n8n vs Make.com
Both started as Zapier alternatives. Only one of them turned into an AI agent platform with a $1B valuation. The other bolted "AI Agents" onto a scenario builder and called it a pivot.
n8n
The gap widened, it didn't narrow. n8n went all-in on AI-native automation — real agent nodes, memory, RAG, vector stores, evaluation tooling — while Make shipped a bolt-on "AI Agents" feature that still can't run outside a scenario. If you're technical enough to self-host (or use n8n's cloud), you get more power, more flexibility, and you own your workflows. Make is still prettier and still easier for non-devs. But if AI automation is the point — and in 2026 it usually is — n8n isn't just the dev's choice anymore. It's the obvious one.
From Zapier Alternatives to AI Agent Platforms
This comparison used to be simple: Zapier got too expensive, n8n and Make were the two alternatives everyone tried. That's not the comparison anymore. Somewhere in 2025-2026, n8n stopped being "the open-source Zapier" and became a genuine AI agent orchestration platform — $180M raised, a reported $1B valuation, 6x user growth, 10x revenue growth, and 230,000+ active users building agents on top of it.
n8n is still open source (fair-code) and self-hostable, but now it's built for developers who want control over AI agents specifically — memory, RAG, vector stores, tool-calling, the works. Make.com (formerly Integromat) is still polished and visual, and it added its own "AI Agents" feature in April 2025 plus a natural-language builder called MAIA in 2026 — but it's catching up to a moving target, not setting the pace.
Quick Comparison
| Factor | n8n | Make.com |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosting | Yes (free) | No |
| Open Source | Yes (fair-code) | No |
| Visual Builder | Good | Excellent |
| Code Nodes | JavaScript, Python | JavaScript only |
| Integrations | 400+ core (1000+ w/ community) | 3,000+ |
| Free Tier | Unlimited (self-host) | 1,000 credits/month |
| Cloud Pricing | From $24/mo (2,500 execs) | From $9/mo (10,000 credits) |
| Active Workflows | Unlimited on every plan | 2 (free), unlimited paid |
| AI Agents | Native: memory, RAG, vector stores, tool-calling | Bolt-on "AI Agents" (2025), no RAG, can't run standalone |
Why n8n Wins for Devs
The self-hosting option is still huge. Run n8n on a $5/month VPS and process unlimited executions. Your workflows, your data, your rules. And as of the April 2026 pricing overhaul, even the paid cloud plans dropped their active-workflow caps — every tier now gets unlimited workflows, you only pay for executions.
The code nodes are also way more powerful. Write JavaScript or Python directly in your workflow. Access npm packages. Do actual programming when the visual builder isn't enough.
But the real story in 2026 is the AI Agent node: nearly 70 dedicated AI nodes, native chains, memory, vector store connectors, and RAG — plus an AI Workflow Builder (beta) that turns a natural-language prompt into a working automation. This isn't a workflow tool with AI sprinkled on. It's an agent-building platform that happens to also do Zapier-style automation.
"n8n's fair-code license means you can self-host for free, but need a license for commercial redistribution. For most users, it's effectively open source."
Why Make.com Still Wins for Non-Technical Teams
Make's visual builder is still genuinely nicer. The UI is cleaner, the learning curve is gentler, and non-technical team members can actually use it without a developer in the loop.
- More integrations: 3,000+ vs n8n's 400+ core nodes. More pre-built connectors means less custom work, even if n8n closes some of the gap with community nodes and its generic HTTP node.
- Better templates: Make's template library is more polished and production-ready out of the box.
- Team features: Roles, permissions, shared scenario templates, approval workflows, audit logs.
- No DevOps: You don't have to manage servers, updates, or backups.
The Pricing Reality
Both platforms rebuilt their pricing since this comparison was last honest. Make quietly swapped "operations" for "credits" in August 2025 — most module runs still cost 1 credit, but AI-heavy steps can burn more, so the sticker price undersells AI-agent usage. Plans now run Free (1,000 credits), Core $9/mo (10,000 credits), Pro $16/mo, Teams $29/mo (this is the tier that unlocks Make's AI Agents), up to custom Enterprise.
n8n's April 2026 refresh moved to Starter $24/mo (2,500 executions), Pro $60/mo (10,000 executions), Business ~$800/mo (40,000 executions, SSO, Git-backed environments) — and, critically, dropped active-workflow limits across the board. Self-hosted n8n is still free forever; you just pay for your server.
Sticker price favors Make at the low end. But for high-volume or AI-heavy workflows, n8n self-hosted still wins on cost every time — and it's the only one of the two where "free" doesn't mean "capped at 2 active scenarios."
The AI Angle (This Is the Whole Comparison Now)
In 2024 this was a footnote. In 2026 it's the reason to pick one over the other. n8n has native AI nodes for OpenAI, Anthropic, and local models, and it's the platform practitioners actually build production agents on: multi-step tool-calling, memory, RAG pipelines, vector store integrations, and evaluation tooling to catch prompt drift before it ships. Some teams report 60%+ cost reduction just from routing simple queries to lightweight models and reserving frontier models for the hard steps — the kind of orchestration control Make doesn't expose.
Make shipped AI Agents in April 2025 and followed up with a natural-language builder (MAIA) in 2026 — real progress, and enough for simple stuff like lead routing or inbox triage. But Make's agents can't run outside a scenario, still don't support RAG, and there's no equivalent to n8n's memory/vector-store depth. If "AI automation" is why you're evaluating either tool, n8n isn't the flexible option anymore — it's the only serious option.
The Verdict
Use n8n if: You're a developer, want self-hosting, need custom code in workflows, care about vendor lock-in, or you're building anything with AI agents. In 2026 that last one is doing most of the work — n8n's agent tooling (memory, RAG, vector stores, evaluations) is a different tier from Make's.
Use Make.com if: Your team is non-technical, you want the easiest onboarding, or you need one of the 3,000+ integrations n8n doesn't have out of the box. It's still the "just works" choice for standard business automation — lead routing, CRM sync, email workflows.
Skip both if: You just need simple automations. Zapier is more expensive but has the best UX for basic use cases.
n8n is what automation should be: open source, self-hostable, infinitely customizable, and now backed by $180M and a real AI agent stack to prove it. It's more work to set up than Make, but you get real ownership — and in 2026, real agent capability Make hasn't matched.