The question comes too late. When someone asks me whether to use n8n or Make, they’ve usually spent weeks debating it while their competitors are already automating. So I’ll get straight to the point.
If your team has basic technical ability (someone who isn’t afraid of a JSON), use n8n. If the team is completely non-technical, use Make. That is the answer for 80% of cases. For the remaining 20%, read the full analysis.
The differences that really matter
n8n is open source. You can install it on your own server (a Hetzner VPS for 10€/mes is sufficient to get started) and pay only for hosting. No cost per operation, no monthly execution limits, with full control over where your data is stored. For businesses handling sensitive customer data, this is no small detail: the data from your automation workflows does not pass through a third party’s servers.
Make has a better user experience. Make’s visual interface is more intuitive, the connector library is better curated, and the documentation is more accessible for non-technical users. For a marketing team without a technical profile that wants to get started quickly, Make requires the least learning effort.
Real costs compared
n8n cloud (if you don’t want the hassle of self-hosting): from 20€/month for 2.500executions. The 50€/month plan for 10.000executions is sufficient for most SMEs. If you self-host on your own VPS, the cost is that of the server (8-20€/month) plus the initial setup time.
Make charges per operation (each action within a flow counts as an operation). The 9€/month plan includes 10.000operations. A flow with 10steps run 100times a month uses 1.000operations. When flows become more complex or volume increases, the price rises quickly.
For a marketing agency managing ten clients’ workflows, self-hosted n8n works out significantly cheaper from the second year onwards.
When to choose each one
Choose n8n if: you have someone technical who can do the initial setup, you want full control of the data, the volume of executions is going to be high, or you want to add custom AI nodes with your own models (n8n allows you to create custom nodes with code).
Choose Make if: your team is completely non-technical, you want to get started in a day without setting up servers, your initial infrastructure budget is zero, or your volume of automations is low and predictable.
At BAI we use n8n for our own infrastructure and for clients with a higher volume of automations. For clients who want to get started quickly with low technical risk, we start with Make and migrate to n8n when the volume justifies it.
To see which automations have the most impact before deciding on a tool, read our guide to digital marketing automation.