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Side-by-side comparison · Automation & Workflows

Make vs n8n vs Gumloop

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

Make

4.3

From From $9/mo

Best overall

n8n

4.5

From €20/mo

Gumloop

3.9

From From $37/mo

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Make

4.3

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.

Gumloop

3.9

Pick it if: Marketers, sales teams and researchers who want AI to do the repetitive reading, sorting and summarising.

Overview

AttributeMaken8nGumloop
In one lineDraw 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.Build AI agents that research, scrape and enrich data across your work apps.
Pricing modelFreemiumOpen sourceFreemium
Starting priceFrom $9/mo€20/moFrom $37/mo
Free plan Yes Yes No
Works with Claude Code Yes Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

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

AttributeMaken8nGumloop
Overall rating4.34.5Winner3.9
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.0
3.5
4.0
FeaturesHow much it can do, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.5
5.0
4.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.5
4.5
4.0
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
4.5
5.0
3.5
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
4.5
4.0

Feature comparison

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

AttributeMaken8nGumloop
Access & platform
Free plan Yes Yes No
Mobile app– No No
Desktop app No No No
Browser extension Yes No Yes
API access Yes 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 Yes No
AI abilities
Works with your files Yes Yes Yes
Understands images– Yes Yes
Makes images No No–
Makes video No No No
Writes code No Yes Yes
Runs agents or automations Yes Yes Yes
Learns your brand or style No No Yes
Works in many languages Yes––
Capabilities score9/ 1710/ 1710/ 17

Pricing

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

AttributeMaken8nGumloop
Plans

Free

Free

Learning the canvas and running a couple of light scenarios.

Community Edition

Free (self-hosted)

Anyone comfortable running software on a server.

ProOur pick

From $37/mo

Anyone who wants AI doing the research and data work.

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.

Enterprise

Custom

Companies that need security controls and a private cloud.

Pro

From $16/mo billed yearly

Anyone whose automations have become business-critical.

Pro

€50/mo billed yearly

Teams running several business-critical workflows.

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 pickCore 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.Pro is the only option short of Enterprise, so use the 14-day trial to run one real job end to end and watch the credit meter. If it comes in under 20,000 credits a month, you are set.

Key features

AttributeMaken8nGumloop
Standout features
  • 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
  • Agents from a description
  • Web scraping and browsing
  • 35+ AI models
  • Company Brain
  • Chrome extension
  • MCP and CLI

Pros and cons

AttributeMaken8nGumloop
Pros
  • 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
  • Builds a working agent from a plain-English description
  • Strong at scraping, research and enrichment jobs
  • Unlimited seats, so the whole team can use one plan
  • Choice of models and the option to bring your own keys
Cons
  • 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
  • No free plan, only a 14-day trial
  • The 8% orchestration fee sits on top of model costs
  • Costs more than Zapier or Make for simple non-AI automations
  • Fewer everyday app connections than the big automation tools
  • Pricing and plan structure have changed several times

Who each one is for

AttributeMaken8nGumloop
Best for
  • 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
  • Website scraping and research
  • Lead enrichment and scoring
  • Summarising documents in bulk
  • Scheduled reports from your work apps
You'll find it used by
  • Marketers
  • Ops teams
  • Agencies
  • Consultants
  • Developers
  • Ops teams
  • Agencies
  • Technical founders
  • Marketers
  • Sales teams
  • Researchers
  • Ops teams

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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