Pricing Units, Proprietary Limits & Migration Complexity
The operational fine print U.S. SaaS founders and small business owners check before committing.
| Evaluation Dimension | Make | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price & Billing Unit How your monthly bill scales | Free (1k ops) / $10.59/mo (10k ops) Monthly Operations | $0 Self-Host / $24/mo Cloud (2.5k runs) Full Workflow Executions (Not Steps!) |
| Free Tier & Included Quotas Sandbox vs production allowance | Free: 1,000 operations/mo with full multi-branch visual routers & HTTP modules | 100% Free self-hosted Community Edition (Docker) with unlimited workflow executions & steps |
| Proprietary Limits & Gotchas Caps, lock-in & overage cliffs | Polling triggers consume operations on checks if misconfigured; steeper visual canvas than Zapier | Fair-use Sustainable Use License (free for internal business ops; OEM embedding requires commercial license) |
| Migration Complexity Engineering & ops switching effort | Moderate (2–4 hrs) Visual blueprint import + OAuth app reconnection | Moderate (2–4 hrs) Docker Compose deploy or n8n Cloud + visual webhook/AI agent builder |
| Target Company Stage Best operational fit | SMBs, Agencies & RevOps | Technical Founders, Agencies & Ops |
| Data Privacy & Compliance U.S. & enterprise governance | SOC 2 Type IIGDPRUS & EU Data Zones | SOC 2Self-Hostable (Full Data Privacy)Native AI Agent Nodes |
Interactive Workload & Infrastructure Cost Simulator
Compare realistic monthly & annual platform spend by production workload stage (not fake per-seat math).
Make: Monthly Operations
n8n: Full Workflow Executions (Not Steps!)
Estimated Annual Savings with Make: $156/yr
Saves ~54% annually at this workload tier based on published USD rates.
Technical Capability Matrix
Side-by-side feature, API, and data-ownership checklist.
| Feature Specification | Make | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| Flat-Rate Small Business Pricing pricing | Supported Transparent SMB pricing | Supported Charges per full workflow run, not per step |
| Full API & Webhooks developer | Supported Cloud API & integrations | Supported Unlimited webhooks, HTTP requests & custom code |
| 1-Click Full Data Export data-ownership | Not Included | Supported Every workflow exports as portable JSON |
| Built-In AI Automation ai | Not Included | Supported Native AI agent nodes, vector stores & LLM chains |
| Native Dark Mode ui | Not Included | Supported Native dark canvas |
| Self-Hostable / Open Source infrastructure | Not Included | Supported Run unlimited workflows on Docker for free |
Official Published USD Pricing Tiers
Verified plan structure for Make and n8n.
Make Plans USD Verified
Free / Starter Plan
monthly
Business Cloud Plan
monthly
n8n Plans USD Verified
Community Self-Hosted (Unlimited)
monthly
Cloud Starter (2,500 full executions)
monthly
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Frequently Asked Questions
Key pricing, quota, migration, and security answers for Make vs n8n.
What is the main difference between Make and n8n in 2026?
Make (Free (1k ops) / $10.59/mo (10k ops), billed by monthly operations) is best suited for: Best managed cloud middle-ground: 10x more operations per dollar than Zapier without managing servers. By contrast, n8n ($0 Self-Host / $24/mo Cloud (2.5k runs), billed by full workflow executions (not steps!)) is best for: Founders & agencies running 50-step AI/webhook automations at 80–95% lower cost than Zapier.
How do Make and n8n compare on free tiers and USD pricing?
Make: Free: 1,000 operations/mo with full multi-branch visual routers & HTTP modules. n8n: 100% Free self-hosted Community Edition (Docker) with unlimited workflow executions & steps. Always compare based on your real workload metric (Monthly Operations vs Full Workflow Executions (Not Steps!)) rather than headline base tier alone.
What proprietary feature limits or overages should founders watch out for?
On Make: Polling triggers consume operations on checks if misconfigured; steeper visual canvas than Zapier. On n8n: Fair-use Sustainable Use License (free for internal business ops; OEM embedding requires commercial license).
How difficult is migrating from n8n to Make, and what compliance is supported?
Estimated migration effort to Make is Moderate (2–4 hrs) (Visual blueprint import + OAuth app reconnection). Security & data governance signals for Make include SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, US & EU Data Zones, while n8n offers SOC 2, Self-Hostable (Full Data Privacy), Native AI Agent Nodes.
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