These three aren't competitors so much as three sizes of the same idea. Almost every business should start on the first two, and a minority eventually outgrow them.
Prices are from each company's own pricing page, checked on 2 September 2026.
Zapier
The entry paid plan is $19.99 US a month billed annually, or $29.99 month to month, and it includes 750 tasks. Every step of every run counts as a task, so a five-step automation uses five.
What it's good at: speed and reach. It connects to more apps than anything else, and somebody non-technical can build a working automation in an afternoon. For joining two apps you already pay for, it's very hard to beat.
Where it runs out: anything needing memory of what happened last time, anything where a step failing halfway has to be undone, and volume. The task counting is what to watch, because it's per step rather than per job.
Make
The Core plan is $9 US a month for 10,000 credits, with Pro at $16 and Teams at $29 at the same credit level. There's a free tier at 1,000 credits. Credits and tasks aren't the same unit, so compare them on your own volume rather than on the headline number.
What it's good at: more logic for less money. You get branching, loops and error handling that Zapier charges more for or doesn't offer, and on high-volume work it's usually cheaper by a wide margin.
Where it runs out: it asks more of you. The visual builder is genuinely powerful and it's closer to programming, so it takes longer to learn and it's harder to hand to somebody else. Fewer app connections than Zapier, though the gap is smaller than it used to be.
Something built for you
It's a one-time cost. Custom work here starts at $5,000, quoted in full before it begins, with the code and the data yours. Larger or more custom projects are quoted separately.
What it's good at: everything the other two find awkward. Steps that remember, failures that undo themselves, exactly the error handling you want, no per-task bill, and a screen built for how your team works.
Where it runs out: it's a project. It needs scoping, and it needs somebody to maintain it. For joining two apps that already talk to each other, it's a waste of money and we'd tell you so.
The signs you've outgrown a connector
Not one of these on its own. Two or three together is the pattern.
- The monthly bill keeps climbing. Per-task pricing scales with your success, which is the wrong way round.
- The list of exceptions is longer than the list of rules. You've built the same automation four times for four situations.
- One person understands it and everybody waits for them.
- It's carrying something you'd be embarrassed to get wrong. Invoices, customer records, anything with a legal obligation attached.
- You've hit a wall the tool can't cross. Usually memory, or undoing a half-finished run.
If none of those are true, stay where you are. Paying $19.99 a month for something that works is a good deal and moving off it costs you time you'd rather spend elsewhere.
The route most businesses should take
Start on a connector, even if you suspect you'll outgrow it.
The reason isn't cost, it's that you don't yet know what the automation needs to do. A month of running a rough version teaches you more about the requirements than any amount of planning, and every one of those lessons makes a later build cheaper and better.
Then move the one automation that's outgrown it, and leave the rest where they are. This isn't all or nothing, and most businesses that have something built keep using connectors for everything else.