Make vs. Zapier AI Actions
Make (#18, 6.8/10) and Zapier AI Actions (#23, 6.3/10) both connect your apps and automate workflows. Make's free plan includes 1,000 operations/month and its credit-based paid tiers (from $9/month) typically stretch further for complex, multi-step automations. Zapier ($19.99-$29.99/month for Professional) has a larger integration library but its newer AI-model pricing tiers are easy to overspend on if you're not watching which model each step uses.
Make, in short
Make is a visual, canvas-style automation platform, a direct alternative to Zapier, where branches, routers, and multiple actions per trigger are all visible on one screen. Its free plan includes 1,000 operations/month, and Core starts at $9/month for 10,000 credits.
Zapier AI Actions, in short
Zapier AI Actions adds AI decision-making steps inside standard Zapier automations, the connective glue between most of the other tools on this list. The catch is its newer pricing model, tiered by AI model, is easy to overspend on if you default to a pricier model than the task needs.
Read the full Zapier AI Actions review →
Who should pick which
If you're starting fresh and building genuinely complex, branching automations, Make's credit-based pricing and visual builder generally go further per dollar. If you already have a library of Zapier automations built or need an integration Zapier supports and Make doesn't, staying put is reasonable, just audit which AI model tier each step is using.