Make.com does not fix your broken workflows

Make (formerly Integromat) is a visual automation platform that connects apps and moves data between them — without code. It’s good at that specific job. But connecting apps isn’t the same as managing workflows that involve real people, and that’s where the chaos starts.

What Make actually does

Make is middleware. It takes data from one app and pushes it into another. The company calls itself “the glue of the internet” and that’s an honest description — glue connects things, but it doesn’t manage them.

The rebrand from Integromat happened in 2022. The name changed. The core idea didn’t.

Here’s how it works: every app has an API — a way for developers to read and write data. Make wraps those APIs in visual blocks called Modules, then lets you connect them in Scenarios using drag-and-drop. Once you set it up, the scenario runs 24/7 in the background.

A simple example

A Shopify module watches for new orders. When one comes in, a MailChimp module adds that person as a subscriber. Two blocks. One connection. Done.

A multi-stage example

Things get more interesting when you chain modules together. In this scenario, a social media manager automated content posting — each post lives in an Airtable, gets looped through with an Iterator, routed to the right social network based on filters, and then the Airtable row gets updated with the live link.

That’s genuinely useful. But notice what’s happening — it’s all data moving between apps. No human decisions. No approvals. No “wait for Sarah to review this before it goes live.” We’ve observed that operations teams hit this wall pretty quickly once they try to automate processes that involve people, not just data.

Key terms you need to know

Make’s jargon can feel overwhelming at first. Here’s a stripped-down glossary:

Modules are the building blocks — apps, services, and devices that input or output data. MailChimp, Google Sheets, Airtable, email — all modules. The three types that matter:

• Action Modules do something: send an email, post a Slack message, create a document
• Search Modules query data: find all contacts named John, pull invoices from last month
• Trigger Modules watch and react: when a new order comes in, when a form gets submitted, when a file appears in a folder

For basic two-app connections, that’s all you need. When you want to transform data or add logic, Make has more:

• Filters check conditions — only add someone to your VIP list if they spent over $150
• Routers split your workflow into different paths based on those conditions
• Convergers merge paths back together
• Aggregator Modules combine data from multiple sources — collect invoices, zip them, email to your accountant monthly
• Iterator Modules break a group of items into individual items and process each one

How to build your first automation

Honestly, getting started isn’t hard. Make offers hundreds of pre-built scenario templates.

1. Sign up for a free Make account — no credit card required, all features included
2. Sign up for the services you want to connect (Shopify, MailChimp, whatever)
3. From the dashboard, go to templates and click “Create a new scenario from template”
4. Use the filter to search for your specific apps
5. The scenario appears in the visual editor — tweak it to fit your needs

Can’t find a template? Build from scratch:

1. Click “Scenarios” in the sidebar, then “Create a new scenario”
2. Pick your services
3. Click the question mark on the blank canvas to add your first module — usually a trigger

4. Configure the module (every module has different options — just follow the prompts)
5. Click the plus (+) to add the next module

6. Click the dotted line between modules to add filters, routers, or other logic

7. Check the “tools” area for advanced processing — counters, delays, variables
8. Drag modules to reorganize, or use the magic wand to auto-align
9. Set scheduling in the bottom toolbar to run automatically

Why the pricing model is a trap

This is where it gets frustrating. Make charges per operation. Every single module that fires counts as one operation. So a 15-step scenario running 1,000 times doesn’t cost you 1,000 runs — it costs you 15,000 operations.

For simple two-step automations, who cares. For anything complex? The math gets ugly fast.

One thing that keeps coming up, we’ve heard from teams that built sophisticated AI agent workflows or multi-step data pipelines on Make, only to discover their operation counts exploding once they moved past basic integrations. One team told us they went from 5,000 to 75,000 operations in a month just by adding error handling and conditional logic to existing scenarios.

n8n charges differently and it matters

If your team has developers, there’s a fundamental pricing problem with Make you should know about.

n8n charges per workflow execution. That same 15-step scenario running 1,000 times costs you 1,000 executions — not 15,000. Same work, but Make would charge you 15x more.

For simple automations, the difference is negligible. For complex AI agent workflows, data pipelines, or scenarios with many steps, the economics blow apart. n8n requires technical skill — it’s not for business users. But for developer teams doing serious automation, the pricing model alone can justify the learning curve. n8n also offers a free self-hosted option.

