Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
When a B2B startup approached me with a "simple" request to automate their HubSpot-Slack workflows, I thought it would be a quick win. They needed project groups created automatically when deals closed - seemed straightforward enough.
What followed was a 3-month journey through three different automation platforms, each promising to be "the easiest way to automate business tasks." Spoiler alert: the easiest isn't always what you think.
Most founders I work with make the same mistake - they either avoid automation thinking it's too complex, or they jump into custom solutions that become maintenance nightmares. The reality? There's a sweet spot between doing everything manually and building overly complex systems.
Here's what you'll learn from my automation testing experience:
Why "cheap" automation platforms often cost more in the long run
The hidden bottleneck that kills most automation projects
My framework for choosing the right platform for your team
When to use Zapier, Make, or N8N (and why the answer surprised me)
The one question that determines automation success
After testing all three major platforms with the same use case, I learned that the "easiest" way to automate isn't about the technology - it's about matching the solution to your actual constraints.
Industry Reality
What every startup founder thinks about automation
Walk into any startup accelerator and you'll hear the same automation advice repeated like gospel:
"Start with Zapier - it's the most user-friendly"
"Use Make.com for complex workflows - it's more powerful"
"N8N gives you the most control and it's open source"
"Custom code is always better for long-term scalability"
"Automation will save you 10+ hours per week immediately"
This conventional wisdom exists because it sounds logical. Zapier markets itself as "no-code automation for everyone." Make.com positions itself as the "powerful alternative." N8N appeals to technical teams who want control. And custom solutions? Well, they promise unlimited flexibility.
The problem with this industry advice is that it focuses entirely on features and capabilities, not on your actual business constraints. It assumes you have infinite time to set up and maintain these systems, unlimited budget for platform fees, and a team that can troubleshoot when things break.
But here's what these generic recommendations miss: the easiest automation isn't determined by the platform's capabilities - it's determined by who needs to use it, maintain it, and fix it when it breaks.
Most founders spend weeks researching the "best" automation tool when they should be asking a completely different question: "What constraints does my team actually have?"
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The project seemed simple enough: when a deal closes in HubSpot, automatically create a Slack project group. My client, a fast-growing B2B startup, was spending hours each week manually setting up project channels, and it was becoming a real bottleneck.
They'd heard all the standard advice about automation platforms, but here's what made this situation interesting - they had specific constraints that typical advice doesn't account for:
Small team with no dedicated developer
Budget-conscious (every monthly subscription mattered)
Needed the marketing team to make small tweaks without calling me
Reliability was crucial - failed automations meant lost project setup
I figured this would be a perfect test case to compare the three major platforms everyone recommends. Instead of just picking one based on online reviews, I decided to build the exact same automation on all three: Make.com, N8N, and Zapier.
My plan was simple: implement the same workflow on each platform, measure setup time, ongoing maintenance, and most importantly - how well the client's team could use it independently.
Phase 1: Make.com (The "Budget-Friendly" Choice)
I started with Make.com because the pricing looked attractive and the visual workflow builder seemed intuitive. The setup went smoothly - their drag-and-drop interface made sense, and I had the automation running within a few hours.
But here's where things got interesting. About two weeks into testing, Make.com hit an error during execution. Not unusual, right? Except here's the problem: when Make.com encounters an error, it doesn't just skip that task - it stops the entire workflow.
So when one HubSpot deal had incomplete data, the automation broke, and every subsequent deal that week didn't get its Slack group created. The client only noticed when they manually checked - not exactly the "set it and forget it" experience we were hoping for.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After the Make.com experience taught me that "budget-friendly" can be expensive when workflows break, I moved to testing N8N. This is where things got technical - and where I learned my biggest lesson about "easy" automation.
Phase 2: N8N (The "Powerful" Choice)
N8N's setup required more developer knowledge upfront. I had to configure the self-hosted version, set up proper error handling, and build more robust logic flows. The time investment was definitely higher - about 3x longer than Make.com.
