Zapier vs Make for Small Business Automation (2026): Pricing, Free Plans and Which to Pick

Pick Zapier if you want the simplest setup and the most app connections; pick Make if you want to build longer, branching workflows for less money per step. Both have a free plan, and both can run a small business’s lead, sales and admin automation without code.

This guide compares the two on how they charge, what the free plans include, how easy they are to build in, and which one fits common small-business jobs. Facts come from each company’s pricing and help pages, checked on October 27, 2026. Prices change, so always confirm on the vendor’s page before you buy.

Zapier vs Make at a glance

Point	Zapier	Make
Billing unit	Tasks: each successful action counts as one task	Credits: most actions use 1 credit
Free plan	US$0, 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps	1,000 credits a month
Paid plans	Professional from US$19.99/month; Team from US$69/month (25 users); Enterprise on request	Core, Pro, Teams and Enterprise; prices on make.com/pricing
What is free to run	Triggers and polling; Filter, Formatter, Paths, Delay and other built-in tools	Router and error-handler modules
App connections	9,000+ apps	Many apps, plus Custom Apps and enterprise apps on higher plans
Builder style	Step-by-step list, easy to start	Visual canvas, good for branches and loops
Trial	14-day free trial of Professional, no card	Free plan with no time limit
Users	Free and Professional are one user; Team up to 25	Teams plan for shared work

Sources: Zapier pricing, Make pricing and Make Help Center: credits, all checked October 27, 2026.

How Zapier charges

Zapier counts tasks. Its pricing page says a task is used “when a Zap successfully moves data or completes an action for you.” If a Zap creates one Google contact, that is one task. Failed actions do not count.

Free costs US$0 a month and includes 100 tasks, with unlimited Zaps, Tables and Forms, and two-step Zaps.
Professional starts from US$19.99 a month and adds multi-step Zaps, premium apps, webhooks and email and live chat support.
Team starts from US$69 a month and adds 25 users, shared Zaps and folders, shared app connections and SAML SSO.
Enterprise is priced on request.

Some things never use tasks. Zapier says checking for new data (polling) and triggers are free. Its built-in tools, such as Filter, Formatter, Paths, Delay, Looping and Digest, also do not count. AI steps, code and MCP calls draw from the same task pool; one Zapier MCP tool call uses two tasks.

If you hit your limit, Zapier can switch you to pay-per-task billing at a higher rate, or pause your Zaps until the next period if you turn that off. Paying yearly costs less per month, and non-profits get 15% off paid plans.

How Make charges

Make counts credits. Its pricing page says most actions use 1 credit, while some advanced actions use more. Make’s Help Center adds that for non-AI apps, 1 operation equals 1 credit. One scenario run can use anywhere from two credits to thousands, depending on how many steps it has.

The Free plan gives 1,000 credits a month.
Paid plans are Core, Pro and Teams, plus Enterprise. Make lists their current prices on its pricing page, and paying yearly is cheaper than paying monthly.
The Router module and error-handler modules (Rollback, Break, Resume, Commit, Ignore) do not use credits.
Unused credits expire at the end of the term. If you run out, scenarios stop until you add credits or upgrade.
Make also offers a Start-up Plan for companies under 20 employees; check the pricing page to see if you qualify.

The practical difference: in Make you pay for almost every module that runs, while Zapier gives you free filters, formatting and branching. For a long workflow with many small steps, compare both using your real step count.

A worked example: one lead, five steps

Say a new lead fills in your website form. Your automation then: (1) adds the lead to your CRM, (2) formats the phone number, (3) checks if the lead is in your service area, (4) sends a welcome text, and (5) posts a note to your sales channel.

Zapier: the form trigger is free. Formatting and the area check (Formatter and Filter) are free. The CRM record, the text and the channel note are 3 tasks. 100 leads a month is about 300 tasks, which is more than the free 100, so you need a paid plan.
Make: each module that runs uses credits, so the trigger and the formatting and check steps count too. Five modules for 100 leads is roughly 500 credits, inside the free 1,000. Two scenarios like this would fill the free plan.

