n8n vs Make pricing: compare executions, credits and real costs

The short answer: compare the same completed job

n8n and Make use different accounting units. A plan with a bigger number on its pricing card is not necessarily cheaper for your workflow. First define one completed business result, then estimate how that result consumes each platform's units. This guide reviews the vendors' public billing descriptions on November 3, 2026; it is not a hands-on speed or reliability benchmark.

n8n's pricing page describes paid plans in terms of workflow executions with unlimited steps. Make uses credits, whose consumption depends on the module and connection. Some activities use fixed credits; others vary with consumption. Do not convert a Make credit into an n8n execution at a fixed exchange rate.

What belongs in each estimate?

Make's credit guide distinguishes connections using your own AI provider from features whose credit usage includes provider consumption. Counting tokens again when they are already included would overstate cost; omitting them when you pay a provider separately would understate it. Record the exact connection type beside every AI step.

Worked example: 1,000 incoming support requests

Imagine a hypothetical intake process: receive a request, find the customer, classify the issue, save a record and draft a response for review. Suppose each request becomes one n8n execution in your proposed implementation. The starting estimate is then 1,000 executions. Verify that assumption with the actual workflow rather than treating it as a promise about every trigger, subworkflow or rerun.

For a separate simplified Make estimate, assume each request performs five chargeable operations, each priced at one credit, and no dynamic-credit feature is used. That gives 1,000 × 5 = 5,000 credits. These are invented workload assumptions, not observed consumption or a quotation. If one step fans out into ten records, replace that step's estimate with the number of operations actually performed.

Now suppose 100 results need a complete rerun. Under the same simplified assumptions, that adds 100 executions or 500 credits. Human review time, model tokens and third-party APIs still need separate lines where applicable. A workflow diagram that looks shorter may simply hide repeated work inside one node.

Self-hosted n8n is a different buying decision

n8n offers a self-hosted Community Edition. A zero software subscription line is not a zero operating-cost estimate. Budget for the server, backups, updates, credentials, monitoring and someone who can recover a failed instance. Check the current license and feature restrictions before choosing it for a commercial service.

Use an ownership test: if a critical automation stops on Friday evening, who diagnoses it, where is the recovery procedure, and how long can the business wait? Put that responsibility in the comparison sheet instead of pricing an unattended server as though it maintains itself.

A small evaluation before you commit

Choose the implementation your team can operate reliably at an acceptable total cost. Neither platform is universally cheaper. The useful answer is a documented estimate for your own process, followed by a small measured trial.

• Choose one representative workflow and a fixed set of records, including duplicates and missing fields.
• Define acceptance before running it: correct destination record, no duplicate action, and an inspectable error when processing fails.
• Record platform units, model/service charges and minutes of human correction for the same completed jobs.
• Test a retry after an interrupted request. A repeated email or duplicate CRM record is a cost even if the platform bill is small.
• Compare a normal month and a higher-volume month using the current plan terms, billing period, currency and applicable taxes.

Related guides and tools

• Use the cost calculator with your own rates ↗
• Compare AI agents with fixed workflows ↗
• Account for review and retry costs ↗