But the control was incredible. I could build sophisticated conditional logic, handle errors gracefully, and customize almost everything. From a technical standpoint, it was exactly what the automation enthusiasts promised.
The problem? Every time the client wanted a small change - like adding a new project type or adjusting the Slack channel naming convention - they had to call me. The interface, while powerful, wasn't intuitive for non-technical team members.
I became the bottleneck. The automation worked perfectly, but the business couldn't iterate on it independently. Not exactly "easy" when you factor in ongoing maintenance.
Phase 3: Zapier (The "User-Friendly" Choice)
By the time I tested Zapier, I had a clear hypothesis: the best automation platform isn't the one with the most features - it's the one that matches your team's actual capabilities.
Zapier was more expensive, yes. The workflow builder felt more limited compared to N8N's flexibility. But here's what changed everything: the client's marketing team could actually use it.
When they wanted to adjust the automation logic, they could navigate through the Zaps, understand the flow, and make changes themselves. When something needed troubleshooting, the error messages were clear enough for non-technical people to fix.
My Framework: The Constraint-First Approach
After testing all three platforms with the same use case, I developed what I call the "Constraint-First Framework" for choosing automation tools:
Team Constraint: Who needs to maintain this? If it's non-technical people, complexity is your enemy.
Budget Constraint: Factor in hidden costs - not just subscription fees, but maintenance time and failed automation recovery.
Reliability Constraint: How critical is 100% uptime? Some platforms handle errors better than others.
Iteration Constraint: How often will you need to modify the automation? Who will make those changes?
The breakthrough insight: the "easiest" automation platform is the one that removes you as the bottleneck, not the one with the most impressive features.
Platform Choice
Choose based on who maintains it - not features
Team Autonomy
Let marketing teams edit workflows independently
Error Handling
How platforms handle failures determines real reliability
Hidden Costs
Subscription price vs maintenance time vs failed automation recovery
The results weren't what I expected when I started this comparison. The client is still using Zapier today, six months later, and they've expanded their automation to include customer onboarding sequences and project milestone tracking.
Here's what actually happened with each platform:
Make.com: Required my intervention 3-4 times per month due to error handling issues
N8N: Rock-solid reliability but every change request came through me
Zapier: Higher monthly cost but zero maintenance requests from me after setup
The time savings were real - the client estimates they save 5-6 hours per week on project setup alone. But more importantly, they gained the confidence to automate other workflows because they could manage the system themselves.
The unexpected outcome? The hours I saved not maintaining their automation allowed me to work on more strategic projects. The higher Zapier subscription cost actually improved my profit margins because I wasn't constantly troubleshooting.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons that changed how I approach automation projects:
Start with constraints, not features: Map your team's technical capabilities before comparing platform features.
Test error scenarios early: Build a workflow, then intentionally break it to see how each platform handles failures.
Factor in handoff time: The best automation is the one you don't have to maintain forever.
Subscription cost vs. maintenance cost: A $50/month platform that requires 2 hours of monthly maintenance is more expensive than a $100/month platform that runs itself.
User experience matters for non-technical teams: If your marketing team can't modify the automation, it's not really "easy" automation.
Reliability trumps features for critical workflows: A simple automation that always works beats a complex one that sometimes fails.
Plan for iteration from day one: Your automation needs will evolve - choose platforms that can grow with you.
The biggest mindset shift? Stop thinking about automation as a technical decision and start thinking about it as a team capability decision. The "easiest" way to automate business tasks is the way that empowers your existing team to succeed.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups looking to implement this approach:
Start with customer lifecycle automation (trial to paid conversions)
Focus on CRM workflows that marketing teams need to modify regularly
Choose platforms based on who will maintain them post-launch
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores implementing automation:
Prioritize order fulfillment and customer service workflows
Consider inventory management integrations early
Test abandoned cart automation reliability before peak seasons