Make.com (formerly Integromat) is a visual no-code automation platform that connects apps and services via a drag-and-drop scenario builder. It is more powerful than Zapier for complex multi-step workflows and more accessible than n8n for non-technical users. Make's pricing in GBP starts from £8 per month (Core plan with 10,000 operations), making it significantly cheaper than Zapier Professional for equivalent workflow complexity. UK businesses use Make.com to connect GoHighLevel with Xero, automate invoice processing from email to accounting software, sync CRM data with spreadsheets and build complex multi-step workflows that Zapier's linear task model cannot handle. The main limitation is the steeper learning curve compared to Zapier.
Last updated: 19 May 2026
Make.com started as Integromat, a Czech automation platform launched in 2012. It was acquired by Celonis and rebranded as Make.com in 2022. The rebranding coincided with significant improvements to the interface and a pricing restructure that made it significantly more competitive with Zapier.
In the UK market, Make.com gained traction among digital agencies and technical business users who needed more than Zapier's linear "Zap" model but found n8n's server management requirements a barrier. Make.com offers:
By 2026, Make.com is the automation platform of choice for UK digital agencies, e-commerce businesses and SMEs that need more than Zapier but cannot manage self-hosted infrastructure.
| Plan | Monthly cost | Operations | Scenarios | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | £0 | 1,000/month | 2 active | Testing and evaluation |
| Core | ~£8/month | 10,000/month | Unlimited | Small businesses, simple automations |
| Pro | ~£15/month | 10,000/month | Unlimited | More frequent scheduling, custom variables |
| Teams | ~£25/month | 10,000/month | Unlimited | Multiple team members, shared scenarios |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Unlimited | Large organisations, SLA, SSO |
Make.com's operation counting is important to understand. An "operation" is each individual app module execution. A scenario connecting Stripe to GoHighLevel to Xero with 3 modules running on 1,000 new payments per month uses 3,000 operations. The Core plan's 10,000 operations handles approximately 3,000-3,300 three-module scenarios per month - sufficient for most UK small business automation needs.
Operations can be purchased as top-ups (approximately £5-10 per 10,000 additional operations). High-volume UK businesses exceeding 100,000 operations per month should evaluate whether n8n self-hosted is more cost-effective at their scale.
| Feature | Make.com | Zapier |
|---|---|---|
| Visual design | Canvas-based (see full flow) | Linear (step by step) |
| Multi-path workflows | Yes (routers, filters) | Limited (paths feature on Pro+) |
| Error handling | Built-in (error handlers) | Limited |
| Data transformation | Strong (built-in functions) | Good (formatter) |
| Pricing at 10,000 ops | ~£8/month | ~£49/month (2,000 tasks) |
| Learning curve | Medium | Low |
| App integrations | 700+ | 5,000+ |
| Free plan | 1,000 ops/month | 100 tasks/month |
| UK customer support | Email (paid plans) | Email + chat (paid) |
Zapier's 5,000+ integrations include many niche apps not in Make.com's 700+. If you need to connect a specialist UK platform (industry-specific CRM, niche UK e-commerce tool), Zapier is more likely to have a native integration. For everything in Make.com's integration library, the price-to-power ratio strongly favours Make.
When a GoHighLevel invoice is paid (Stripe webhook), Make creates a Xero invoice, marks it as paid and assigns it to the correct contact in Xero. This eliminates manual invoice entry for UK agencies using GoHighLevel for client billing and Xero for accounting. Setup time: 3-4 hours. Monthly operations: approximately 50-200 for a mid-size agency.
When a Rightmove or Zoopla lead email arrives in Gmail, Make parses the email (extract name, number, property reference), creates a GoHighLevel contact, adds them to the appropriate pipeline and triggers the lead follow-up automation. This replaces manual CRM data entry for UK estate agents. The email parsing uses Make's built-in text parser and regular expressions.
When a Shopify order is paid, Make creates a Royal Mail or DPD dispatch request, sends the customer a shipping confirmation with tracking number, updates the order status in Shopify and adds the sale to a Google Sheets revenue tracker. UK e-commerce businesses using this scenario save 15-30 minutes per day on order processing.
