The Agency Dilemma: Margins vs. Ease

For AI Automation Agencies (AAA), your choice of infrastructure determines your profit margin. In 2026, the battle is still between the two giants: Make.com (formerly Integromat) and n8n.

While Make is easier to learn, n8n has become the weapon of choice for scaling agencies. Here is the definitive pricing analysis.

1. The Pricing Models Explained

Make.com: The "Credit" Trap

Make charges based on Operations (now weighted as "Credits").

  • Every single step in a scenario counts as a credit.
  • Example: A workflow that reads a row from Google Sheets (1), sends it to ChatGPT (1), and sends an email (1) = 3 Credits.
  • The Risk: If you process 1,000 leads a month, that's 3,000 credits. Loops and iterators can burn 10,000 credits in minutes.

n8n: The "Workflow" Advantage

n8n charges based on Workflow Executions.

  • A workflow running from start to finish counts as 1 Execution, regardless of how many steps it has.
  • Example: That same Google Sheet -> ChatGPT -> Email workflow (even with 50 intermediate steps) = 1 Execution.
  • The Win: Complex AI agents with heavy logic are significantly cheaper on n8n.

2. Cost Comparison Scenarios

Scenario A: Simple Lead Notification

Trigger: New Form Submission -> Send Slack Message.

  • Make: Very cheap. The free tier (1,000 ops) covers small clients.
  • n8n: Overkill.
  • Winner: Make.com

Scenario B: The "AI Content Machine"

Trigger: RSS Feed -> Scrape Website -> Summarize with GPT-4 -> Generate Image -> Post to WordPress -> Post to LinkedIn.

  • Make: This consumes ~15 credits per run. If you run this 4 times a day for 10 clients, you will hit the $29/mo tier quickly per client.
  • n8n: Consumes 1 execution per run. You can host this yourself for $5/mo total.
  • Winner: n8n

3. The Self-Hosting Wildcard

This is where n8n destroys the competition for agencies. n8n is source-available. You can install it on your own server (DigitalOcean/Hetzner) for ~$6/month.

  • Unlimited Workflows
  • Unlimited Steps
  • Cost: Flat fee for the server.

Make.com cannot be self-hosted. You are locked into their SaaS pricing tiers, which get expensive as you scale.

Verdict: Which One for You?

  • Choose Make.com if: You are building simple linear automations, hand-off speed is critical, or the client wants to manage it themselves.
  • Choose n8n if: You are running high-volume AI agents, complex loops, or you want to retain a monthly retainer fee by hosting the automation on your own infrastructure.