Why Developers Are Moving from Make to n8n (and When You Shouldn’t)

For years, Make (formerly Integromat) has been the go-to tool for automating the boring stuff — connecting APIs, syncing data, and gluing together the apps your business runs on. But lately, there’s been a quiet migration happening. More developers are switching to n8n, an open-source automation platform that’s gaining traction for one big reason: it doesn’t treat you like you’re allergic to code. I’ve used both for real projects — at Codroon and in personal side automations — and while they both make life easier, they’re built on very different philosophies.

Make is polished. It’s designed for non-technical users who want things to “just work.” Its visual flow builder is intuitive — you drag, drop, and link modules like building Lego. Need to push a Slack message when a Google Sheet updates? Done in two clicks.

n8n, by contrast, feels more like an engineer’s playground. It’s visual too, but it assumes you’re comfortable thinking in logic, JSON, and APIs. It doesn’t hide complexity; it exposes it. That’s both its charm and its challenge. At Codroon, our developers prefer n8n for anything that touches production systems or internal APIs. It’s open-source, self-hostable, and you can extend it with custom nodes. You’re not boxed in by whatever integrations the platform decides to support this quarter. If Make is the MacBook of automation — clean, opinionated, curated — n8n is the Linux workstation. More powerful once you know your way around.

Philosophy: Power vs. Simplicity

Platforms and Integrations

This is where Make still shines. Its integration library is massive — thousands of prebuilt connectors covering everything from obscure CRM tools to public APIs. You can build serious automations without ever writing a line of code. n8n, meanwhile, supports hundreds of integrations — not thousands — but it makes up for that with flexibility. Every node can run JavaScript code inline, call external APIs, or handle raw HTTP requests. You’re not limited to the official list.

Another key difference

Make runs entirely in the cloud.

By Codroon

Top Author

AI and Automation Evolution

Both Make and n8n are leaning into AI-powered features — though in different ways. Make recently rolled out AI modules that let you plug into OpenAI, Anthropic, or Gemini APIs without any configuration. You can summarize content, classify data, or generate text inline within your workflows. It’s fast, frictionless, and perfect for marketers or product teams. n8n, on the other hand, treats AI as a first-class citizen in automation. You can chain multiple models, use embeddings, or fine-tune how prompts get generated dynamically. Developers can even create custom AI nodes that talk to internal LLMs or run model inference locally. At Codroon, we’ve built AI-powered data processing pipelines entirely in n8n — something that would be nearly impossible in Make without heavy scripting or paid modules.

Pricing and Team Fit

Make wins on convenience pricing — free tier to start, then predictable per-operation pricing.

By Codroon

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So, Which One Should You Use?

If you’re a non-developer or need to get quick wins with clean dashboards — Make is your best friend. It’s simple, reliable, and beautiful. But if you’re an engineer who wants true automation freedom, where you can mix APIs, logic, and AI into real pipelines — n8n wins. It’s rougher around the edges, but it respects your craft. At Codroon, we use both — Make for marketing workflows and n8n for technical automation.

It’s not about replacing one with the other. It’s about using the right level of abstraction for the problem you’re solving. Because in automation, just like in engineering, power comes from choice.