The short answer
Pick Make if
You want a hosted builder and each run handles a few items. Core gives 10,000 credits for $9 a month on annual billing, which undercuts n8n's cheapest cloud plan, and Make runs everything for you.
Pick n8n if
Runs loop over hundreds of rows, triggers poll often, or the workflows must stay on your own server. n8n counts one execution per run, and its Community edition is free to self-host.
| Make | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| Charged unit | credit: most module actions use 1 trigger checks count too | execution: one whole run empty polls not counted |
| Free option | Free $0 · 1,000 credits/mo 2 active scenarios, 15-min interval | Community edition, self-hosted no execution cap |
| Entry paid tier | Core $9/mo annual 10,000 credits ($10.59 monthly) | Cloud Starter €20/mo annual 2,500 executions (€24 monthly) |
| Longest single run | 5 min Free 40 min paid plans | 5 min Starter 40 min Pro |
| Hosting | Make's cloud on AWS EU or North America | n8n Cloud in Frankfurt or your own server |
| Self-hosting | not offered on any plan | Community edition free Business €667/mo annual |
| Blind spot | every polling check spends a credit | Cloud Starter stops at 2,500 runs a month |
Checked 26 October 2026 against make.com/pricing, Make's help pages on credits and operations, n8n.io/pricing and the n8n documentation on executions. Annual billing unless stated. Make prices in US dollars, n8n prices in euros.
Make and n8n count different things
Make bills in credits. Its pricing FAQ says each action a scenario performs consumes a certain number of credits, and most actions take one; the help centre still explains usage in operations, with one operation costing one credit by default. Routers and error handlers are free. Two rules from the operations page drive the bill. A module processes each bundle separately, so a step that receives 300 rows runs 300 times. A trigger runs once per check "regardless of the number of bundles returned", and that check counts whether it finds anything or not.
n8n meters the run itself. Its pricing page calls an execution "a single run of your entire workflow", however many nodes it passes through. The executions guide lists what stays off the meter: test runs from the editor, sub-workflows called by a parent, error workflows, webhook requests rejected before the workflow starts, and polls that return no data. "A polling trigger only counts when it finds new data."
Add a step on Make and every run costs one credit more for each item that passes through it. On n8n the count stays put until the workflow runs more often.
How much Make and n8n cost per month
Make prices along a credit slider. All three paid plans start at 10,000 credits a month, so moving from Core to Pro or Teams buys features, and the slider buys volume.
Make prints the rate per 1,000 credits beside each plan at the bottom of the slider: $0.90 on Core, $1.60 on Pro and $2.90 on Teams. Paid Make plans can schedule a scenario every minute, keep execution logs for 30 days against 7 on Free, and get unlimited active scenarios. On n8n every plan includes unlimited users, unlimited workflows and every integration, and the pricing toggle puts the annual saving at 17%. Starter caps one run at five minutes; Pro allows 40.
Five workloads priced on both clouds
Each workload below is counted the way each vendor counts it. Make tiers come from its slider on annual billing, and n8n plans are its two cloud tiers.
| Workload | Make | n8n Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| New lead from a form webhook 2 actions, 500 runs/mo | 1,500 credits Core: $108/yr | 500 executions Starter: €240/yr |
| Customer onboarding webhook + 4 actions, 1,000 runs/mo | 5,000 credits Core: $108/yr | 1,000 executions Starter: €240/yr |
| Order sync webhook + 3 actions, 9,000 runs/mo | 36,000 credits Core 40K: $348/yr | 9,000 executions Pro: €600/yr |
| Nightly sheet sync 300 rows × 3 steps, 30 runs/mo | 27,030 credits Core 40K: $348/yr | 30 executions Starter: €240/yr |
| Inbox watch, polled every 15 min 600 new emails, 2 actions each | 2,880 checks + 1,200 Core: $108/yr | 600 executions at most Starter: €240/yr |
At the European Central Bank rate of 1.1193 on 23 October 2026, €240 is about $269 and €600 about $672. Make is the cheaper cloud in four rows of five. Its entry tier costs less than n8n Starter before a single run, and 10,000 credits cover a lot of short scenarios.
