Make vs n8n
A side-by-side comparison of capabilities, autonomy, integrations, and pricing to help you choose.
Short answer: choose Make if you want visual automation platform that added reasoning ai agents to workflows (Supervised agent, freemium); choose n8n if you want fair-code workflow automation with built-in ai agent nodes, self-hostable (Supervised agent, freemium).
| Make | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Visual automation platform that added reasoning AI agents to workflows | Fair-code workflow automation with built-in AI agent nodes, self-hostable |
| Type | product-with-agents | platform |
| Autonomy | Supervised agent | Supervised agent |
| Pricing | freemium · Free tier (1,000 credits/mo); Core from $12/mo (annual) | freemium · Self-hosted free; Cloud Starter EUR 20/mo |
| Best for | smb, mid-market, enterprise, developers | developers, smb, mid-market, enterprise |
| Deployment | saas, api | saas, self-hosted, on-prem, api |
| Modalities | text, api | text, code, api, email |
| Models | model-agnostic, gpt, claude | model-agnostic, gpt, claude, open-source |
| Protocols | mcp, rest-api, function-calling | mcp, function-calling, rest-api |
| Integrations | Slack, Google Workspace, OpenAI, Anthropic, HubSpot, Salesforce | OpenAI, Anthropic, Slack, Google Sheets, Postgres, HTTP/REST |
| Capabilities | 4 documented | 4 documented |
Make
- +Mature visual builder with thousands of app integrations, now extended with reasoning AI Agents
- +AI Agents are built no-code in the same canvas and can be reused across workflows with attached tools and knowledge
- +Credit-based pricing with a free tier makes entry cheap; MCP support for extending tool access
- -Classic scenarios are deterministic, not agents; only the newer AI Agent module reasons and decides
- -Credit-based metering can get hard to predict as agent and scenario usage scales
n8n
- +Genuinely flexible: visual no-code builder plus inline JavaScript/Python and HTTP-to-any-API
- +Self-hostable community edition is free with unlimited executions, giving full data control
- +Strong native AI: agent nodes, MCP support, model-agnostic LLM connections built into workflows
- -Not truly open source: the Sustainable Use License restricts commercial use such as reselling n8n as a service
- -Execution-based cloud pricing can balloon for high-frequency workflows
Which should you choose?
Make is visual automation platform that added reasoning ai agents to workflows, best for smb, mid-market, enterprise, developers. n8n is fair-code workflow automation with built-in ai agent nodes, self-hostable, best for developers, smb, mid-market, enterprise. The right choice depends on the autonomy level you want, your existing integrations, and your budget, all compared above.