Buy an automation layer once you can show the same work getting stuck between research, meetings, documentation, and execution week after week. Then compare products on the questions below.
When you need this
- The same hand-offs between tools happen every week.
- People copy AI output between systems by hand.
- Teams want repeatable AI workflows with clear owners.
Evaluation criteria
Coverage
Does it connect the systems you actually use?
Look forMaintained integrations for your core apps; Zapier lists more than 9,000 and Make more than 3,500.
Control
Where do data and execution live?
Look forA hosting model that matches your policies. The n8n service runs as n8n Cloud or self-hosted on your own infrastructure, on premises, or in a private cloud, while Make runs hosted in a US or EU data zone.
Reliability
What happens when a step fails?
Look forReadable run history and recovery. Zapier can replay errored Zap runs automatically, and n8n runs a designated error workflow when an execution fails. Make retries runs that failed on rate limit, connection, or timeout errors.
Ownership
Who maintains the workflows?
Look forPermissions and versioning suited to your team; n8n links instances to a Git repository for source control and separate environments.
Questions to ask vendors
- How are credentials stored and scoped?
- How do we review and version workflows?
- How does the price grow with volume? n8n prices by monthly workflow executions, whatever their complexity, and Make charges a credit for each module run.
Red flags
- Workflows no one can read or debug.
- Credentials shared broadly across workflows.
Worth evaluating
Listed in no particular order.
Sources
- Official documentation
- 9