The nightly sync is where that flips. Each of its 30 runs drags 300 rows through three modules, Make bills every pass, and the month comes to 27,030 credits; n8n sees 30 executions. Any workflow that pulls a list and acts on each item behaves like this row. A scenario that searches a CRM for every open deal, or one that walks through an invoice export line by line, multiplies its credit count by the length of the list.
The inbox row shows the other cost. A 15-minute schedule means 2,880 checks in a 30-day month, and Make counts every one of them, empty inbox or not. Core lets you tighten that to a check every minute, and then the checks alone reach 43,200 credits, more than the 40,000 tier holds. n8n's documentation keeps empty polls off the meter. On Make, an instant trigger that waits for a webhook avoids the empty checks, where the app offers one.
Make AI or n8n AI
Make's pricing page now opens its feature list with AI: Maia, which builds scenarios from a written prompt, AI agents, and a Make MCP server for wiring outside AI tools into scenarios. Steps that go through Make's own AI provider can use more than one credit each, which the pricing FAQ states plainly. n8n puts agents, MCP and AI nodes on every cloud plan, with 1,600 Assistant credits a month on Starter and up to 9,600 on Pro, refreshed monthly with no rollover. Neither vendor publishes a quality benchmark for its agents. The billing difference is easier to pin down: on n8n, a run that calls an agent is still one execution.
Self-hosting: only n8n offers it
Make's plan comparison has a Hosting row, and every column from Free to Enterprise gives the same answer: AWS, in the EU or North America. There is no edition to download. Make began in Prague as Integromat, a history covered in Zapier vs Make.
n8n's Community edition is on GitHub under the Sustainable Use License and runs with no execution cap. A single builder hardly notices what it leaves out. A team does, because shared workflows and credentials, SSO and Git version control all need a paid licence; Zapier vs n8n walks through that list and the licence terms for client work. Teams that need those features on their own hardware buy Business at €667 a month on annual billing, which includes 40,000 executions.
If Zapier is also on the shortlist, Zapier alternatives sets all three side by side.
Frequently asked
Should I use n8n or Make?
Use Make if you want a hosted tool with a visual builder and each run handles a few items; Core is $9 a month on annual billing for 10,000 credits. Use n8n if runs process many items, poll often, or have to stay on your own server, since n8n bills one execution per run and its Community edition is free to self-host. Prices checked 26 October 2026.
How much does n8n cost per month?
n8n Cloud Starter is €20 a month billed annually, or €24 month to month, for 2,500 executions. Pro is €50 or €60 for 10,000. The self-hosted Business plan is €667 a month billed annually for 40,000 executions, and the self-hosted Community edition is free.
Is Make cheaper than n8n?
On the hosted plans, usually yes. Make Core costs $108 a year for 10,000 credits a month, while n8n Cloud starts at €240 a year. n8n comes out cheaper when each run loops over hundreds of items or a trigger polls often, because Make charges a credit for every module pass and every check.
Can Make be self-hosted?
No. Every Make plan, Enterprise included, runs on Make's own infrastructure on AWS in the EU or North America. If workflows have to run on your own server, n8n's Community edition is the option of the two.
What self-hosting actually costs
The onboarding workflow from the table above, four actions behind a webhook, run 1,000 times a month for twelve months.
| Make Core | n8n Cloud Starter | n8n Community, self-hosted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence | $108/yr ($9/mo annual) | €240/yr (~$269) | $0 |
| Server | included | included | ~$72/yr (2 vCPU, 4 GB) |
| Your time | none | none | ~2 h setup + ~12 h/yr |
| Run ceiling | 10,000 credits/mo | 2,500 executions/mo | your hardware |
| Year one | $108 | €240 | ~$72 + 14 hours |
Assumptions, so you can argue with them: a VPS with 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM at about $6 a month, the size every self-hosted cost on this site uses, plus two hours to install and an hour a month for updates and backups. Euros are converted at the ECB rate of 1.1193 on 23 October 2026. Against Make Core the self-hosted box saves $36 a year, so it pays only if your hour is worth less than about $2.60. For this workload, money is no reason to run n8n yourself. The reasons left are keeping the data on your own network, and headroom, since the same box runs the nightly sync from the table as easily as the onboarding flow, where Make would move up the slider.