Make vs n8n: Credits per Module or One Price per Run

The short answer: if one workflow has 15 steps and runs 2,000 times a month, n8n bills 2,000 executions, which fits inside Starter's 2,500 at $24 a month on monthly billing, checked on 26 October 2026 on the n8n pricing page; the same flow on Make is at least 15 x 2,000 = 30,000 credits under its per-module rule (operations guide). If your flows are short, your builders are marketers rather than developers, and your app list is long, Make's canvas and its 3,000+ native apps fit better (Make pricing).

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What n8n changes is who pays for length. A long workflow costs the same as a short one there, and you may run the whole thing on your own servers. Make charges for every module that runs and in return keeps you off servers altogether.

Rule of thumb:

1. Multiply before you compare. On Make, steps times runs is roughly your credits, since a non-AI operation is one credit (credits). On n8n, runs alone are your executions. For example, a 4-step flow run 600 times is 2,400 credits against 600 executions; a 2-step flow run 600 times is 1,200 against 600. The longer the flow, the wider the gap.
2. Start from the people you have. If someone on the team already keeps a Docker host patched, n8n's Community Edition is free to self-host with almost the complete feature set (choose n8n). If nobody does, compare n8n Cloud with Make, not self-hosting.
3. Read the counter, not the brochure. n8n counts only production executions, and its Insights dashboard shows them (pricing FAQ). Make shows operations and credits for each module in every run (operations guide). A fortnight of either number beats any estimate.

The two, attribute by attribute

Where the choice is made

Length, and what it costs on each meter

Make's guide counts each bundle a module processes, so a list of 10 contacts flowing through three modules is 30 operations plus the trigger (operations guide). n8n counts that whole run once, "regardless of complexity", in its own words on the pricing page. Flows that loop over line items, enrich each record and write to three systems are where n8n's meter pulls ahead.

Servers, and who answers for them

Make runs everything for you. n8n gives you the choice, and its docs are plain about the trade: self-hosting needs setup and maintenance and technical expertise, while Cloud needs none (choose n8n). The Business plan, with SSO and Git version control, is self-hosted only for now (pricing page).

Gates around AI actions

Both run agents inside workflows. Make's agent takes instructions, knowledge files and tools that can be modules, whole scenarios or MCP tools, and Make's own advice is to give it tasks you would trust an intern with (agent intro). n8n lets you put any tool an agent can call behind a person's approval (human review).

One agent step on n8n, with its approval

A demo request arrives by webhook. The AI Agent node reads it, looks the company up and decides to send a reply, which needs at least one connected tool (AI Agent node). The email tool sits behind human review, so the workflow pauses and posts the proposed email to Slack. If the reviewer approves, the tool runs with the agent's input; if they deny it, nothing is sent and the agent is told (human review). On Make, the documented equivalent stops one step earlier: its outreach agent saves a Gmail draft and sends you the draft in Slack, and you press send yourself (outreach agent).

Prices, checked on 26 October 2026

n8n in USD a month, from its pricing page; every plan includes unlimited users and workflows:

Make's paid prices are rendered by a script behind a security check and could not be read from its pricing page that day, so this page compares the counting rules and the free allowances, not the invoices.

n8n's pricing FAQ calls its executions "much more powerful" than the operations or tasks other tools bill, which is a vendor grading its own homework. It holds for long flows. The same FAQ notes that a workflow scheduled every 5 minutes runs about 8,600 to 8,900 times a month, so a short, frequent schedule spends executions as fast as any per-step meter spends credits. SSO and Git version control come only on Business, so a team that needs them pays $960 a month on monthly billing for 40,000 executions, however few it runs.

Run both for free first

Build one real flow on each before paying: n8n Cloud's trial gives 1,000 executions with no card (pricing page), and Make's Free plan gives 1,000 credits a month (Make pricing). Put the same trigger, steps and test data through both, and compare the credit count in Make's run history with the execution count in n8n's list.

Choose Make if your job is

• Connecting many SaaS apps with short flows that a marketer builds and maintains.
• Avoiding servers and code entirely.
• Running an agent that calls existing scenarios as tools.

Choose n8n if your job is

• Long workflows with loops, enrichment and several destinations, where per-step billing would multiply.
• Keeping data on your own infrastructure, or in n8n's Frankfurt cloud.
• Letting an agent act only after a person approves the specific tool call.

FAQ

Is n8n free?

The self-hosted Community Edition is free; n8n Cloud is paid after a trial (choose n8n).

Do n8n test runs use executions?

No. Manual runs from the editor do not count toward the quota, and neither do sub-workflow or error-workflow runs (executions).

Can Make's agent use my own OpenAI or Claude account?

Yes, on paid plans; on every plan it can run on Make's AI Provider, which bills tokens in credits (credit usage for agents).