Make vs Zapier vs Power Automate vs IFTTT

Here’s a straight comparison. No spin.

Supported apps: Zapier leads with thousands. Make also supports thousands. IFTTT and Power Automate support hundreds.

Pricing: If your app is supported by Make, you’ll generally save money compared to Zapier. Make’s free tier gives you 1,000 operations with complex multi-step workflows. Zapier’s free tier limits you to 100 tasks across just 5 simple two-app workflows.

Support ratings: Make leads at 4.8/5 on Capterra. Zapier sits at 4.4/5. Both get consistently positive reviews.

Check out this comparison of middleware connectors for more context on how Tallyfy connects with these tools.

Enterprise teams needing SCIM, SSO, SAML, or other enterprise features will need custom quotes from both Make and Zapier.

The real problem middleware can’t solve

Here’s what drives me crazy about the middleware conversation. Everyone talks about connecting apps like it’s the whole problem. It isn’t. Both Make and Zapier are excellent at moving data between applications, but they hit a wall when your process needs to manage people, not just data. Does your workflow need to assign tasks to specific individuals? Wait for human approvals? Track deadlines? Show everyone where a process stands? That’s not integration - that’s workflow management. Make can trigger a task notification, but it can’t manage who does it, when it’s due, or whether it actually gets completed. And this is the mess most teams live in — they’ve got data flowing between 15 apps while their actual work processes are held together by Slack messages and hope.

In our experience with workflow automation, the teams that get this right don’t choose between middleware and workflow tools. They use both — Make (or Zapier, or n8n) for data movement, and something like Tallyfy for the human side. We’ve seen teams connect Make scenarios to Tallyfy processes through our Make integration, combining background automation with structured people workflows.

But here’s a bigger question worth asking: why are you still dragging and dropping connectors in the first place?

Drag-and-drop middleware is already dying

Why are we still paying per-connection when AI can write the integration?

That’s not a prediction. It’s happening now. The entire model of visual connector marketplaces — browse hundreds of blocks, drag them onto a canvas, configure each one manually — is a relic of a world where writing integrations required code.

Vibe coding changes everything. Instead of dragging a Shopify block and a MailChimp block onto a canvas and wiring them together, you describe what you want in plain language: “When someone places an order, add them to my email list and create a task for the fulfillment team.” The AI writes the integration.

Why does this matter? Because middleware platforms like Make create brittle point-to-point connections. Every time an API changes, every time a vendor updates their module, your carefully built scenario can break without warning. We’ve observed that operations teams spend as much time maintaining their automations as they saved by building them in the first place.

At Tallyfy, our roadmap includes this exact approach — vibe coding for integrations. No connector marketplace. No drag-and-drop. Just describe the workflow you want, including which apps need to talk to each other, and AI handles the plumbing. The interesting part isn’t replacing Make’s visual builder. It’s eliminating the entire category of “integration configuration” as a human task.

Workflow templates for common automation scenarios

While Make handles data movement between apps, many teams also need structured workflows that track human tasks alongside automated steps. Here are some templates that complement your automation setup:

Example Procedure

Social Media Campaign Planning & Scheduling

1Submit campaign brief

2Select target platforms for campaign

3Configure LinkedIn post details

4Configure Twitter/X post details

5Configure Facebook post details

+10 more steps

View template

Example Procedure

Client Onboarding

1Gather Basic Information

2Send Welcome E-Mail

3Conduct a Kick-Off Call

4Conduct a 1 month check-in Call

5Request Feedback

+1 more steps

View template

Example Procedure

App Integration Documentation

1Document the primary integration

2Map secondary integrations and data flows

3Test and validate the documentation

4Complete security and compliance review

View template

What Make does well

Credit where it’s due. Make is strong automation software with real strengths:

• Affordable: Generous free tier lets you experiment before committing to a paid plan
• Easy to use: No code needed for most scenarios. Their documentation is solid and support is responsive
• Time savings: Automating repetitive data movement genuinely saves hours each week

The benefits are real — for the specific problem Make solves. Just don’t confuse moving data between apps with managing actual work between people. Those are two fundamentally different problems, and solving one doesn’t solve the other.

You can connect Make and Tallyfy here to handle both sides — background data automation on Make, people-driven workflows on Tallyfy.