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Side-by-side comparison · Automation & Workflows

Bardeen vs Make vs n8n

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Bardeen

3.3

From From $10/mo

Make

4.3

From From $9/mo

Best overall

n8n

4.5

From €20/mo

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Bardeen

3.3

Pick it if: Salespeople, recruiters and founders who spend hours copying contact details out of websites.

Make

4.3
Easiest to use

Pick it if: Marketers and operators who've outgrown simple automations and want to see what their workflows are doing.

n8n

4.5
Best overallBest value

Pick it if: Teams that want full control of their data and automations, or anyone building AI agents on a budget who doesn't mind getting a bit technical.

Overview

AttributeBardeenMaken8n
In one linePulls leads off websites like LinkedIn into a spreadsheet or CRM, then enriches them.Draw automations as a flowchart, with branches and loops, for less than Zapier charges.Build automations and AI agents on a visual canvas, then host them yourself for free.
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemiumOpen source
Starting priceFrom $10/moFrom $9/mo€20/mo
Free plan Yes Yes Yes
Works with Claude Code No Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeBardeenMaken8n
Overall rating3.34.34.5Winner
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
3.5
4.0
3.5
FeaturesHow much it can do, and how well the pieces fit together.
3.0
4.5
5.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
3.5
4.5
4.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
3.5
4.5
5.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
3.0
4.0
4.5

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeBardeenMaken8n
Access & platform
Free plan Yes Yes Yes
Mobile app No– No
Desktop app No No No
Browser extension Yes Yes No
API access– Yes Yes
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes Yes
Connects to other apps Yes Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No Yes
AI abilities
Works with your files– Yes Yes
Understands images–– Yes
Makes images No No No
Makes video No No No
Writes code No No Yes
Runs agents or automations Yes Yes Yes
Learns your brand or style No No No
Works in many languages– Yes–
Capabilities score6/ 179/ 1710/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeBardeenMaken8n
Plans

Free

Free

Trying a scrape or two.

Free

Free

Learning the canvas and running a couple of light scenarios.

Community Edition

Free (self-hosted)

Anyone comfortable running software on a server.

Basic

From $10/mo

Occasional prospecting.

CoreOur pick

From $9/mo billed yearly

One person automating a small business.

StarterOur pick

€20/mo billed yearly

A small business that wants n8n hosted for them.

PremiumOur pick

$50/mo, or $480/yr

A salesperson prospecting every week.

Pro

From $16/mo billed yearly

Anyone whose automations have become business-critical.

Pro

€50/mo billed yearly

Teams running several business-critical workflows.

Enterprise

Custom

Teams that want scrapers built and maintained for them.

Teams

From $29/mo billed yearly

A team sharing scenarios and connections.

Business

€667/mo billed yearly

Larger teams that need SSO and version control, self-hosted.

Enterprise

Custom

Companies that need SSO, audit logs and an uptime guarantee.

Enterprise

Custom

Companies that need an SLA and dedicated support.

Which plan to pickStart free to confirm it can read the sites you care about. If prospecting is a weekly job, Premium is the sensible tier; the Basic plan runs out of credits quickly once you add enrichment.Core is enough for most small businesses, and 10,000 credits goes a long way when routers and error handlers are free. Move to Pro if a failed run costs you money and you want priority execution and better logs.If you have anyone technical on hand, self-host the Community Edition on a small server and pay nothing. Otherwise Starter on the cloud is the right place to begin, and 2,500 executions covers a lot when each run of a long workflow counts as one.

Key features

AttributeBardeenMaken8n
Standout features
  • AI scraper
  • Contact enrichment
  • Lead scoring
  • Sheet and CRM export
  • Premium scrapers
  • Visual canvas
  • Routers, filters and iterators
  • Run history you can replay
  • AI Agents
  • Make Grid
  • HTTP and webhooks
  • AI agent nodes
  • Self-host for free
  • Code when you need it
  • Per-execution pricing
  • Thousands of templates
  • MCP support

Pros and cons

AttributeBardeenMaken8n
Pros
  • Gets data off web pages that no official integration can reach
  • Scrape, enrich and score in one place
  • No code or CSS selectors needed
  • A free tier that lets you test it properly
  • Much cheaper per step than Zapier
  • Branching, loops and filters are built in, not bolted on
  • Run history shows exactly what happened at every step
  • Routers and error handlers do not use credits
  • Generous free plan for learning
  • Free to self-host with no execution limits
  • The best tool here for AI agents and multi-step reasoning
  • Per-execution pricing on cloud is kind to long workflows
  • Huge template library and an active community
  • Code steps and the HTTP node mean you are rarely stuck
Cons
  • Runs in your browser, so you are usually tied to your desk while it works
  • Scrapers break when websites change their layout
  • Credits are tight and expire at the end of each period
  • It has dropped most of its general automation features
  • Scraping LinkedIn at volume can get your account restricted
  • Steeper learning curve than Zapier, especially around data mapping
  • Credit usage is hard to predict until you have run a scenario for a while
  • Fewer apps than Zapier, and some apps have thin coverage
  • Pricing page is hard to read, and the headline prices assume yearly billing
  • Steeper learning curve than Zapier or Make, with JSON everywhere
  • Self-hosting is a real job: updates, backups and security are on you
  • No free cloud plan, only a trial
  • The fair-code licence limits reselling it as a service
  • Business plan is self-hosted only and priced for larger companies

Who each one is for

AttributeBardeenMaken8n
Best for
  • Scraping LinkedIn and directories
  • Getting prospect lists into a CRM
  • Finding emails and phone numbers
  • Scoring leads against your ideal customer
  • Multi-step marketing workflows
  • Branching logic and filters
  • Processing batches of records
  • Automation on a budget
  • AI agents that act on email or chat
  • Self-hosted automation
  • Unlimited runs on your own server
  • Custom code steps when you need them
You'll find it used by
  • Sales teams
  • Recruiters
  • Founders
  • Agencies
  • Marketers
  • Ops teams
  • Agencies
  • Consultants
  • Developers
  • Ops teams
  • Agencies
  • Technical founders

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability. The "Visit" buttons may use affiliate links, which never affect a score.

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