Make vs Zapier for Australian Businesses 2026: Which Wins?

If you want the most connections and the easiest start, Zapier wins. If you want more automation power for less money, Make wins. That's the whole comparison in two sentences — but the gap matters more than it looks, and neither tool fixes the one thing Australian businesses keep asking about: where your data actually lives.

At a glance

Where Zapier wins

The integration count is in a different league. Zapier connects 9,000+ apps with 66,000+ triggers and actions. Make lists 3,000+ apps (plus generic HTTP/JSON). If your stack has a niche app, Zapier is far more likely to already support it natively — no fiddling with raw API calls.

It's the easiest on-ramp. Zapier is the incumbent for a reason: the trigger-action model is the simplest mental model in automation. A non-technical owner can build a working "new lead → Slack message" Zap in minutes.

Task metering is easier to predict than credits. You pay per task — one task per action completed. It's not cheap, but it's legible: you can roughly forecast a month.

Where Make wins

It's cheaper and more powerful at once. Make's visual builder handles branching, loops, and proper error-handling natively — the kind of conditional logic that turns "if/then" into real workflows. And it starts at US$9/mo (~A$13 ex-GST) against Zapier's US$19.99/mo (~A$28).

Unlimited users, flat per-org pricing. There's no separate per-seat "Teams" plan. You pay per organisation and add as many users as you like. For a growing Australian SME, that removes a whole category of cost creep — Zapier's Team plan starts at US$69/mo (~A$97 ex-GST) and scales with people.

Native AI on every plan. Make AI Agents are available on all tiers including Free, plus Maia, a natural-language assistant for building scenarios. Zapier has AI Agents and Chatbots too, but they're add-ons priced separately on top of your plan.

Watch out for: the metering traps

Both tools meter usage, and both can bite.

Make's per-credit model is a budget trap. Every module action burns a credit. A single scenario with ten steps can chew through credits fast, and since November 2025 overages carry a 25% markup. Core plans go up to 300k credits, Pro up to 8M — but a busy multi-step scenario can blow through an allowance quicker than the headline price suggests. Model your real workflows before committing.

Zapier's per-task pricing adds up. Tasks are easier to predict, but at scale the bill climbs. The AI Agents and Chatbots add-ons are charged on top — the sticker price isn't the whole story.

Australian fit: where both fall short

This is where the lens matters, and where both tools score a flat 2/5.

Data residency: neither offers an Australian region. Zapier stores data in the US. Make stores in the US or EU only — and there's no self-host option. If your business has data-residency obligations (government-adjacent work, regulated industries, contractual AU-only clauses), neither tool meets them out of the box. This is the single biggest reason to pause before rolling either out widely.

Billing is in USD for both. You'll be billed in US dollars and wear the conversion. Zapier is at least registered under Australia's Simplified GST system — it charges GST and lets you add an ABN — but it does not issue a full ATO tax invoice, which your bookkeeper may grumble about at BAS time. Make's pages don't state GST or ABN handling at all, so assume you'll need to sort the tax treatment yourself.

Compliance — a specific flag for health. Zapier holds SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3. Note carefully: it is not ISO 27001 certified itself (that certification sits with sub-processors). And Zapier offers no HIPAA support and will not sign a BAA on any plan. If you're an Australian health-sector operator handling sensitive patient data and routing it through automation, that's a real limitation — read it as a caution against piping clinical data through Zapier.

Pricing showdown

USD prices are the vendors' own. Conversions use the current rate (1 USD ≈ 1.40 AUD, 4 September 2026) and are shown ex-GST: under ATO rules, a GST-registered Australian business that supplies its ABN is not charged GST on imported digital services. If you are not GST-registered shown ex-GST (a GST-registered business quoting its ABN is not charged GST on an imported digital service; other buyers add ~10%). Both bill in USD, so your actual charge moves with the exchange rate. Make's annual pricing includes a 15% discount. Make restructured in September 2026: one paid plan priced purely by credit volume, replacing the old Core/Pro/Teams tiers. The US$9 entry now carries 5,000 credits; 10,000 costs US$16.

On headline price, Make wins at every tier. Just remember the credit metering can erode that advantage if your scenarios are action-heavy.

Who should pick which

Pick Zapier if you want the widest app coverage and the fastest, simplest setup; your team isn't technical and you value the trigger-action model; or the specific app you need to connect isn't on Make's list.

Pick Make if you want more automation power for less money; your workflows need branching, loops, or error-handling; you're adding lots of users (the unlimited-user, flat per-org model is a genuine saving over Zapier's per-seat Team plan); or you want native AI Agents on the free tier.

Verdict

Winner: it's a split — Zapier for breadth and ease, Make for value and power.

For the typical 35-year-old Melbourne business owner automating a known stack with a non-technical team, Zapier's 9,000+ integrations and gentler learning curve make it the safer first choice — it's the incumbent because it works. But if you're cost-conscious, comfortable with a visual builder, and your automations have real logic to them, Make does more for roughly half the entry price, with unlimited users on top. The deciding factors aren't really the two tools against each other — they're external: model the metering against your actual workflows first (Make's credits especially), and accept that neither offers Australian data residency. If that's a hard requirement for you, the honest answer is that both fall short, and you should look elsewhere before committing. And if you're in health and handling sensitive data, Zapier's no-HIPAA, no-BAA stance is a stop sign.

Frequently asked questions

Which is better for Australians, Make or Zapier?

It's a split. Zapier (20/25) wins on breadth and ease — 9,000+ apps and the simplest setup, and it will quote and charge you in Australian dollars. Make (18/25) wins on value and power — branching, loops and error-handling for roughly half the entry price. Neither clears our Australian Fit bar, so neither solves data residency.

Which is cheaper in AUD?

Make, at every tier. Its paid plans start at US$9/month (about A$13 ex-GST annual) against Zapier's US$19.99/month (about A$28). Make also offers flat per-org, unlimited-user pricing where Zapier charges per seat. Both bill in USD, so you wear the conversion. Watch Make's per-credit metering.

Is there a free plan?

Yes, both offer a free tier. Make's free tier notably includes AI Agents. Zapier's free tier has per-task limits. Both are genuine ways to test before paying.

Do either store data in Australia?

No. Zapier stores data in the US; Make stores in the US or EU only, with no self-host option. If you have AU data-residency obligations, neither meets them out of the box — that's the single biggest reason to pause before rolling either out widely.

Are they safe for health-sector data?

Be careful with Zapier. It offers no HIPAA support and won't sign a BAA on any plan, so it's a stop sign for routing sensitive patient data through automation. If you're an Australian health operator, treat that as a caution against piping clinical data through Zapier.

Read next

• Category guide: Best AI Automation Tools in Australia 2026
• Gumloop Review (2026)
• Make (make.com) Review (Australia, 2026)

Sources

This comparison draws on The AI Directory Australia's underlying reviews of [Zapier] and [Make], each scored against our five-criteria framework and verified against the vendors' own pricing, security, and documentation pages on 3 June 2026. Pricing and metering terms change often — check the live pages before you buy.

Synthesised from The AI Directory's verified reviews (facts checked against each vendor's own pages, 3 June 2026). Wayback capture inherited from the underlying reviews; confirm live pricing before purchase.