Your numbers will differ. Count the steps in your own workflow and multiply by your monthly volume before you pick a plan.

Not sure how many tasks or credits your workflows will use? Send us your top three manual jobs and we will map them and estimate the monthly cost on both tools.

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Which is easier to build in?

Zapier shows a Zap as a simple list: a trigger, then actions one under another. Most people can build a first two-step Zap in a few minutes. Zapier also has an AI helper, Copilot, on its free plan.

Make shows a scenario as a visual canvas. You drag modules, draw routes and see data move between them. It takes longer to learn, but it handles branches, loops and error handling in a way that is easy to see on one screen.

A simple rule: if the person maintaining the automation is not technical, Zapier is usually easier to hand over. If your workflow has many branches and you want to see it as a map, Make is usually clearer.

Which fits which small-business job?

Job	Better fit	Why
New lead to CRM plus a welcome email	Either	A short workflow; Zapier is faster to set up
Lead routing with many rules (area, budget, service)	Make, or Zapier with Paths	Make’s Router is free and easy to see; Zapier Paths do not use tasks
Rare or niche app	Zapier	9,000+ app connections
Bulk data jobs (thousands of rows a night)	Make	Credit pricing and loops suit long runs
Whole team building automations	Zapier Team or Make Teams	Shared connections and folders
AI assistant that takes actions in your apps	Either	Zapier MCP and Make AI Agents both connect AI to apps; for Zoho data, see Zoho MCP

Mistakes to avoid

Comparing only the plan price. A cheaper plan can cost more once you count every step. Count tasks or credits for your real workflows.
Forgetting the limit. On Zapier, decide whether pay-per-task should kick in or Zaps should pause. On Make, scenarios stop when credits run out.
No error alerts. Both tools can notify you when a run fails. Turn this on, or a broken step can lose leads for days.
One person knows everything. Write down what each automation does and who owns it, so a staff change does not break your sales process.
Automating a messy process. Fix the steps first, then automate them. Automation makes a bad process fail faster.

Speed to lead: the automation that pays back first

For most service businesses, the first automation worth building is a fast reply to every new lead. Our guide AI speed-to-lead with Zapier, Make and your CRM shows how we design it: leads from forms, ads and calls go to one place, an AI assistant replies within seconds, asks a few qualifying questions, routes the lead to the right rep and books a call, and every message is saved in the CRM. The guide cites a Harvard Business Review study that found companies trying to reach online leads within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify them.

How BindBots helps

BindBots builds automation on Zapier, Make and custom code, connected to Zoho, Odoo, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and other CRMs. We pick the tool from your step count, volume and team, not from habit, and we write down every workflow so your team can own it. See our automation services.

Tell us where your team copies and pastes today. We will show you what to automate first, on Zapier or Make, and what it will cost to run.

Talk to BindBots about automation

Frequently asked questions

Is Zapier or Make cheaper?

It depends on your workflows. Zapier’s paid plans start from US$19.99 a month, and filters, formatting and paths do not use tasks. Make charges credits for almost every module, but its free plan gives 1,000 credits a month. Count the steps in your workflows to compare.

Does Zapier have a free plan?

Yes. Zapier Free costs US$0 a month and includes 100 tasks, with unlimited Zaps, Tables and Forms and two-step Zaps. New accounts also get a 14-day free trial of the Professional plan with no credit card.

Does Make have a free plan?

Yes. Make’s Free plan includes 1,000 credits a month. Most actions use 1 credit, and Router and error-handler modules use none.

What is the difference between a Zapier task and a Make credit?

A Zapier task is one successful action, and triggers and built-in tools like Filter and Formatter are free. A Make credit is used by most modules that run in a scenario, including many small steps, while routers and error handlers are free.

Which is easier for beginners?

Zapier is usually easier for beginners because a Zap is a simple list of steps. Make uses a visual canvas that takes longer to learn but makes branching workflows easier to see.

Can I use Zapier or Make with Zoho CRM?

Yes. Both connect to Zoho CRM and many other CRMs. BindBots builds lead, sales and admin automations on both tools, connected to Zoho, Odoo and Business Central.