Make.com vs Self-Hosted Automation: Which Is Right for Your Business?

One of the most common decisions in AI automation projects: should the workflow automation run on Make.com (or Zapier), self-hosted n8n, or custom code? The answer depends on your specific situation, and getting it wrong costs money in ongoing platform fees, maintenance time, or reliability problems.

Here's the practical decision framework we use.

The Three Options

Make.com (Managed, Visual)

Make.com is a visual workflow builder hosted and managed by Make. You build automation scenarios through a drag-and-drop interface — no server to maintain, no deployments, automatic scaling.

Cost: $9-$29/month for most small business use cases, scaling by operations volume. At high scale (millions of operations/month), costs climb.

Best for: Moderate complexity workflows, teams without dedicated developers, businesses that want fast implementation without infrastructure management.

Limitations: Per-operation cost model penalizes high-volume use. Limited custom code (JavaScript modules exist but are constrained). External dependency — Make has outages.

n8n (Self-Hosted, Visual)

n8n is an open-source workflow automation tool that you host yourself — typically on a VPS, a Mac Mini, or cloud infrastructure. Same visual interface concept as Make.com, but running on your infrastructure.

Cost: VPS hosting ($5-20/month on DigitalOcean or similar). No per-operation fees. n8n Cloud exists as a managed option at $20-50+/month.

Best for: High-volume workflows where Make.com's per-operation pricing becomes expensive, teams with someone comfortable managing a server, businesses that want full data control.

Limitations: You manage updates, backups, and uptime. More setup time than Make.com. The n8n ecosystem of pre-built integrations is smaller than Make's.

Custom Code (Node.js / Python)

Custom webhook handlers, scheduled scripts, and API integration code hosted on your own infrastructure (Mac Mini, VPS, serverless functions).

Cost: Developer time for initial build + hosting (often free on existing infrastructure). Very low ongoing cost.

Best for: Highly custom logic that visual tools can't express cleanly, performance-sensitive workflows, businesses with developer capacity.

Limitations: Requires developer maintenance. Debugging is more involved. Less visible to non-technical team members.

The Decision Framework

Real Cost Comparison

Scenario: HVAC Company — 500 inbound calls/month captured by voice AI

Each captured call fires a webhook that runs an automation scenario: customer lookup, job ticket creation, SMS notification, booking confirmation. That's ~4 operations per call, 2,000 operations/month total.

• Make.com Core plan ($9/month): 10,000 operations included → $9/month. Fits comfortably.
• n8n self-hosted (DigitalOcean VPS): ~$6/month for the server. More setup, lower ongoing cost.
• Custom Node.js on Mac Mini: $0/month (using existing hardware). One-time development cost.

At this volume: Make.com wins on simplicity and cost. The $3 difference from n8n hosting doesn't justify the setup complexity.

Scenario: High-volume outreach system — 50,000 email events/month

• Make.com Teams plan ($29/month): 10,000 operations. Need higher plan → $79-99/month for adequate volume.
• n8n self-hosted: $6-10/month regardless of operation count.
• Custom code: $0/month on existing infrastructure.

At this volume: n8n or custom code wins on cost. Make.com's per-operation pricing becomes punitive at scale.

Our Current Stack Choice

For most field service AI automation clients: Make.com for the webhook handling and workflow automation. The visual interface makes it easy to show clients what the automation does, and at typical field service call volumes, we never hit the pricing ceiling.

For clients who already have a Mac Mini running other services (like OpenClaw for outreach): we move the automation to n8n or custom Node.js hosted on the Mac Mini, eliminating the Make.com dependency and per-operation cost.

For healthcare clients: self-hosted n8n (or custom code) where PHI is involved, since data never transits Make's servers. HIPAA compliance requires controlling where patient data flows.

The Migration Path

Start with Make.com: fastest implementation, lowest risk, easiest to debug. If your volume grows to where Make.com cost becomes significant (>$50-80/month), migrate to n8n or custom code. The migration is typically 2-4 hours of work — the logic is already mapped out in the Make.com scenarios.

Don't pre-optimize for scale before you need it. The most common mistake is building a complex self-hosted n8n setup before you know your actual workflow requirements — and then spending hours debugging infrastructure when you could have been testing with Make.com.