Zapier, Make or n8n: which automation tool?
Zapier for simplicity and the widest app coverage, Make for complex flows at better prices, n8n for volume, control and self-hosting. The right answer is the cheapest one that will still be reliable in a year, and past a certain volume the answer becomes real code.
The longer answer
In practice.
The practical split
Zapier wins when a non-technical owner must maintain it. Make wins when flows
branch and loop and Zapier's per-task pricing starts to sting. n8n wins when
volumes are high, data should stay on your infrastructure, or per-task pricing
offends the spreadsheet.
What everyone forgets
Error handling. An automation that fails silently is worse than none: the
order that never reached accounting is a real cost wearing a convenience's
clothes. Whichever tool, I build the failure path first: retries, alerts, and a
human who finds out.
When to graduate to code
When per-task pricing outgrows a small server, when the logic embarrasses the
visual editor, or when the workflow is the business. The migration is
unglamorous and pays permanently, per
CRM & automation.