Make in 5 minutes

Issue #12 - The visual automation middle ground: more logic than Zapier, less infrastructure than n8n.

What it is

Make (formerly Integromat) is a visual automation platform that lets you build workflows — called scenarios — by connecting modules on a canvas. You drag and drop steps, connect your apps (Gmail, Slack, Google Sheets, and 3,000+ others), and run automations on a schedule or from a trigger. The problem it solves: you have two dozen GTM tools that don't talk to each other, and you need conditional logic, branching, and loops — not just a straight line from trigger to action. Make is your tool when routing moves beyond "if this then that" to "if this, do X; if that, do something else; and log everything along the way."

Where it sits in the stack

Make lives in the orchestration/automation layer — it's the plumbing that connects your enrichment tools, CRM, and sequencers to each other. Clay enriches the data, HubSpot manages the pipeline, Smartlead sends the email — Make orchestrates the handoffs between them.

For teams using signal-based prospecting, n8n often handles primary orchestration, Make handles secondary routing and CRM sync, and Zapier handles simple stuff that ops can maintain without engineering support. In smaller stacks, Make commonly replaces Zapier outright once workflow complexity grows past three or four steps.

Three workflows people actually run

1. Inbound lead routing with enrichment waterfall — A webhook fires when a new demo request hits your form (Typeform, Tally, whatever). Make receives the payload, runs a router: if company size is missing, it calls the Clay API or a Clearbit HTTP module to enrich it; if revenue data is still absent, it tries a fallback provider. Both Make and n8n handle the branching logic needed for waterfall enrichment well — Make's visual approach makes debugging easier, while n8n's code blocks give more control over raw API calls. Once enriched, a final module writes the complete record to HubSpot and enrolls the lead in the correct Smartlead sequence based on ICP segment. The whole flow is visible on one canvas — you can see exactly where a record fell out.

2. Intent signal → SDR task creation — A webhook from a G2, Bombora, or Unify signal feed hits a Make scenario. A filter module checks if the company is already in your CRM at a stage past "prospecting" (one credit burned, no external call made). If it passes, Make looks up the assigned rep in HubSpot, creates a task with context pre-filled, and posts a Slack message to the rep's DM with a link to the account. A five-module scenario that fires 40 times a day consumes roughly 5 × 40 × 30 = 6,000 credits per month — well inside Core's 10,000 limit. The visual canvas means an SDR manager can read the logic without a runbook.

3. CRM hygiene loop on a schedule — A daily scenario pulls every HubSpot contact updated in the last 24 hours using the "Watch Records" module. An iterator loops over the list; for each record, a router checks three conditions: missing phone, bad email format, or deal stage stuck for 14+ days. Matching records get written to a Google Sheet "fix list" and a Slack digest fires to RevOps at 8am. If a module loops over a 20-item array, that's 20 executions. Routers that fan out into multiple branches execute modules in each active branch. Complex logic is exactly where credit usage multiplies — so architect this one carefully: filter early, iterate late.

What it costs

Make offers five plans: Free (1,000 credits/month), Core (~$9/month), Pro (~$16/month), Teams (~$29/month), and Enterprise (custom pricing).

All paid plans start at 10,000 credits and scale up with higher credit packs, plus features like priority execution, team roles, and enterprise security.

Annual billing saves around 15% compared to paying monthly.

The credit gotchas — read these:

• Every trigger, filter, action, or other step in a scenario costs one credit. A scenario with 10 steps uses 10 credits per run. This is different from Zapier, where a "task" maps to one action step, not every module.
• Each module that executes uses at least one credit, including conditional logic like filters or routers. Some actions — like running code or certain AI features — can use multiple credits, making usage harder to estimate.

• If you set up a trigger to "Watch for New Files," Make wakes up and checks that service on schedule — even if there's no data. A polling trigger set to every 1 minute can burn thousands of credits monthly on an empty check. Use webhooks wherever the source app supports them.
• Native AI modules in Make no longer charge a flat 1 credit — rates depend on actual usage: tokens processed, file size, or pages analyzed. If you're calling OpenAI or Anthropic, use an HTTP module instead; you pay 1 credit for the call and settle AI costs directly with your provider.
• If you run out of credits, you can buy extra packs in bundles of 1,000 or 10,000, or activate auto-purchasing.

As of November 2025, Make charges 25% more for additional credit packs than for credits included in your plan.

• The jump from Pro to Teams is ~81% in price for what is essentially admin/collaboration functionality. Worth it only with 3+ people editing scenarios. Solo operators and 2-person teams can skip Teams entirely.

Pricing verified 2026-07-06 - check the source before buying.

Who it's for (and who should skip it)

Make's scenario builder lets you construct complex, branching logic with routers, iterators, and aggregators that would require premium Zapier plans. The steeper learning curve pays dividends for mid-market teams with intricate workflows. It's the right call if your RevOps or GTM engineer wants full visibility into the logic without managing server infrastructure. Make requires more upfront learning but remains accessible to non-developers who are comfortable with visual, flowchart-style tools.

Skip it if: you need zero engineering involvement and your automations are simple trigger-to-action chains — Zapier's larger app library and guided UX will get you live faster. If you consistently need 40,000+ credits per month, it may be cheaper to negotiate Enterprise pricing or switch to n8n self-hosted, which has no per-execution charges.

Make also does not support self-hosting , so if data residency or compliance is a hard requirement, n8n self-hosted is the answer.

Sources

make.com/en/pricing · help.make.com/credits · zapier.com — Make.com pricing 2026 · factors.ai — GTM Engineering: Zapier vs Make vs n8n · devcommx.com — n8n vs Make vs Zapier GTM Tools · 4spotconsulting.com — Make.com Credits: What Changed in 2025

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