When an Odoo CRM opportunity moves to a specific stage (e.g., "Proposal Sent" or "Closed Won"), Make sends a Slack notification to the relevant team channel with the deal details. This keeps the sales team informed without them needing to check Odoo constantly. Setup time: 1 hour.
When a website form is submitted (Webflow, WordPress, HubSpot), Make: (1) checks if the lead exists in the CRM (avoids duplicates), (2) scores the lead based on company size and job title, (3) routes high-score leads to immediate SMS follow-up in GoHighLevel, (4) routes lower-score leads to an email nurture sequence, and (5) creates a task in Asana or Monday.com for the sales team. This multi-path logic is Make.com's strength over Zapier's linear model.
Make.com's template library includes thousands of pre-built scenarios. Particularly useful for UK businesses:
Starting from a template reduces setup time from 4-8 hours (building from scratch) to 30-60 minutes (modifying a template). Always test templates against your specific app versions and field mappings - templates are starting points, not finished scenarios.
For most UK businesses needing complex multi-step automations, Make.com offers better value than Zapier: 10x more operations per pound, better multi-path workflow design and stronger error handling. Zapier is better for simple two-step automations, has more integration options for niche apps, and is easier for non-technical users to set up quickly. Many UK businesses use both: Zapier for quick simple connections, Make.com for complex workflows.
Make.com's infrastructure is hosted on AWS EU (Frankfurt). Make.com provides a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) available via their website. UK GDPR compliance is the responsibility of the workflow you build - if you are passing personal data through Make.com scenarios (contact details, financial information), ensure your data flows are documented in your GDPR data processing register and that Make.com's DPA covers the data types you process.
For the majority of standard business integrations (CRM to accounting, e-commerce to dispatch, lead capture to follow-up automation), Make.com enables non-developers to build reliable automations. For scenarios requiring custom logic beyond Make's built-in functions, API calls to undocumented endpoints, or complex data transformations involving loops over large datasets, developer involvement remains valuable. Make.com reduces the developer requirement for integration work by approximately 60-70%.
Make.com Core and Pro both include 10,000 operations per month and unlimited scenarios. Pro adds: higher scheduling frequency (run scenarios every 1 minute vs every 15 minutes on Core), custom variables for reusable values across scenarios, and priority processing queue. For most UK small businesses, Core is sufficient. Pro makes sense when you need near-real-time automation (responding to a Stripe payment in under 2 minutes) or manage many scenarios that share common configuration values.
Sign up for the free plan, which includes 1,000 operations per month and 2 active scenarios. Build your first scenario connecting two tools you already use - start simple (new Gmail email with attachment - save attachment to Google Drive). Once comfortable with the interface, build your highest-value automation (most common manual task currently done by a human). Most UK business users are productive in Make.com within 4-8 hours of starting.
Make.com is the most cost-effective cloud automation platform for UK businesses in 2026. At £8 per month for 10,000 operations, it is accessible to every UK SME and powerful enough for complex multi-app automation that would require developer work to build without it. The visual scenario canvas and strong data transformation tools make it the right tool for UK businesses who have outgrown Zapier's simplicity but cannot manage n8n's server infrastructure. Softomate Solutions uses Make.com for many UK client automation projects - contact us for a free automation assessment.
Deen Dayal Yadav is the founder of Softomate Solutions, a London automation agency. He builds Make.com, n8n and GoHighLevel automation systems for UK businesses. Connect on LinkedIn.
Make.com is the cheapest cloud automation platform for UK businesses at approximately £8/month for 10,000 operations. n8n self-hosted is effectively free (server costs £5-15/month) with unlimited operations. Zapier is the most expensive at equivalent volumes. For UK businesses doing under 3,000 automations per month, all three are affordable; above 10,000 monthly operations, Make.com or n8n offers significantly better value.
Not for standard business automations. Zapier and Make.com are designed for non-technical users - connecting apps like Stripe, HubSpot, Google Sheets and Slack requires no coding. For advanced use cases (custom API connections, complex data transformation, UK-specific HMRC API integrations), developer involvement reduces setup time significantly. n8n always requires technical knowledge for server setup and advanced workflow design.
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