N8N vs Make for Romanian businesses 2026 — an honest comparison.
I use both platforms daily. N8N for my 200+ workflows at Blitz Ploiești. Make for several clients who prefer managed cloud. This is the article I wish I had read 5 years ago when I started.
╮ Spoiler: the answer isn\'t "N8N is better". The answer is "it depends".
TL;DR
If you\'re a freelancer / SMB with <50 employees, want to save money, want total control, and you\'re OK administering a €5/month VPS: N8N self-hosted.
If you want zero admin effort, care about guaranteed SLA, accept paying €30-€100/month for convenience, and never want to touch a terminal: Make.
For most Romanian entrepreneurs, my recommendation is N8N. Details below.
Quick math on real costs
For a small business with ~5,000 monthly executions:
- N8N self-hosted: €5/month VPS + ~€3 backup = €96/year + ~24h time/year
- Make Core plan: €10.59/month = €127/year + 0h time
If you value your time above €13/h, Make is more economical. Below €13/h, N8N wins net.
Comparison on key criteria
| Criterion | N8N | Make |
|---|---|---|
| Cost (10k exec/mo) | ~€8/mo VPS | €10.59/mo |
| Cost (100k exec/mo) | ~€10/mo VPS | €34/mo Pro |
| Setup time | 2-4h | 5 minutes |
| Custom code | Full JS/Python | Limited functions |
| Native integrations | 400+ | 2000+ |
| GDPR / data location | You control | EU servers, but cloud transit |
| Vendor lock-in | None — export JSON | High — proprietary format |
Choose N8N if you check 3+ of these
- Annual budget under €5,000 for automation
- You have or are willing to learn Linux VPS basics
- You will have high volume (10k+ executions/month)
- You want custom JavaScript/Python in workflows
- Strict GDPR — data physically stays on your server
- You want to avoid vendor lock-in at any cost
- You\'re building a product (selling workflows to clients)
Choose Make if you check 3+ of these
- You don\'t want to touch Linux/Docker terminals
- Low volume (under 5,000 exec/month) and your time is valuable (>€50/h)
- You need guaranteed SLA (financial audit, uptime clauses)
- Non-technical team will modify workflows
- You use exotic integrations Make has but N8N lacks
- You\'re prototyping quickly (Make is faster for PoCs)
What I use daily at Blitz Ploiești
N8N self-hosted on Hetzner CX21 (€5.83/month). I run ~30 workflows for: owner prospecting, lead qualification, voice agent for calls during meetings, email triage, expired-exclusive follow-up, calendar sync, weekly Notion digest.
Total monthly cost: €5.83 VPS + ~€8 API costs = €13.83/month. On Make the same setup would cost €34+/month. The annual difference (€240) plus the portability — being able to sell workflows to clients — makes N8N decisive for me.
My conclusion after 5 years
If you\'re starting fresh without technical aptitude: start with Make. Learn the concept. After 3-6 months, consider migrating to N8N for long-term savings.
If you\'re technical or have someone who is: start with N8N. Lower costs, higher control, portability — will pay back the learning curve 10x in a year.
If you\'re building a PRODUCT around automation: N8N, no debate. Make doesn\'t let you deliver "the workflow itself" — it\'s locked in your Make account.
Want to skip the learning curve? Buy a ready-made template.
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