Zapier vs Make vs Power Automate: Which One Fits Your Business?

Everyone’s talking about automation. Connect your apps. Remove manual work. Save hours every week.

The pitch sounds great. Then you look at the options and get confused. Zapier, Make (formerly Integromat), Microsoft Power Automate, plus a dozen others. All claim to be the best. None explain who they’re actually best for.

Let me cut through the noise.

The Three Main Players

Zapier

The original. The most popular. The one your marketing person probably already uses.

Strengths:

  • Easiest to learn and use
  • Largest library of app integrations (6,000+)
  • Great for simple, linear automations
  • Strong community and template library

Weaknesses:

  • Most expensive per task
  • Complex logic gets awkward
  • Slower than alternatives
  • Gets pricey fast as usage grows

Best for: Non-technical users who need simple automations. Marketing teams connecting a few apps.

Make (Integromat)

The power user’s choice. More capable than Zapier but steeper learning curve.

Strengths:

  • Better pricing at scale
  • Handles complex logic and branching
  • More powerful data transformation
  • Visual workflow designer is excellent
  • Better error handling

Weaknesses:

  • Steeper learning curve
  • Fewer integrations than Zapier (though still 1,500+)
  • Interface can be overwhelming
  • Some advanced features require technical thinking

Best for: Teams with some technical ability who need complex automations. Operations teams. Anyone whose workflows outgrow Zapier.

Microsoft Power Automate

If you’re in the Microsoft ecosystem, this is your default option.

Strengths:

  • Included in many Microsoft 365 plans
  • Deep integration with Microsoft products
  • Desktop automation (RPA) included
  • Enterprise security and compliance features

Weaknesses:

  • Best integrations are Microsoft products
  • Third-party connections often worse than Zapier/Make
  • Interface is clunkier
  • Learning curve for non-Microsoft apps

Best for: Companies already on Microsoft 365 who mainly need to connect Microsoft tools. IT teams comfortable with Microsoft’s interface.

Pricing Reality

This is where things get interesting.

Zapier: Free tier exists but is very limited (100 tasks/month, 5 Zaps). Paid plans start at $19.99/month for 750 tasks. Premium connectors require higher tiers. Enterprise pricing adds up fast.

Make: More generous pricing. Free tier offers 1,000 operations/month. Paid plans start at $9/month for 10,000 operations. Operations and tasks aren’t directly comparable (Make’s operations are more granular), but Make typically costs 40-60% less than Zapier for similar workloads.

Power Automate: If you’re on Microsoft 365 Business Basic or higher, you have basic Power Automate included. Premium connectors require separate licensing at $15/user/month. If you’re already paying for Microsoft 365, the marginal cost might be zero.

How to Choose

Answer these questions:

1. How Technical Is Your Team?

  • Not at all technical: Zapier. The learning curve is gentle enough that marketing folks can build their own automations.
  • Somewhat technical: Make. Better value, more power, but requires more comfort with logic and data.
  • Technical / IT team involved: Either Make or Power Automate depending on your ecosystem.

2. What Are You Connecting?

  • Mostly Microsoft tools (Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, Excel): Power Automate is the obvious choice if you’re already on M365.
  • Marketing tools (HubSpot, Mailchimp, Slack, Google Sheets): Zapier has the strongest integrations for marketing stacks.
  • Everything else: Check specific integrations. Make and Zapier both have broad coverage.

3. How Complex Are Your Workflows?

  • Simple (App A triggers App B): Zapier is fine.
  • Moderate (Some branching, multiple steps): Make handles this better than Zapier.
  • Complex (Loops, error handling, data transformation): Make or Power Automate. Zapier struggles here.

4. What’s Your Budget Sensitivity?

  • Cost matters a lot: Make offers the best value per operation.
  • Already paying for M365: Power Automate might be “free” in your current subscription.
  • Cost is secondary to ease: Zapier’s premium is worthwhile for non-technical teams.

Real-World Recommendations

A 15-person marketing agency: Start with Zapier. Your team is already using marketing tools. They’ll adopt Zapier quickly. The integration library covers what you need. Switch to Make if costs become painful or you need more complex workflows.

A 40-person professional services firm on Microsoft 365: Try Power Automate first. You’re already paying for it. Use it for internal Microsoft-to-Microsoft automations. Add Zapier or Make for third-party integrations if Power Automate struggles.

A 25-person e-commerce company: Make is probably your best fit. E-commerce workflows get complex (inventory, orders, shipping, customer data). Make handles complexity better. The pricing scales well as volume grows.

A solo founder: Free tiers of any platform. Start with Zapier for simplicity. Upgrade to Make if you hit Zapier’s free limits and need more capacity.

The Hybrid Approach

Here’s what I see in practice: many companies use more than one.

  • Power Automate for internal Microsoft workflows (free with subscription)
  • Zapier for simple marketing automations (easy for non-technical staff)
  • Make for complex operational automations (handled by someone technical)

This isn’t elegant, but it’s pragmatic. Use the right tool for each job.

Getting Started

Don’t build everything at once. Start with one frustrating manual process.

  1. Identify a repetitive task that involves copying data between apps
  2. Build one automation to handle it
  3. Run it for a month and verify it works
  4. Build the next one

After five or six automations, you’ll understand your platform well enough to make good decisions about whether to stay or switch.

The Honest Take

None of these platforms are perfect. All of them have frustrating limitations. All of them break occasionally. All of them require learning.

The question isn’t “which is best?” but “which is best for us right now?”

For most SMBs, the answer is:

  • Zapier if ease of use matters most
  • Make if cost and power matter most
  • Power Automate if you’re deep in Microsoft

Pick one. Build something. Learn. Adjust later if needed.