n8n vs Power Automate vs Make: Which Should You Learn First?

n8n, Microsoft Power Automate and Make (formerly Integromat) all do the same basic job: connect apps together and move data between them on a trigger, with AI available as one of the steps in the chain. Which one is right for you depends less on features and more on what your organisation already runs, and how much control you need over hosting and cost.

n8n

n8n is an open-source, node-based automation tool that can be self-hosted or used as a managed cloud service. It has a generous free self-hosted tier, supports custom code steps in JavaScript or Python when the built-in nodes aren't enough, and connects to AI models from providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic directly. It suits technically minded teams, agencies building automations for clients, and anyone who wants to own their infrastructure rather than rent it.

Microsoft Power Automate

Power Automate is built into Microsoft 365, which makes it the natural choice if your organisation already runs on Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and Excel. Licensing is often included or low-cost within existing Microsoft 365 plans, permissions follow your existing Entra ID setup, and it integrates with Copilot Studio for AI-driven flows. The trade-off is that it's most comfortable staying inside the Microsoft ecosystem — connecting to non-Microsoft tools takes more setup.

Make

Make offers a highly visual, drag-and-drop canvas that's often considered the easiest of the three to read at a glance, with strong support for complex branching logic and a wide connector library. It sits on cloud-hosted, subscription pricing similar to n8n's cloud tier, but without a self-hosted option. It's a solid middle ground for teams that want visual clarity without committing to the Microsoft ecosystem.

Where AI Fits Into Each Platform

All three platforms let you call an AI model as a step, but they differ in how much of that is built in. n8n has native nodes for calling OpenAI, Anthropic and other model providers directly, plus the flexibility to write custom code around the response if the built-in options aren't enough. Power Automate integrates most naturally with Microsoft's own AI Builder and Copilot Studio, which is convenient if you're already inside that ecosystem but more restrictive if you want a specific model from outside it. Make supports AI steps through its connector library and HTTP modules, which covers most providers but sometimes needs a bit more manual configuration than the other two.

Cost at a Glance

None of these platforms charge for connecting to an AI model itself — that cost comes separately from whichever AI provider you use — but the automation platforms themselves price differently. n8n's self-hosted tier can run for the cost of a small server; Make and Power Automate are priced per operation or per flow run, which is worth checking against how many times a day your automation will actually trigger before you commit.

How to Choose

• Already on Microsoft 365 for email, Teams and files — start with Power Automate.
• Want to self-host, use custom code, or work across many non-Microsoft tools — start with n8n.
• Want the clearest visual builder and don't mind cloud-only hosting — start with Make.
• Not sure yet — learn the underlying trigger-action-AI pattern once, using whichever tool matches your current job, and the other two transfer quickly.

That last point matters more than the tool choice itself. Once you understand how a trigger, a set of actions and an AI step fit together, moving between n8n, Make and Power Automate is mostly a matter of learning a different interface — the thinking underneath stays the same.

Cloudpilar Academy's Getting Started with AI Agents & Automation (CPP-02) is a one-day, live online course that covers all three platforms rather than picking one for you, so you leave able to judge which tool fits your own organisation's systems.