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Make, Zapier or n8n: which one for a small practice?

By DRAK Infinity · Updated November 6, 2026 · 7 min read
Illustration: an automated client journey, from calendar to payment, linked by a golden thread.
Illustration. The three tools do roughly the same thing; they do not do it at the same price, or in the same place.

When you automate a small practice, the tool that connects the pieces matters less than what you ask it to do. But you still need to pick one, and people ask me this often. Here are the three I know, compared on what matters for a clinic, a salon or a self-employed worker in Quebec: the real price, where your data goes, and what connects to your tools. Everything was checked on November 6, 2026; these pages change, recheck before you sign.

1. What the three do

Make, Zapier and n8n are "connectors": when something happens in one tool (a client books, a form is filled out, a payment comes in), they trigger a chain of actions in other tools (send an email, write a row in a spreadsheet, alert your phone). You keep your calendar and your email; you add a conductor.

The difference comes down to three things: what it actually costs once you use it for real, where the data that flows through it is hosted, and whether your own tools are recognized.

2. Prices, as of November 6, 2026

MakeZapiern8n
Free1,000 credits a month (one simple action uses one credit)100 tasks a month, two-step scenarios only, checks every 15 minutesNo free cloud plan; the Community edition installs on your own server, free of charge
First paid planCore: $11 USD a month billed yearly, $16 billed monthly, 10,000 creditsProfessional: "starting at $19.99 USD a month," multi-step scenarios, checks every 2 minutesCloud Starter: €20 a month billed yearly, 2,500 executions (Pro: €50, 10,000 executions)
CurrencyUS dollarsUS dollarsEuros

For a small practice, a full client journey (welcome, reminder, confirmation, post-visit, follow-up) uses a few hundred credits or tasks a month. Zapier's free plan is quickly too short (100 tasks, two steps); Make's sometimes holds up for a single automation; Make's first paid tier is the cheapest of the three.

3. Where your data goes

This is the question nobody asks, and the one that matters most in Quebec, because of Law 25.

  • Zapier says it plainly: data is hosted on AWS servers in the United States, and it offers no option to limit storage to Europe. No Canadian option.
  • Make offers data zones in the United States and in Europe, chosen at your organization level. No Canadian zone found.
  • n8n in the cloud is hosted in Frankfurt, Germany. And it is the only one of the three that installs on your own server: with a Home lab, your automations can run at your place, and the data never leaves Montréal.
What this means: none of the three keeps your data in Canada in its cloud version. That is not forbidden, but Law 25 requires a privacy impact assessment before personal information leaves Quebec, and a privacy policy that says so. For an appointment reminder (a name, a time), that is manageable; for a health questionnaire, you think twice about what travels, and where.

4. What connects to your tools

Your toolMakeZapiern8n
Square (bookings, payments)Yes, 19 modulesYes (new appointment, new client, new payment)No official module; webhook route
GOrendezvousNot confirmed; webhook or HTTP to checkNo ("not yet available")No module; webhook or HTTP
Google CalendarYes, 21 modulesYesYes, native module
GmailYes, 15 modulesYesYes, native module
Telegram (alerts on your phone)Yes, 32 modulesYesYes, native module

If you book through GOrendezvous, none of the three recognizes it on its own as of this writing. You go through a webhook (a signal the tool sends when an appointment is created) or by reading the synced Google calendar. It is doable, it takes a bit more work up front, and I say so before starting.

5. What I choose, and why

For a client with no server who wants it to run without thinking about it: Make. The first tier is the cheapest, the interface makes sense without being technical, the Square, Google and Telegram modules are solid, and the account is in the client's name: if they stop working with me, they keep everything.

For a client with a Home lab who wants nothing to leave their home: n8n, installed on their server. Free to license, a bit more technical to maintain, and the only choice that keeps data in Canada. For a client journey with health questionnaires, it is often the right answer.

Zapier remains the best known and the simplest for a straight-line flow, but the free plan is too limited for a real journey, the first paid tier costs almost double what Make's does, and the data sits in the United States with no other option. I do not offer it first.

Two comparisons published in 2026 reach roughly the same conclusion: Make for most small teams. These are not rigorous independent studies; take them as a second opinion, not proof.

House rule, whichever tool is chosen: the account is created in your own name, in front of you; the subscription is your own cost, kept separate, estimated in writing before starting (Make Core: $11 to $16 USD a month depending on billing); I work by invitation inside your account, never with a shared password; at the end, you remove my access.
Not sure which one to choose?

We decide together at the Discovery meeting, free, 30 minutes: your tools, your data, your budget. No jargon.

See the Automation offer

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