Zapier vs Make vs Custom Automation: What Should a Small Business Use?

For most small businesses, Zapier is the easiest way to start automating workflows, Make (formerly Integromat) is more powerful and cheaper at scale, and custom automation is only worth building when you have a specific workflow that no off-the-shelf tool fits. As a rough rule: start with Zapier, switch to Make when your monthly Zaps cross 1,000, and only build custom when you have a clearly defined, repeatable process worth £5,000+ of development.

Zapier vs Make vs custom at a glance

What does each one actually do?

All three tools do the same fundamental thing: connect different services together so they can talk to each other automatically. For example: "When a new customer fills in our contact form, add them to our email list, send me a Slack notification, and create a task in ClickUp."

The differences are in how easy they are to use, how much they cost, and how flexible they are when workflows get complicated.

Zapier is the easiest. Drag-and-drop interface, huge library of pre-built integrations, perfect for non-technical users. You can build your first useful automation in 10 minutes.

Make (formerly Integromat) is more powerful for the same price. The interface is slightly more complex (it shows you the data flow visually), but it can handle branching logic, loops, and multi-step workflows that Zapier struggles with — and it is significantly cheaper per "operation" at scale.

Custom automation means building the workflow in code, usually with something like Python, Node.js, or a serverless platform. There is no monthly fee, no per-task limit, and no third-party dependency — but you pay upfront for the build, and you need someone to maintain it.

When is Zapier the right choice?

Zapier wins if all of these are true:

• You are starting from scratch with no automation experience
• Your workflows are simple ("when X happens, do Y")
• Your monthly volume is low (a few hundred tasks per month)
• You want the fastest possible setup time
• You value reliability over cost — Zapier is rock solid

For most small businesses just dipping into automation, Zapier is the right place to start. The free plan is fine to test with. The £15–£25/month plans cover most actual use cases.

When is Make the right choice?

Make wins if:

• You have outgrown Zapier's pricing — your monthly tasks are getting expensive
• Your workflows have branching logic (if this, do A; if that, do B; otherwise, do C)
• You need data transformation (e.g. parse a JSON response, reshape it, send it to another service)
• You are running 1,000+ automated tasks per month and want to reduce costs

The learning curve is slightly steeper than Zapier, but for anyone comfortable with spreadsheets and a willingness to sit with documentation for a couple of hours, Make is well within reach.

When is custom automation worth the investment?

Custom is rarely worth it for a small business — but when it is, the case is strong. Build custom if:

• Your workflow runs at high volume (thousands of tasks per month, where Zapier or Make fees become significant)
• You have a specific business process that no off-the-shelf integration handles well
• You need full control over the data and logic (sensitive data, regulated industries, bespoke calculations)
• You want zero ongoing per-task fees — pay once for the build, run it forever
• You have a developer (or budget for one) to maintain it

Cost guide for custom automation builds:

• Simple workflow (e.g. process incoming form submissions, save to database, send notifications): £1,500–£3,000
• Medium workflow (e.g. multi-step data processing with branching logic): £3,000–£8,000
• Complex workflow (e.g. custom API integrations, AI processing, multi-system orchestration): £8,000–£20,000+

For most small businesses, this is overkill. But for the ones where it fits, custom pays for itself within months by eliminating subscription fees and unlocking workflows that off-the-shelf tools cannot do.

What does SME Shack recommend?

Our default answer for small businesses: start with Zapier. Use the free or £15/month plan. Build a few workflows. Notice which ones you actually use.

If after a few months you are spending £50+/month on Zapier and bumping into limits, switch to Make. The savings are usually significant.

If after a year of using Make you have a workflow that is critical, high-volume, and not well-served by either platform, that is when custom starts making sense. We build custom automation projects for clients in this position — see our services page.

What we will not recommend is building custom from day one. The temptation is always there ("we can do anything!") but the right move is almost always to validate with off-the-shelf tools first, then upgrade if needed.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Do I really need to automate anything if I'm a one-person business?

A: Not necessarily, but probably yes. The most common time-savers for small businesses are: capturing leads from your website into a CRM or spreadsheet, sending automated follow-up emails after a customer enquiry, syncing data between tools you already use (e.g. Stripe payments to FreeAgent), and posting to social media on a schedule. Even one of these saves several hours a month.

Q: What is the difference between Zapier and Make in plain English?

A: Zapier is like LEGO — easy to snap together, limited by the shapes available. Make is like Meccano — slightly more fiddly to assemble, but you can build more complex things with the same parts. For simple automations they look almost identical. For complex ones, Make has more flexibility for less money.

Q: Will AI replace tools like Zapier and Make?

A: Not soon. AI is good at making decisions inside an automation step (e.g. classifying an incoming email, summarising a document), but it still needs an automation platform to actually move data between services. Both Zapier and Make have added AI features that work well alongside their existing functionality.

Q: Are there free alternatives to Zapier and Make?

A: Yes — n8n is the main one. It is open-source, can be self-hosted for free, and is more powerful than either Zapier or Make for technical users. It is also significantly harder to set up. For most small businesses, the time saved by paying for Zapier or Make is worth the £15–£25 a month.

Q: How much can I realistically save in time by automating?

A: Honest numbers from real small businesses: 2–10 hours per week, depending on how many manual processes you have and which ones you automate first. The biggest wins are usually around customer onboarding, invoicing, lead capture, and reporting.