free no longer covers it, so you move to a paid Make plan, starting at about $12 a month on annual billing, with the credit allowance set by a slider. On Zapier you are on a paid plan from the first month, and 2,000 tasks is above the Professional entry band of 750 tasks at $19.99 a month, so you pay for a higher task band, published at $49 a month for 2,000 tasks.
- 2,000 runs a month (8,000 units): On Make you are still on the entry Core plan at $12 a month on annual billing, which includes 10,000 credits, so 8,000 credits fits inside it. On Zapier you need a task band above 5,000 tasks, published at $89 a month for 5,000 and $129 a month for 10,000, so expect the higher band unless you use pay-per-task overage.
The pattern holds at every volume a small business actually reaches: Make costs less for the same work, because its allowance is bigger and its entry price is lower. Zapier's price buys you something else, which brings us to the honest counter-argument.
Where Zapier genuinely wins
Zapier is not overpriced for nothing. It lists more than 9,000 connected apps, against more than 3,000 listed by Make, and for a non-technical owner that shows up in one place: the app you need is almost always already there, with a ready-made template, and the setup screens explain themselves. Zapier also checks on a fixed schedule, every 15 minutes on the free plan, faster on paid, which is predictable enough for most small-business jobs.
Make's builder is more powerful and more visual, you see the whole scenario as a diagram, but it asks more of the person building it. A non-technical owner can learn it in an afternoon, but they do have to learn it. Zapier can be set up by someone who never wants to learn anything.
So the real trade-off is this: Zapier charges more for the easiest possible start; Make charges less and asks you to understand the diagram. For a business that will maintain the workflow itself, the diagram is worth learning, because six months later the owner who understands their own automation can change it in minutes, while the owner who only ever clicked a ready-made template is stuck when the business changes.
Which one will you still be using in six months?
This is the question I actually care about for a client, because every automation tool works on day one. Six months later, the one that survives is the one whose bill never became a surprise and whose workflow the owner can explain in one sentence.
On that test, Make wins for most small businesses: the free tier runs a real workflow, the first paid step starts at about $12, and the diagram teaches the owner what their business process actually is. Zapier wins for exactly one kind of owner: someone who wants the widest app choice, the gentlest setup, and never plans to touch the workflow again, and who is happy to pay about two-thirds more for that comfort.
A second six-month test is worth running before you commit to either tool: automate the small job that already brings in enquiries, such as a review request after a job is done, which is also a fix in my local SEO checklist that helps a small business show up on Google Maps. If that one workflow runs for six months without a surprise bill, the platform has earned the next workflow.
My recommendation, in one paragraph
Start on Make's free tier. Build the one workflow that saves you the most time, for most businesses that is lead follow-up: a new enquiry comes in, an AI drafts a personal reply, and you approve and send it in one tap, the same problem my AI voice agent for a dental clinic solves on the phone, catching the call instead of letting it ring out. If you outgrow the free tier, the first paid step starts at about $12 a month on annual billing. Only choose Zapier if you have an app Make does not support, or if you know you will never want to look inside the workflow, and go in knowing the price is about two-thirds more for the same volume.
The honest limits of this comparison
Prices and free tiers change. I have date-stamped every figure in this post 2 November 2026, and the publish-day check must re-verify them on both pricing pages before this goes live. If a figure moved, the post gets corrected, not published with stale numbers. And one more honest limit: I build on Make for clients and compare Zapier from its published pricing and documentation. If my hands-on experience with either platform changes, this post gets updated to say so. Make's AI steps can also cost more than one credit depending on usage, so an AI-heavy workflow needs its own count before you budget it.
The weekly checklist
- Count your real monthly runs, not the headline allowance.
- Multiply by the steps in your workflow, that is your true unit cost.
- Build the workflow on Make's free tier first; pay only when the runs outgrow it.
- Write down what the workflow does in one sentence, if you cannot, it is too complicated, whichever tool you used.
- Re-check pricing every six months; the tool that was cheapest when you started may not stay cheapest. A workflow built on free AI tools for social media content is a good first test of that habit: free tiers change, and the system should survive the change.
That is the whole decision. Pick the tool whose bill you will still be happy to pay in six months, and build the one workflow that gives you your evenings back.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Make really free for a small business?
At small volumes, yes. The free tier's 1,000 credits a month and multi-step scenarios cover a real lead follow-up workflow for a business getting a handful of enquiries a week. The limits are volume, 2 active scenarios, and 15-minute checks, not capability.
Why is Zapier more expensive?
You are paying for the largest app directory, ready-made templates, and the gentlest setup. For owners who never want to look inside a workflow, that comfort can be worth it, but it costs about two-thirds more at entry level for the same volume.
Credits vs tasks, does the difference matter?
Yes, because it stops you comparing unlike units. Always convert to runs: multiply your monthly runs by the steps in your workflow, then compare that number against each plan's allowance, remembering that Zapier does not charge for the trigger step.
Which should I pick if I only ever open one app?
Make, on the free tier, unless the app you need is missing from Make's directory or you know you will never touch the workflow again, in which case Zapier's ease is the honest reason to pay more.
Sources
Written by Amjad Rasool, SEO Expert and Social Media Expert. I help small businesses grow with content systems, local SEO and AI tools. About Amjad Rasool
Thinking about automating one workflow for your business? Ask me in the comments which workflow it is, and I will answer with the first step I would build. I read every question.
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