Make

What is Make?

Make is a visual automation platform that grew out of Integromat, a tool launched in 2012 that earned a reputation as the power user's alternative to simpler automation services. In 2021 it was acquired by Celonis and rebranded as Make, and the platform has kept its signature approach: automations are drawn as scenarios on a canvas.

Instead of a linear list of steps, a Make scenario is a visual graph. You drag modules from hundreds of apps onto the canvas, connect them with lines, and add routers that branch the flow based on conditions. This makes it natural to build the kind of branching, error-handling workflows that simple trigger-action tools struggle with.

Make also includes features that automation-heavy teams need: data stores for persisting values, schedulers, webhooks, HTTP modules for calling any API, and a growing set of AI modules for generating text and analyzing content. If a workflow has more than two or three steps, Make tends to shine.

Key Features

• Visual scenario editor with drag-and-drop modules and connections
• Routers for branching logic and complex decision flows
• Hundreds of app integrations plus generic HTTP and webhook modules
• Data stores for storing and retrieving values between runs
• Schedulers for time-based automation and recurring jobs
• AI modules for content generation, classification and analysis
• Error handling, rollback and detailed execution history
• Team collaboration with shared scenarios and permissions

How to get started

Sign up for a free Make account and you land in the scenario builder. Choose a template or start blank, then add a trigger module, for example a new row in Google Sheets, and connect an action module. Click Run once to test, and Make walks you through mapping data between modules.

The learning curve is a bit steeper than simpler automation tools, but Make's documentation, academy courses and template library cover the essentials well. Start with a two-module scenario, then experiment with routers and aggregators to see how powerful the canvas gets.

• Create a free Make account
• Pick a template or start a blank scenario
• Add a trigger module and an action module
• Map fields between the modules
• Run the scenario once to test it
• Schedule it or activate a webhook for real-time runs

Use cases

• Multi-step marketing automation across email, ads and CRM tools
• Data pipelines that fetch, transform and load records between apps
• Order and fulfillment workflows with conditional routing
• Webhook-driven integrations that react to events in real time
• Reporting workflows that aggregate data into dashboards and documents
• AI-assisted workflows that summarize incoming content automatically

Pricing and licensing

Make offers a free plan with a monthly operations allowance, which is generous enough to learn the platform and run light automations. Paid plans are based on operations, the number of executed steps per month, and scale up with volume and team features like custom roles and SSO.

Operation-based pricing means cost tracks actual usage, which suits both hobbyists and businesses. Exact plan numbers change, so the official website is the source of truth. Because scenarios can be complex, it is worth estimating operations before choosing a tier.

Pros and cons

Make's canvas is its superpower: complex, branching workflows that would be painful in linear builders feel natural, and power users love the control over error handling and data transformation. The free tier and broad app catalog add to its appeal.

The trade-offs are complexity and operations costs. The visual editor has a learning curve, scenarios can get visually tangled as they grow, and heavy automation burns through operations quickly. For simple two-step tasks, a simpler tool may be more cost-effective.

Alternatives

• Zapier: the most popular automation platform, simpler and very broad
• n8n: open-source, self-hostable workflow automation with a node editor
• Pipedream: developer-friendly, code-first workflow automation
• IFTTT: lightweight personal automations for consumer apps
• Microsoft Power Automate: enterprise automation in the Microsoft stack