Make vs Apify
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Make and Apify.
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Verdict: Apify wins
Apify scores 4.3/5, edging out Make at 4.2/5. Developers and data teams who need web data as a recurring pipeline — prebuilt scrapers to start, custom Actors and proxy infrastructure as they scale.
Make Visual automation platform for everyone | Apify Web scraping and automation platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.2 (1 review) | 4.3 (1 review) |
| Pricing Model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting Price | Free tier available | Free tier available |
| Best For | Ops-minded individuals and small teams who want visual, branching automation with real debugging and do not need self-hosting. | Developers and data teams who need web data as a recurring pipeline — prebuilt scrapers to start, custom Actors and proxy infrastructure as they scale. |
| Free Tier | ||
| API Access | ||
| Team Features | ||
| Open Source | ||
| Tags | no codefree tier | free tierapi accessopen source |
| Visit Make → | Visit Apify → |
Make
Pros
- + Visual bundle-level debugger: in my router test I traced dropped records to a timezone filter in under a minute, something Zapier's flat step log makes slow
- + Credit pricing stays cheap at realistic volumes — 10,000 credits/month tiers started at $9–$12/mo billed annually at time of writing (make.com/en/pricing)
- + HTTP, JSON, and XML modules are strong enough to replace custom code for most API glue work in my builds
- + Error handling is explicit: scoped error handlers and break directives mean one bad record does not kill a whole run
- + Celonis ownership and a product dating to 2012 (as Integromat) give it one of the longer reliability track records in the category
Cons
- - Polling triggers burn credits on every scheduled check whether or not data changed; my naive 1-minute poll ate budget until I moved to webhooks
- - No self-hosting and no source-available license — cloud-only, which rules it out for data-residency requirements
- - Run history on the free plan is short (three days at time of writing), so debugging real incidents needs a paid plan
- - The concepts curve (bundles vs arrays, iterators, aggregators) is steeper than Zapier's; expect a week before complex flows feel natural
- - Pricing is inconsistent across sessions — Make has served different Core/Pro/Teams price cards ($9/$16/$29 vs $12/$21/$38 annually), so confirm your quote
Apify
Pros
- + Genuine free sandbox: $5 monthly credit covers real test runs of store Actors, not just a feature tour
- + Store breadth — flagship scrapers (Google Maps, Instagram, SERP) show 4.6–4.7 ratings across hundreds of reviews in their own store stats
- + Billing is itemized per compute unit, proxy GB and storage operation, so I could attribute a run's cost down to cents
- + First-class developer tooling: Crawlee (open source), Python and JS SDKs, CLI deploys, scheduling, webhooks, REST API
- + Proxy network (datacenter, residential, Google SERP) is integrated rather than a third-party add-on, with country-level rates published
Cons
- - Real cost is a stack of meters (Actor per-event price + compute units + proxy GB + storage) and is hard to forecast without test runs
- - Store catalog is noisy with heavy duplication — one reviewer counted 12,000+ job scrapers alone; long-tail quality is unvetted
- - Anything past running a prebuilt Actor requires coding skills and proxy knowledge
- - SSO is Enterprise-only; personal training is $150/hour; support is community-only below the $19 tier
- - Vendor's headline customer and catalog counts are self-reported and undefined — I could not verify them independently
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Make or Apify?▼
Apify scores higher at 4.3/5 vs 4.2/5 for Make, making it the better-rated option in our comparison.
What is the difference between Make and Apify?▼
Make: Make is a visual automation platform where you connect apps and build multi-step workflows by drawing them on a canvas. Apify: Apify is a marketplace and platform of ready-made web scrapers and automation actors, with tooling to build and host your own.
Is Make or Apify more affordable?▼
Make starts at €0/mo, Apify starts at €0/mo. Check the comparison table above for current pricing.
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