Make vs n8n
Make scores higher on the AgentReady, 62/100 against 60/100. They differ on 7 of the 41 signals. Which ones decides whether an agent can adopt them without a person watching.
What each one is
Make. Make is a visual AI automation platform that enables users to connect any app, data source, or AI model to build and manage automations and AI agents visually, in code, or via natural language prompts.
n8n. AI Workflow Automation Platform - the world's most popular workflow automation platform for technical teams
Where Make is ahead
Make passes structured api reference, and n8n does not. That is understand, whether an agent can read the docs and work out how the API behaves before calling it.
It also holds operate: structured, predictable output and agent compatibility verified. n8n misses those.
Where n8n is ahead
n8n passes clear canonical domain and clear product positioning, and Make does not. That is discover, whether an agent can find the product at all without being told it exists.
It also holds adopt: agent-compatible signup flow and cli available. Make misses those.
What neither does
Both fail openapi / spec quality, authentication documented, request examples provided, response examples provided, errors and status codes documented, limits / constraints documented, no mandatory sales call, programmatic credential creation, machine-readable errors, retry behavior documented, idempotency support, rate-limit behavior predictable. If your agent needs any of those, you will be building it yourself either way.
Score, pillar by pillar
The AgentReady splits into four pillars, scored separately, because a product can be easy to find and still impossible to adopt.
Discover. n8n leads 100 to 80. Make misses clear canonical domain, clear product positioning; n8n misses nothing.
Understand. Make leads 38 to 23. Make misses openapi / spec quality, authentication documented, request examples provided, response examples provided, errors and status codes documented, limits / constraints documented; n8n misses structured api reference, openapi / spec quality, authentication documented, request examples provided, response examples provided, errors and status codes documented, limits / constraints documented.
Adopt. n8n leads 80 to 65. Make misses no mandatory sales call, agent-compatible signup flow, programmatic credential creation, cli available; n8n misses no mandatory sales call, programmatic credential creation.
Operate is whether an agent can run against it in production and recover when a call fails. Make leads 65 to 35. Make misses machine-readable errors, retry behavior documented, idempotency support, rate-limit behavior predictable; n8n misses structured, predictable output, machine-readable errors, retry behavior documented, idempotency support, rate-limit behavior predictable, agent compatibility verified.
Pricing
Make does not publish a machine-readable starting price and has a free tier. n8n starts at $20/mo and has a free tier.
| Make plans | n8n plans |
|---|---|
| - | Starter $20/mo, billed annually |
| - | Pro $50/mo, billed annually |
| - | Business $800/mo, billed annually |
| - | Enterprise Contact Sales |
| - | Start-up Plan 50% off Business |
| - | Community Edition Free |
Signal by signal
| Signal | Make | n8n |
|---|---|---|
| AgentReady | 62 | 60 |
| Discovery | 80 | 100 |
| Understanding | 38 | 23 |
| Adoption | 65 | 80 |
| Operability | 65 | 35 |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | Yes |
| OpenAPI spec | Yes | Unknown |
| CLI | Unknown | Yes |
| llms.txt | Yes | Yes |
| Self-serve signup | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
Which to pick
n8n clears more of the signals an agent needs, so it is the safer default for unattended use. Full profiles: Make and n8n. Alternatives to each: Make, n8n.
An agent can fetch this as data: POST /v1/compare {"slugs": ["make", "n8n"]}