We built our first 50+ client workflows on Make.com. It was fast, visual, and the app library made connecting tools trivially easy. For simple two-step automations, it still is the fastest path from idea to production.
But as our agency clients scaled and their workflows got more complex, we started hitting walls. This is the story of why we moved our primary stack to self-hosted n8n, what we gained, and when we still reach for Make.
Where Make.com started to break down
The first issue was cost. Make.com charges per operation, and agency workflows are operation-heavy. A single client reporting pipeline that pulls from Meta, Google Ads, LinkedIn, and HubSpot can burn through thousands of operations per run. Multiply that by 15 clients running weekly, and the bill adds up fast.
The second issue was control. When a Make.com scenario fails at 3 AM, you get an email. With n8n self-hosted, we have full logging, custom error handling, and alerting piped directly into our monitoring stack. We see failures in real time and can debug with full execution data.
What n8n gave us
Self-hosting means we own the infrastructure. No per-operation fees. No rate limits from the platform itself. We run n8n on our own servers, and the marginal cost of adding a new workflow is effectively zero.
n8n also gives us code nodes. When a workflow needs custom logic that visual builders struggle with (data transformation, conditional branching with complex rules, API pagination), we write it directly in JavaScript inside the workflow. No external scripts, no middleware.
When we still use Make.com
Make.com is still our go-to for quick internal tools and prototyping. When a client needs something simple connected fast and cost is not a concern, Make gets it done in an afternoon. We also use it for clients who want to manage their own automations after we leave, because the visual interface has a lower learning curve.
The split is roughly 80/20 in favor of n8n for production agency workflows. Make.com handles the rest.
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