Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
I was setting up automation for a B2B startup client when I hit the wall that every founder faces: which automation platform should we use? Make.com looked promising with their flashy "free plan" marketing. Here's what nobody tells you about Make's free tier - it's designed to get you hooked, not to actually run your business.
After implementing Make across multiple client projects and testing it against Zapier and N8N, I discovered something that most automation guides won't tell you. The "free" plan isn't really free when you factor in the hidden costs of limitations, debugging time, and inevitable upgrades.
Here's what you'll learn from my real-world testing:
The specific limitations that killed my client's workflow within 48 hours
Why Make's error handling becomes a nightmare on the free plan
The exact moment you'll be forced to upgrade (and what it costs)
My framework for choosing between Make, Zapier, and N8N based on budget
The one scenario where Make's free plan actually makes sense
This isn't another "top automation tools" listicle. This is what happens when you actually try to run business operations on these platforms.
Platform Reality
What the automation gurus don't tell you
Every automation tutorial starts the same way: "Make.com has a generous free plan with 1,000 operations per month!" The marketing materials are everywhere, promising you can automate your entire business without spending a dime.
Here's what the industry typically recommends:
Start with the free plan to "test the waters"
1,000 operations should be enough for small businesses
You can always upgrade when you "scale up"
Free plans are perfect for learning automation basics
Make offers better value than Zapier's free tier
This advice exists because most content creators never actually implement these tools in real business scenarios. They build demo workflows, screenshot the pretty interfaces, and call it a day. The reality hits when you're trying to automate critical business processes that can't afford to break.
Where conventional wisdom falls short: It treats automation platforms like SaaS trials instead of critical infrastructure. When your HubSpot-to-Slack automation fails because you hit your operation limit, it's not just an inconvenience - it's a breakdown in your business process. The "start free and scale" mentality works for email marketing tools, but automation is different. It's either reliable or it's useless.
The transition from "testing" to "depending on" happens faster than anyone expects, and that's where Make's free plan strategy shows its true colors.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When I started working with this B2B startup, they needed a simple automation: every time a deal closed in HubSpot, create a Slack group for the project. Sounds straightforward, right? Perfect use case for Make's free plan.
I initially chose Make.com for one simple reason: pricing. The client was bootstrapped, every dollar mattered, and 1,000 operations seemed like plenty for their deal volume. The automation worked beautifully at first - HubSpot deal closes, Slack group gets created automatically.
But here's what the tutorials don't tell you: when Make.com hits an error in execution, it stops everything. Not just that task, but the entire workflow. For a growing startup, that's a dealbreaker.
The first major issue happened on a Friday afternoon. A simple API timeout caused the automation to fail, but instead of retrying or continuing with other tasks, Make just... stopped. The client closed three deals that weekend, but no Slack groups were created. Monday morning was chaos - manual group creation, confused team members, and a very unhappy founder asking why our "automated" system required manual intervention.
The hidden operation drain: What I discovered is that every retry, every error check, every debugging attempt counts toward your 1,000 operation limit. A single failed automation can burn through 50-100 operations just in error handling. Suddenly, that "generous" free allowance feels very tight.
The client was hitting their limit within the first week - not because of volume, but because of the overhead required to make the automation actually reliable. We were spending more time managing the automation than it was saving us.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
My Three-Platform Testing Framework
After the Make.com frustration, I developed a systematic approach to test all three major platforms with the same use case. Here's exactly what I implemented:
Phase 1: Make.com Deep Dive
I rebuilt the automation with proper error handling, retry logic, and monitoring. The workflow looked beautiful in Make's visual editor, but the execution was problematic. Every error consumed operations, and the free plan doesn't include advanced error handling features. Within two weeks, we were consistently hitting the 1,000 operation limit.
Phase 2: N8N Implementation
Next, I migrated everything to N8N. More setup required, definitely needed developer knowledge, but the control was incredible. You can build virtually anything. The problem? Every small tweak the client wanted required my intervention. The interface, while powerful, isn't no-code friendly. I became the bottleneck in their automation process.
Phase 3: Zapier Migration
Finally, we migrated to Zapier. Yes, it's more expensive. But here's what changed everything: the client's team could actually use it. They could navigate through each Zap, understand the logic, and make small edits without calling me. The handoff was smooth, and they gained true independence.
The Real Cost Analysis:
Make.com "free": $0/month + 15 hours of my debugging time = $1,500 in consulting fees
N8N: $10/month hosting + 20 hours setup/maintenance = $2,010 total
Zapier: $29/month + 2 hours setup = $58 + easy self-management
The "free" option ended up being the most expensive when you factor in reliability issues and management overhead.
Error Reality
When automation fails on Make's free plan, you're debugging in the dark - no advanced logs, limited error context.
Team Handoff
Make's interface looks great in screenshots but becomes confusing when non-technical team members need to make simple edits.
Hidden Costs
Free plans attract you with zero monthly cost but hit you with consulting fees, debugging time, and reliability headaches.
Upgrade Pressure
The 1,000 operation limit creates artificial urgency - you're not scaling naturally, you're being pushed to upgrade by design.
The Numbers That Matter:
After three months of testing across all platforms with the same client:
Make.com: 73% uptime on free plan, 15 hours of debugging monthly
N8N: 98% uptime, but required technical knowledge for any changes
Zapier: 99% uptime, zero debugging needed, team could manage independently
The client is still using Zapier today, and the hours saved on manual project setup have more than justified the higher subscription cost. They've processed over 200 deal automations without a single manual intervention needed.
The hidden insight: automation reliability isn't just about uptime - it's about predictability. When your business process depends on the automation working every time, "mostly works" isn't good enough.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
My Framework for Platform Selection:
Budget is your primary constraint: Choose Make.com, but budget for inevitable upgrade costs and debugging time
You have technical resources: Go with N8N for maximum customization and control
Team autonomy matters most: Zapier wins for ease of use and reliability, despite higher costs
Don't fall for "free" marketing: Factor in the total cost of ownership, including your time and team frustration
Test with real workflows: Demos look great, but production environments reveal platform limitations quickly
Plan for scale from day one: Starting "free" and migrating later often costs more than starting with the right platform
The one exception: Make's free plan works if you're genuinely experimenting with automation concepts, not running business-critical processes
The lesson? Stop believing in "build it and they will come." Start believing in "distribute everywhere they already are." Your platform choice should be based on reliability and team adoption, not monthly pricing alone.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups:
Prioritize platforms your entire team can use without technical training
Budget for automation platforms as infrastructure, not "nice-to-have" tools
Test error handling and retry logic before committing to any platform
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores:
Order processing automation can't afford downtime - reliability trumps cost savings
Consider Shopify's native automations before external platforms for store-specific workflows
Factor in inventory sync and customer service integration requirements