Guide · Choosing an automation tool
Two no-code tools and a custom build, compared honestly: what each costs in New Zealand dollars, when the cheap option is the right one, and the signs you have outgrown it.
Zapier and Make are the right tool for simple hand-offs between apps, and a custom build is the right tool once the work needs judgement, volume or an audit trail. Plenty of businesses should be using both.
| Zapier | Make | Custom build | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Quick, simple links between popular apps | Longer flows with branches, on a budget | Reading documents and email, your own rules, high volume |
| Who sets it up | You, in an afternoon | You, with a bit more patience | A developer |
| How you pay | Monthly, by the task | Monthly, by the credit | Once to build, then a monthly running cost |
| Starts at | About NZ$35 a month | About NZ$16 a month | NZ$500 to build, from NZ$99 a month to run |
| Where it runs | Their servers, overseas | Their servers, in Europe or North America | Your own cloud account, in Sydney by default |
| Who owns it | It only runs on Zapier | It only runs on Make | You own the code |
Make starts at about NZ$16 a month and Zapier at about NZ$35, and both get dearer as your volume grows. These are the vendors' published prices on 6 October 2026, per month on annual billing, converted at US$1 = NZ$1.75 and excluding GST.
| Plan | Price per month | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier Free | Free | 100 tasks |
| Zapier Professional | US$19.99 (about NZ$35). US$29.99 month to month. | 750 tasks |
| Zapier Team | US$69 (about NZ$121). US$103.50 month to month. | 2,000 tasks, shared with your team |
| Make Free | Free | 1,000 credits |
| Make Core | US$9 (about NZ$16) | 10,000 credits |
| Make Pro | US$16 (about NZ$28) | 10,000 credits, faster runs |
| Make Teams | US$29 (about NZ$51) | 10,000 credits, team roles |
The unit is what catches people out. Zapier counts a task each time an action step runs successfully. Make counts a credit for each module that runs. So a five-step automation that runs 1,000 times a month uses around 5,000 of either. On Make that fits inside the cheapest paid plan. On Zapier it is well past the 750 tasks in the Professional plan, and you would be buying a bigger task allowance. AI steps can use more than one task each.
If you can describe the job as "when this happens, do that", use Zapier or Make and set it up yourself. You do not need me for these, and I will say so on a call:
The input is the same shape every time, nothing has to be read or judged, and if it fails for an afternoon nobody loses money. That is exactly what these tools were built for. I use the simple tools myself where they are enough.
No-code tools struggle with volume, messy input, failure handling and anything you need to prove afterwards. These are the signs I look for:
A custom build is ordinary code running in a cloud account you own, doing one job for your business. It is not a platform and there is no licence. What I build runs on AWS in Sydney by default, with monitoring, a log of every decision, spending caps, and a test mode that runs against real data without changing anything.
Most of it is plain automation. AI is used only at the steps where something has to be read and judged. People often ask me for an "AI agent" when what they need is that: a fixed path with a model doing the reading. I have explained the difference in automation vs AI workflow vs AI agent.
On cost: automation across the tools you already run is NZ$500 to $5,000, work that reads documents or email is NZ$1,000 to $8,000, and larger jobs go up to about $15,000, all fixed price. Running it costs from $99 a month for hosting and support plus AI usage at cost, which I have broken down in what AI costs to run each month.
Start with the cheapest tool that can do the job properly, and move a job only when it gives you a reason to.
| If the job is… | Use |
|---|---|
| Two or three popular apps, a few hundred runs a month | Zapier. It is the quickest to set up. |
| Longer, with branches and loops, and you are watching the cost | Make. |
| All inside Microsoft 365 | Power Automate, which many plans already include. |
| Reading invoices, emails or forms that vary | A custom build with AI at the reading step. |
| Thousands of runs a month | A custom build. The running cost stops tracking volume. |
| Touching money, customers or regulated data | A custom build with test mode, sign-off steps and a full log. |
You do not have to choose one for everything. A common and sensible set-up is a handful of Zaps for the simple links and one custom workflow for the process that really matters. If you already have a Zapier or Make account that has grown out of hand, I can take over the one automation that is hurting and leave the rest alone.
At the entry level, yes. Make's Core plan is US$9 a month on annual billing for 10,000 credits, and Zapier's Professional plan is US$19.99 a month on annual billing for 750 tasks. The two count usage differently, so compare them on the number of steps your automation runs each month, not on the headline price.
Yes. Both let you add an AI step that reads text, classifies it or drafts a reply, and both now offer agent features. That is enough for simple cases. They are weaker when you need to test changes against real data, control exactly which model is used, keep a full audit trail, or keep the data in your own cloud account.
When one of four things happens: the monthly bill climbs because of volume, an automation fails quietly and nobody notices for days, the scenario has grown so large that nobody wants to touch it, or you need it to work with a system that has no connector. Move that one automation and leave the simple ones where they are.
They are the same kind of tool. n8n can be hosted on your own server, which helps with data location and volume pricing but means someone has to look after it. Power Automate comes with many Microsoft 365 plans and is the natural choice when everything involved lives in Microsoft. The advice on this page applies to all of them.
With me, yes. The code, the data and the cloud account are yours, and it is documented so another developer could take it over. Ask any builder this question before you start, because some deliver custom work on a platform that only they control.
Show me the automation that keeps breaking, or the one you have not dared to build, on a free 30-minute call. I will tell you whether it belongs in Zapier, Make or code, and what each would cost. Discovery is always free.
Book a free call