Almost every marketing team reaches the same point: leads arrive from ads, forms and calendars, and someone is copying them into a CRM, a spreadsheet and a Slack channel by hand. Automation tools fix that. The two I use most are Make.com and Zapier — and the right choice depends less on features and more on who will maintain the workflows.
Here’s how I decide.
The short answer
Choose Zapier when the workflows are simple, the team is non-technical, and you want something running today.
Choose Make when workflows branch, loop through lists or reshape data — or when volume is high enough that cost matters.
Many teams end up using both: Zapier for quick one-step automations, Make for the core lead pipeline.
Zapier: fastest to start
Zapier’s strength is simplicity. You pick a trigger (“new lead in Facebook Lead Ads”), add actions (“create contact in HubSpot”, “send Slack message”) and it’s live. Its app library is the largest of any automation tool, so if a marketing app exists, it probably has a Zapier integration.
Where it shines in marketing ops:
Sending new ad leads to a CRM and a notification channel.
Adding webinar registrants to an email list.
Logging form submissions to Google Sheets.
Creating tasks in Asana or Notion when a deal stage changes.
Where it gets harder: Zapier supports filters, paths and formatting steps, but once a workflow needs several branches, loops over lists or careful error handling, the setup becomes harder to read and debug. Pricing is based on tasks (roughly, each action that runs), so busy multi-step workflows can get expensive.
Make: more control, more to learn
Make (formerly Integromat) shows a workflow as a visual map of connected modules. That makes complex logic far easier to see: routers split the flow into branches, iterators loop through lists, and you can inspect exactly what data passed through each step on every run.
Where it shines in marketing ops:
Lead routing with several rules — by country, budget, service or lead source.
Cleaning and enriching data before it reaches the CRM (formatting phone numbers, splitting names, removing duplicates).
Pulling ad spend from several platforms into one reporting sheet on a schedule.
Multi-step client onboarding: create folders, send contracts, set up tasks, notify the team.
The trade-off: Make has a steeper learning curve. Someone needs to understand how data moves between modules, how to map fields, and how to set up error handlers. It also bills by usage (operations, which Make has been moving to a credits model), so it’s worth checking current pricing — but for high-volume or multi-step workflows it’s usually the cheaper option.
How I choose for a client
I ask four questions:
Who will maintain it? If it’s a busy founder or a non-technical marketing assistant, Zapier. If there’s an ops person or agency looking after it, Make.
How complex is the logic? One trigger and two or three actions: Zapier. Branches, loops or data clean-up: Make.
What’s the volume? A few hundred runs a month won’t matter much on either. Thousands of multi-step runs often favour Make on cost.
Which apps are involved? Check that both tools support the exact triggers and actions you need — integrations differ in depth, not just in whether they exist.
A lead workflow I build often
Here is a typical setup for a service business running Meta Ads:
Trigger: new lead from Meta Lead Ads (or a website form).
Clean the data: format name and phone number, tag the lead source and campaign.
Check for duplicates in the CRM before creating a contact.
Route the lead: high-intent leads go straight to the sales team’s channel; others go into a nurture email sequence.
Log it to a reporting sheet so lead volume and source can be tracked weekly.
Alert on failure: if any step errors, send a message so leads are never silently lost.
On Zapier this works, but steps 2–4 need several formatter and path steps. On Make it fits naturally on one visual map — which is why this is usually where I use Make.
Mistakes to avoid with either tool
No error alerts. A broken automation can drop leads for weeks before anyone notices. Always set up a failure notification.
Building on personal accounts. Connect apps with a shared business login so workflows don’t break when someone leaves.
No documentation. Name every step clearly and keep a one-page note of what each workflow does.
Automating a messy process. If the manual process isn’t clear, automation just makes the mess faster.
Key takeaway
Pick the tool your team can maintain. A simple Zapier workflow that runs reliably beats a clever Make scenario nobody understands.
FAQ
Is Make cheaper than Zapier?
For high-volume or multi-step workflows, Make is usually cheaper because of how it counts usage. For a few simple automations, the difference is small. Check both current pricing pages against your expected monthly runs.
Can I move workflows from Zapier to Make?
There’s no one-click migration. You rebuild each workflow, which is also a good moment to clean up the logic.
Which is better for a CRM like HubSpot or GoHighLevel?
Both connect to the major CRMs. GoHighLevel and HubSpot also have their own built-in automation, so check whether you need an external tool at all before adding one.
Need a lead pipeline that doesn’t depend on copy-paste? Let’s talk.
