Make, n8n, Zapier or custom code: which should your business use?

For most small businesses, a visual automation platform (Make or Zapier) is the right choice for a first automation: it runs in the cloud, your team can open and read it, any builder can maintain it, and the monthly cost scales with use. n8n is the choice when workflows must run on your own infrastructure or volumes make cloud pricing expensive. Custom code is for logic or scale the platforms can't handle, and it needs a developer to maintain. Decide by who will maintain it, where your data must sit, and how much it will run.

The four options, from a business owner's seat

Prices and plans change; check each vendor's pricing page and ask the builder to estimate your monthly volume against it.

What actually matters for you

1. Who maintains it. If a builder does, on a support plan, any of the four works as long as hand-over is documented. If your team might, choose visual.
2. Where the data sits. Regulated or sensitive data may need to stay on your infrastructure; that points to self-hosted n8n or custom. Most businesses don't need this, and the platforms' own security practices are published.
3. How much it runs. A few hundred operations a month is cheap anywhere. Tens of thousands make per-operation pricing add up, and self-hosting starts to pay.
4. What it connects to. Check that your CRM, booking system and messaging channel have ready connectors on the platform; custom connections cost more.
5. What happens when the builder leaves. Ask each candidate to show a hand-over page from a past project. On a visual platform, another builder reads it in an afternoon.

What builders will tell you, and why

Builders usually recommend the platform they know best, which is reasonable: they'll build faster and maintain better on it. Ask the question the other way: "what would make you choose a different one for us?" A builder who can name the cases (your volume, your data rules, a missing connector) has thought about it; one who says "this one is always best" hasn't.

The ownership rule

Whatever the platform, the account is yours: your email, your billing, admin access for you, builder access that you can revoke. This one rule prevents most of the bad stories about automations, and it costs nothing.

Best fit and not a good fit

Best fit: owners deciding a first or second automation and wanting to understand the builder's proposal. Not a good fit: as a technical evaluation; that's the builder's job, and the builders' version of this comparison goes deeper on the trade-offs.

What to do next

Write down who will maintain it, where your data must sit, and a rough monthly volume. Take those three lines to the builders on your shortlist and ask each which platform they'd choose and why.