01At a glance
| Critical criterion | Make (Cloud) | n8n (Cloud / Self-Hosted) | AI infra winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billing model | Per credit (1 standard module = 1 credit; AI billed at multiples) | Per full workflow execution, unlimited steps | n8n — scale |
| LLM agent integration | Native since 2025 (Make AI Agents, Reasoning panel) | Native (AI Agent node, LangChain ecosystem, 70+ AI nodes) | n8n — depth |
| Custom code | Basic inline functions; custom functions Enterprise-only | Native Code node: JavaScript and Python | n8n — flexibility |
| Export / lock-in | Proprietary Blueprint JSON, re-importable only into Make | Full native JSON export + fair-code self-hosting | n8n — reversibility |
| Integration catalog | 3,000+ native applications | 400+ core nodes + 600+ community nodes | Make — raw volume |
02Technical analysis — 15-point matrix
Category 1: Economics & true costs
1. Native billing structure.
- Make: credit-based billing since August 2025. One standard module execution = 1 credit; AI functions and code execution consume multiple credits per call.
- n8n: execution-based billing (Cloud) — one full run = 1 execution regardless of step count. Self-hosted (Community Edition): unlimited executions, free.
2. B2B entry cost.
- Make: Core at $9/mo (10,000 credits, annual). Realistic production use (full-text logs, priority execution): Pro at $21/mo.
- n8n: Starter Cloud at €24/mo (2,500 executions; unlimited active workflows since April 2026). Alternative: free self-hosted + ~$5–20/mo VPS.
3. The 100,000 tasks/month benchmark.
- Make: requires a tier extension beyond standard plans. Exact 100k-credit tier price: [UNVERIFIED] (dynamic pricing grid on make.com).
- n8n Cloud: Business ($800/mo, annual) caps at 40,000 executions; 100,000 on Cloud requires Enterprise pricing [UNVERIFIED].
- n8n Self-Hosted: 100,000 executions = infrastructure cost only (typically $20–50/mo). A decisive structural advantage.
Engineering note: credit-vs-execution comparison is asymmetric — a 20-step n8n workflow = 1 execution; the same flow in Make = 20 credits minimum.
4. Hidden limits (rate limits).
- Make: API limited per plan — Core 60 req/min, Pro 120, Teams 240, Enterprise 1,000. Exceeding returns HTTP 429.
- n8n: Cloud limits concurrency (Starter: 5 concurrent executions, Pro: 20). Self-hosted: no vendor-imposed limits.
Category 2: AI engine & orchestration
5. LLM agnosticism.
- Make: built-in AI provider with no API key (all plans) + native OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, and OpenAI-compatible modules with your own key.
- n8n: 14 language-model nodes (OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Google, Ollama/local models…). Provider swap = replacing a sub-node, no workflow rebuild.
6. Memory management (RAG).
- Make: no native vector layer; RAG assembled through third-party modules or HTTP requests.
- n8n: 12 native vector-store integrations (Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, pgvector, Milvus, Chroma…) + 9 conversational-memory backends. Full RAG pipeline without code.
7. Multi-agent capability.
- Make: Make AI Agents (2026 generation) — adaptive reasoning, transparent decision panel, access to 3,000+ apps as tools.
- n8n: 5 agent architectures, agents nested as tools of other agents, native decision loops, fine-grained control of iterations and fallbacks.
Category 3: B2B connectivity & engineering
8. Native connector volume.
- Make: 3,000+ native applications, deep CRM/ERP coverage (Salesforce, HubSpot, SAP, NetSuite…). Largest native catalog in no-code.
- n8n: 400+ core nodes, 600+ vetted community nodes; any REST API via the generic HTTP Request node.
9. API flexibility (webhooks).
- Make: native instant webhooks, full HTTP module (JSON, OAuth2, certificates). Webhook throughput capped per plan.
- n8n: Webhook node with customizable responses, separate test/production modes. Self-hosted: no caps.
10. Custom code injection.
- Make: basic inline functions; full custom functions Enterprise-only. No native Python.
- n8n: Code node with JavaScript and Python on every plan; external libraries available when self-hosted.
Category 4: Infrastructure & security
11. Hosting modes.
- Make: public cloud only (multi-tenant, EU/US regions). No on-premise, no self-hosting.
- n8n: managed cloud or full self-hosting — Docker, Kubernetes, private VPC, on-premise, air-gapped. The only path to full data sovereignty.
12. Security certifications.
- Make: SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO 27001, GDPR compliance. HIPAA: not publicly documented [UNVERIFIED].
- n8n: Cloud is SOC 2 Type II, GDPR-compliant. Self-hosted: compliance (HIPAA, ISO 27001) depends on your infrastructure — the standard path for healthcare/finance.
13. Resilience and error handling.
- Make: error directives (retry, ignore, rollback, break), detailed execution logs, full-text log search from the Pro plan.
- n8n: per-node auto-retry, dedicated Error Workflows, alerting through any connector (Slack, PagerDuty…).
Category 5: Adoption & strategic risk
14. Learning curve.
- Make: pure no-code, the most accessible canvas on the market; non-technical users productive within hours.
- n8n: low-code; steeper curve, far higher capability ceiling for engineering teams.
15. Reversibility (vendor lock-in).
- Make: proprietary Blueprint JSON export, re-importable only into Make. Migration = manual rebuild. High lock-in.
- n8n: native JSON export, fair-code license, unlimited free self-hosting. Exit the Cloud without loss. Minimal lock-in.
03AI infrastructure verdict
Decision rule: choose Make when your constraint is human (non-technical team, time-to-value). Choose n8n when your constraint is technical or financial (agents in production, RAG, sensitive data, volume).
| Team profile | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Non-technical team, < 10,000 tasks/month, needs a massive SaaS connector catalog | Make |
| AI agents in production, RAG, sensitive data, scale > 50,000 executions/month | n8n Self-Hosted |
| Hybrid team wanting managed hosting with reversibility | n8n Cloud |
Audit method, conflict-of-interest handling, and exclusion criteria: our full methodology.