Make.com vs Zapier for a Small Trade Business (2026): What I Actually Run
I own an appliance repair company in Tampa. Every automation in my shop runs on Make.com, and my whole month’s usage fits inside its free tier. Here’s the real setup, the real numbers, and when Zapier is the better choice.
By Sergei Barmichev · Owner, Element Appliance Repair (Tampa Bay, FL) · Updated September 2026
Most “Make vs Zapier” articles are written by people who sell automation to enterprises. I run a repair shop with one technician and one dispatcher. This is the comparison from that side of the truck.
The short answer
If you run a trade business with fewer than ten techs, Make.com is the better tool and it is usually free. Zapier is easier for the first hour and more expensive every month after that. The one case where I’d still pick Zapier is if the person building the automation will never touch it again after setup and you want the most beginner-proof option money can buy.
What actually runs in my shop today
These are my live Make.com scenarios, pulled from my account as I write this — not a demo.
| Scenario | What it does | Runs so far | Credits used | Errors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schedule Buddy — Telegram → ServiceM8 | My dispatcher types a job into a Telegram chat in plain English (“Maria, 3pm tomorrow, Whirlpool washer not draining, 813-555-…”). OpenAI turns it into structured data, Make creates the client and the job in ServiceM8, and Telegram replies with a confirmation. No form, no app switching. | 27 | 97 | 0 |
| Twilio Calls → Sheet | Pulls every inbound call from my tracking numbers into a Google Sheet so I can see which ad number actually rings. | 1 (on demand) | 16 | 0 |
| Call Tracker Ingest | Webhook from my VoIP system → Google Sheet. Missed-call log for the week. | — | 0 | 0 |
| Weekly content | Every Sunday, reads a row from a Sheet, drafts a post with OpenAI, publishes it to one of my local sites. | 5 | 25 | 0 |
Total credits consumed across everything: about 140. Make’s free plan gives you 1,000 a month, so a shop my size never needs more than the free tier or the $12 Core plan.
The same setup on Zapier — priced honestly
Zapier counts a “task” every time an action step runs. Schedule Buddy is seven steps (parse the message, look up the client, create the client if new, create the job, set the time, reply on Telegram, log it). That’s 7 tasks per booking. Twenty-seven bookings = 189 tasks. Zapier’s free plan is 100 tasks a month, so the very first month of my very first automation would already be a paid plan.
| Plan | Make.com (2026) | Zapier (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1,000 credits/mo, 2 active scenarios, 15-min minimum interval | 100 tasks/mo, 2-step zaps only |
| First paid tier | Core, about $12/mo — 10,000 credits, unlimited scenarios, 1-min interval | Professional, about $19.99/mo — 750 tasks, overage charges beyond that |
| What “one run” costs | One credit per module that fires | One task per action step |
The units sound similar. They aren’t. Make charges you for every box on the canvas that fires; Zapier charges for every action but not the trigger or filters. In practice, for a multi-step booking or dispatch flow, Make comes out 3–5x cheaper per run at the volumes a small shop sees, and the free tier is 10x more generous.
Where Zapier is better — no spin
- The first hour. Zapier’s editor is a form. Make’s editor is a canvas with circles and lines. If you’ve never automated anything, Zapier feels safer.
- Odd apps. Zapier has more pre-built connectors. If your CRM is obscure, check both before you commit. (ServiceM8, Jobber, Housecall Pro and Workiz all work fine on Make — via native modules or a plain HTTP call.)
- Nobody will ever look at it again. Zapier’s simplicity means fewer ways to break it. Make gives you routers and error handlers, which is power, and power is rope.
Where Make wins for a trade shop
- Branching. “If the customer already exists, update; if not, create” is one router in Make. In Zapier it’s a Paths feature that starts on the Professional plan.
- Seeing the data. When a booking fails, Make shows you the exact payload at the exact step. Zapier shows you a red icon and a vague message. When it’s 7am and a tech is waiting, this matters more than any feature.
- Talking to your CRM directly. Half of my Schedule Buddy modules are plain HTTP calls straight to the ServiceM8 API. Make’s HTTP module is first-class. Zapier’s is a paid add-on afterthought.
- Price at volume. Once you’re booking 200 jobs a month through automation, Zapier is $69+ and Make is still $12.
What I’d tell another owner
- Start on Make’s free plan. Build one thing: missed call → text the customer back. That’s 3 modules and it pays for itself the first week.
- Don’t build ten automations. Build one that runs every day and watch it for two weeks.
- Put an error handler on every scenario that touches your calendar. Make lets you route errors to a Telegram message. Silent failures are the only automations that ever hurt me.
- If you outgrow the free plan, you have a real business. Pay the $12.
Verdict
| You are… | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A 1–10 tech shop that wants booking, dispatch or missed-call automation | Make.com | Free tier covers you; branching and HTTP are built in |
| An owner who will set it up once and never open it again | Zapier | Fewer ways to break; you’ll pay ~$20/mo for that |
| Anyone connecting to ServiceM8, Jobber, Housecall Pro or Workiz | Make.com | Direct API calls without a paid add-on |
| Someone with an unusual app Make doesn’t list | Check Zapier first | Wider connector catalog |
Want the Schedule Buddy setup for your own shop? I build the same three automations for other trade businesses — phone answering that books into your CRM, quote follow-up, and a morning numbers page. See what I install and what it costs, or read how AI phone answering works for HVAC companies.
Affiliate note: some links on this site are referral links. It never changes what I recommend — Make.com is what I run, and I ran it before there was a link.