n8n vs Make.com
Both started as Zapier alternatives. Only one of them turned into an AI agent platform SAP just paid a $5.2B valuation to get a piece of. The other bolted "AI Agents" onto a scenario builder and called it a pivot.
n8n
The gap widened, it didn't narrow. n8n went all-in on AI-native automation — real agent nodes, memory, RAG, vector stores, evaluation tooling — while Make shipped a bolt-on "AI Agents" feature that still can't run outside a scenario. If you're technical enough to self-host (or use n8n's cloud), you get more power, more flexibility, and you own your workflows. Make is still prettier and still easier for non-devs. But if AI automation is the point — and in 2026 it usually is — n8n isn't just the dev's choice anymore. It's the obvious one.
From Zapier Alternatives to AI Agent Platforms
This comparison used to be simple: Zapier got too expensive, n8n and Make were the two alternatives everyone tried. That's not the comparison anymore. Somewhere in 2025-2026, n8n stopped being "the open-source Zapier" and became a genuine AI agent orchestration platform — a $180M Series C that valued it at $2.5B in October 2025, then SAP came in and doubled that to $5.2B in May 2026, on the back of $100M+ ARR and over 1.7 million monthly active builders shipping agents on top of it.
n8n is still open source (fair-code) and self-hostable, but now it's built for developers who want control over AI agents specifically — memory, RAG, vector stores, tool-calling, the works. Make.com (formerly Integromat) is still polished and visual. It shipped a first "AI Agents" feature in April 2025, then rebuilt the whole thing in February 2026 — that rebuild finally added RAG — plus a natural-language builder called Maia rolling out through the year. But it's still catching up to a moving target, not setting the pace.
Quick Comparison
| Factor | n8n | Make.com |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosting | Yes (free) | No |
| Open Source | Yes (fair-code) | No |
| Visual Builder | Good | Excellent |
| Code Nodes | JavaScript, Python | JavaScript only |
| Integrations | 400+ core (1000+ w/ community) | 3,000+ |
| Free Tier | Unlimited (self-host) | 1,000 credits/month |
| Cloud Pricing | From $24/mo (2,500 execs) | From $9/mo (10,000 credits) |
| Active Workflows | Unlimited on every plan | 2 (free), unlimited paid |
| AI Agents | Native: memory, choice of vector stores, tool-calling, eval tooling | Rebuilt Feb 2026: has RAG now, still lives inside the scenario canvas |
Why n8n Wins for Devs
The self-hosting option is still huge. Run n8n on a $5/month VPS and process unlimited executions. Your workflows, your data, your rules. And as of the April 2026 pricing overhaul, even the paid cloud plans dropped their active-workflow caps — every tier now gets unlimited workflows, you only pay for executions.
The code nodes are also way more powerful. Write JavaScript or Python directly in your workflow. Access npm packages. Do actual programming when the visual builder isn't enough.
But the real story in 2026 is the AI Agent node: nearly 70 dedicated AI nodes, native chains, memory, vector store connectors, and RAG — plus an AI Workflow Builder (beta) that turns a natural-language prompt into a working automation. This isn't a workflow tool with AI sprinkled on. It's an agent-building platform that happens to also do Zapier-style automation.
"n8n's fair-code license means you can self-host for free, but need a license for commercial redistribution. For most users, it's effectively open source."
Why Make.com Still Wins for Non-Technical Teams
Make's visual builder is still genuinely nicer. The UI is cleaner, the learning curve is gentler, and non-technical team members can actually use it without a developer in the loop.
- More integrations: 3,000+ vs n8n's 400+ core nodes. More pre-built connectors means less custom work, even if n8n closes some of the gap with community nodes and its generic HTTP node.
- Better templates: Make's template library is more polished and production-ready out of the box.
- Team features: Roles, permissions, shared scenario templates, approval workflows, audit logs.
- No DevOps: You don't have to manage servers, updates, or backups.
