Make vs Zapier: how tasks and credits change the bill

Make vs Zapier comes down to how each one counts what you use and who will look after it. Zapier is quicker to learn and charges per task, which is each successful action step, while Make shows the whole workflow as a visual map and charges in credits, which most modules use whether they read, create or change data. The same workflow can land on a very different bill depending on how many steps it has and how it branches.

A disclosure first: CentriWeb builds most client automations in n8n, a third tool, so neither Make nor Zapier is what we use daily. Every plan, price and limit below comes from the vendor’s own pages, as at November 2026. Check their pages for current prices.

Our three-way comparison of Zapier, Make and n8n covers the basics of all three. This article goes further into the two cloud tools: the counting rules that move the bill, what happens when you run out, and which kinds of workflow suit which tool.

Make vs Zapier at a glance

How Zapier counts tasks

Zapier’s help page on task usage sets out the rules. A task is one successful action step. These do not use tasks:

• Triggers, including polling for new data.
• Filter and Paths steps, and steps skipped because a filter or path condition stopped them.
• Formatter, Delay, Looping, Digest, Storage, Zapier Tables and Zapier Forms steps.
• Actions that fail or halt, and tests you run in the editor.

Some things do count that people miss. Steps inside an error handler path count when they succeed. Replaying a failed run counts the steps that run again. A search step set to carry on when it finds nothing still uses a task. The same help page notes a billing change for Next Gen Zaps from 1 December 2026, so read it if you use them.

On Zapier’s pricing page, the Free plan has 100 tasks a month and two-step Zaps only. The Professional plan starts at 750 tasks a month for $19.99 a month billed annually or $29.99 billed monthly. The Team plan starts at 2,000 tasks for $69.00 a month billed annually or $103.50 billed monthly. The page shows bare “$” amounts and says it bills in other currencies converted on the payment date, so confirm the currency before you compare.

How Make counts credits

Make’s pricing page says most actions use one credit: reading from an app or webhook, searching, creating, updating or deleting data, transforming data with built-in tools, and aggregating or iterating rows. The Router module and error handler modules do not use credits. Make’s credits page adds that some AI and advanced apps use a varying number of credits based on tokens, file size or processing time.

Two differences from Zapier matter for the bill. The first module, which reads the incoming data, is an action in Make’s terms, so it uses a credit. And Make has no free formatter step: transforming data with built-in tools uses credits too.

The Free plan has 1,000 credits a month. When we opened Make’s pricing page, the paid plan prices and credit amounts did not load, so we have not quoted them. Open the page and check Core, Pro and Teams there.

A worked example: the same workflow on both

Take an enquiry workflow for a trade business. A website form arrives. The workflow tidies the phone number, checks whether the job is residential or commercial, and sends it down one of two branches. Each branch creates a CRM contact, creates a job, sends an SMS and emails the right person. Say it runs 400 times a month. These numbers are an example; use your own.

• Zapier: the trigger is free, Formatter is free, and Paths is free. Four actions run on whichever branch is taken, so four tasks a run, about 1,600 tasks a month. On the published tiers that sits inside the 2,000 task Professional tier, listed at $49.00 a month billed annually or $73.50 monthly.
• Make: the module reading the form uses a credit, the phone tidy-up uses a credit, the router is free, and the four branch actions use four. That is six credits a run, about 2,400 credits a month. Compare that against Make’s current plans on its page.

Now change one thing. Add a step that looks up the customer in the CRM before creating them. That adds one task in Zapier and one credit in Make on every run. Counting steps before you choose is the habit that saves the most money with either tool.

What happens when you run out

This is where the two differ most for a busy month.

• Zapier: with pay-per-task turned off, Zaps stop at your limit until the next cycle. With it turned on, they keep running and extra tasks are charged at 2.5 times the base task rate on monthly plans or 1.25 times on annual plans, and usage stops at three times your task allowance. Pay-per-task is not available on Free.
• Make: scenarios stop until you add credits. Incoming webhooks queue up to your queue limit and run when scenarios resume, and polling scenarios pick up records since their last successful run. You can buy extra credits in bundles of 1,000 or 10,000, or turn on automatic purchase of 10,000 on Core, Pro and Teams. Extra credits expire after a month on monthly plans.

For an enquiry workflow, a stop is worse than an overage. Know which behaviour you have set before a busy season.

Where the data sits

Zapier’s data privacy page says it hosts data on AWS servers in the United States. Make’s organisation documentation says you choose a US or EU data centre when you create the organisation, and you cannot change it later. Neither runs in Australia. If you hold customer information covered by the Privacy Act, know where it goes and say so in your privacy policy. Check this for your situation.

What each one does well

Zapier

• A short learning curve. Steps read like a to-do list, so an owner or office manager can fix a broken Zap.
• Filters, paths and formatting cost nothing in tasks, so tidy logic does not raise the bill.
• Failed actions are not charged.
• A published price for every task tier, up to 2,000,000 tasks a month.

Make

• The visual map makes branching, loops and error handling easier to see and test.
• Good at reshaping data: splitting lists, combining rows, mapping fields between systems.
• Routers and error handlers are free, so careful error handling does not add credits.
• A free plan with 1,000 credits a month to learn on.

Which suits which business

• Choose Zapier if your workflows are two to six steps between well-known apps, the person maintaining them is not technical, and you value a fast fix over fine control.
• Choose Make if your workflows branch, loop over lists or reshape data, and someone on the team enjoys working through logic.
• Look at both again if your workflows have a dozen or more steps and run thousands of times a month. Per-step counting adds up on either. Our n8n vs Zapier and n8n vs Make comparisons look at per-run pricing.

When a built and looked after system fits better

Both tools are self-serve. You build it, you watch it, you fix it when an app renames a field or a sign-in expires. That suits plenty of businesses. It suits fewer once automations carry enquiries, bookings or invoices that cost money when they stop quietly.

A system built and looked after for you makes sense when several workflows touch your CRM and customers, nobody in the business wants to own them, and a missed enquiry costs more than the upkeep. That is the work our automation service covers, and the automation maintenance guide shows what looking after them involves.

It does not suit everyone. If you run a handful of short workflows, have the time and interest to manage them yourself, or the standard plan does the job, stay on the tool you have. Count your steps, check the current pricing pages, and choose the one your maintainer can use.