The Pricing Reality
Both platforms rebuilt their pricing since this comparison was last honest. Make quietly swapped "operations" for "credits" in August 2025 — most module runs still cost 1 credit, but AI-heavy steps can burn more, so the sticker price undersells AI-agent usage. Plans now run Free (1,000 credits), Core $9/mo (10,000 credits), Pro $16/mo, Teams $29/mo (this is the tier that unlocks Make's AI Agents), up to custom Enterprise.
n8n's April 2026 refresh moved to Starter $24/mo (2,500 executions), Pro $60/mo (10,000 executions), Business ~$800/mo (40,000 executions, SSO, Git-backed environments) — and, critically, dropped active-workflow limits across the board. Self-hosted n8n is still free forever; you just pay for your server.
Sticker price favors Make at the low end. But for high-volume or AI-heavy workflows, n8n self-hosted still wins on cost every time — and it's the only one of the two where "free" doesn't mean "capped at 2 active scenarios."
The AI Angle (This Is the Whole Comparison Now)
In 2024 this was a footnote. In 2026 it's the reason to pick one over the other. n8n has native AI nodes for OpenAI, Anthropic, and local models, and it's the platform practitioners actually build production agents on: multi-step tool-calling, memory, RAG pipelines, vector store integrations, and evaluation tooling to catch prompt drift before it ships. Some teams report 60%+ cost reduction just from routing simple queries to lightweight models and reserving frontier models for the hard steps — the kind of orchestration control Make doesn't expose.
Make shipped AI Agents in April 2025, then rebuilt the feature in February 2026 — it finally has RAG, chunking uploaded context files into its own vector database, plus a natural-language builder called Maia rolling out through the year. Real progress, and enough for simple stuff like lead routing or inbox triage. But the agent still lives and runs inside Make's scenario canvas rather than as a portable, deployable thing, and there's still no equivalent to n8n's pick of vector stores (Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, Milvus, Postgres) or its evaluation tooling for catching prompt drift. If "AI automation" is why you're evaluating either tool, n8n is still the deeper platform — Make just closed one gap, not all of them.
The Verdict
Use n8n if: You're a developer, want self-hosting, need custom code in workflows, care about vendor lock-in, or you're building anything with AI agents. In 2026 that last one is doing most of the work — n8n's agent tooling (memory, RAG, vector stores, evaluations) is a different tier from Make's.
Use Make.com if: Your team is non-technical, you want the easiest onboarding, or you need one of the 3,000+ integrations n8n doesn't have out of the box. It's still the "just works" choice for standard business automation — lead routing, CRM sync, email workflows.
Skip both if: You just need simple automations. Zapier is more expensive but has the best UX for basic use cases.
FAQ
Is n8n or Make.com better for AI agents in 2026?
n8n, and it's not close. It has dedicated agent nodes for memory, multi-step tool-calling, a real choice of vector stores (Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, Milvus, Postgres/pgvector), and evaluation tooling to catch prompt drift. Make rebuilt its AI Agents feature in February 2026 and finally added RAG, but the agent still lives and runs inside Make's scenario canvas rather than as its own deployable thing.
Is n8n actually free?
Self-hosted n8n is free forever — you only pay for the server, and a $5/month VPS handles unlimited executions. n8n's own cloud plans start at $24/mo for 2,500 executions. Make's free tier caps you at 1,000 credits a month and just 2 active scenarios.
Which is cheaper at scale, n8n or Make.com?
Low volume and you don't want to touch a server: Make wins on sticker price, $9/mo against n8n Cloud's $24. Anything serious: n8n self-hosted wins every time — unlimited executions for the cost of a VPS, and n8n dropped active-workflow caps across every paid tier in its April 2026 pricing refresh, so you're never paying to unlock more than a couple of live automations the way you are on Make's free plan.
Does Make.com support RAG now?
As of its February 2026 rebuild, yes — Make's AI Agents can ingest context files, chunk them, and query them against Make's own vector database. That closed a real gap. What it hasn't closed: n8n still gives you a pick of vector stores instead of one built-in database, plus dedicated memory nodes and evaluation tooling Make doesn't have.
Is n8n really open source?
Yes, under a fair-code license — free to self-host, but you need a commercial license to resell or redistribute it. For the overwhelming majority of users just running their own workflows, it's effectively open source. Make.com is closed-source and cloud-only; there's no self-hosting option at all.
n8n is what automation should be: open source, self-hostable, infinitely customizable, and now backed by $180M and a real AI agent stack to prove it. It's more work to set up than Make, but you get real ownership — and in 2026, real agent capability Make hasn't matched.