The short verdict
Make's free plan is a genuinely usable way to automate a small business, as long as your automations run a few times a day rather than hundreds. You get 1,000 credits a month, and most actions use one credit each. Router and error-handler modules use none, which makes branching workflows cheaper than you might expect. If your scenarios handle a steady stream of orders, leads or emails, you will outgrow the free allowance and need a paid plan.
Make (formerly Integromat) is a no-code automation platform: you connect apps such as Gmail, Google Sheets, Shopify or ClickUp on a visual canvas, and Make moves data between them for you. It is in our top three tools because it offers a lot of automation for the money. This guide explains exactly what the free plan includes, how Make counts usage, and how to estimate whether the free allowance is enough for you.
Everything below comes from Make's official pricing page and help centre, checked in October 2026 (prices checked October 2026). One limitation of our check: the plan price cards on Make's pricing page didn't load in the version we could read, so we don't quote paid-plan prices here. Make sells its paid plans in US dollars; see the live page for current figures.
What Make's free plan includes
| Feature | Make Free (as of Oct 2026) |
|---|---|
| Monthly usage | 1,000 credits a month |
| Billing unit | Credits: most module actions use 1 credit; some AI features use more |
| Free modules | Router and error-handler modules (Rollback, Break, Resume, Commit, Ignore) use no credits |
| Data storage | 1 MB, which equals 1 data store |
| Scheduling | Scenarios run every 15 minutes by default; the minimum interval depends on your plan |
| Unused credits | Expire at the end of the term |
| Our rating for Make | 9.0/10 |
How credits work
Make's pricing page says that, as of 27 August, credits are its billing unit. It explains that every time a module in a scenario performs an action, it consumes credits, and gives examples of actions that count:
- reading data from an app or webhook;
- searching for, creating, updating or deleting data in an app;
- transforming data with Make's built-in tools;
- aggregating rows into an array or text, or iterating through rows.
Most actions use one credit. Some advanced features that use Make's AI Provider may use more, so AI-heavy scenarios burn through credits faster. Depending on its complexity, a single run of a scenario can use anywhere from two credits to thousands.
The exceptions are useful: routers, which split a scenario into different paths, and error handlers don't count. So "if the enquiry mentions a refund, send it to support; otherwise send it to sales" costs no more than a straight line.
How far do 1,000 credits go? A worked example
These are illustrative sums, not measurements, to help you estimate your own usage. Take a typical small-business scenario: new website enquiry → add a row to Google Sheets → send a Slack message → create a task in ClickUp. That's four modules: the trigger reading the new enquiry, plus three actions. If each module uses one credit, each enquiry uses about four credits.
- 5 enquiries a day: roughly 20 credits a day, or about 600 in a 30-day month. That fits within the free plan.
- 15 enquiries a day: roughly 60 credits a day, or about 1,800 a month. That's beyond the free allowance.
Add an AI step to categorise each enquiry and the cost per run can rise. The practical approach is to build your most important scenario on the free plan, run it for a week, and check the credit usage in your Make dashboard before you multiply up.
What happens if you run out of credits?
According to Make, when you run out your scenarios stop running until credits are added again. Incoming webhooks are queued, up to your webhook queue allowance, and processed once scenarios resume. Scenarios that poll for data will look for records since their last successful run. So you don't necessarily lose data, but your automations pause.
On a paid plan you have more options: upgrade before the end of the term, buy extra credits in bundles of 1,000 or 10,000 at the price fixed in your subscription, or turn on auto-purchase, which buys 10,000 extra credits before you run out (Core, Pro and Teams plans only).
Free plan limitations to know about
- Scheduling. Make's help centre says scenarios run every 15 minutes by default and that the minimum interval depends on your plan. If you need near-instant runs on a schedule, check the plan details. Some triggers can run immediately as data arrives.
- Data stores. Free includes 1 MB of data storage (one data store). That's fine for a small lookup table, not for storing thousands of records.
- Credits don't roll over. Unused credits expire at the end of the term.
- Usage allowance scales with credits. Make ties data transfer, storage and webhook queue size to the number of credits you license, so paid plans get more headroom as you buy more credits.
When should a small business upgrade?
Make's paid plans are Core, Pro and Teams, plus Enterprise for large organisations. Prices rise with the number of credits you buy each month. Consider upgrading when:
- your dashboard shows you'll use more than 1,000 credits most months;
- you need scenarios to run more often than the free plan allows;
- you need more data storage, or more scenarios running at once (check the plan comparison on the live pricing page);
- a paused automation would cost you sales or annoy customers.
Two ways to pay less. First, Make says annual payment is cheaper than paying monthly. Second, Make advertises a Start-up Plan for companies with fewer than 20 employees, which its pricing page describes as 50% off Business for companies that qualify. Non-profits can contact Make about discounts. Make says it accepts major credit cards, ACH direct debit and Google Pay on Core, Pro and Teams.
If you cancel a paid plan, Make says it runs until the end of the billing period and your organisation then switches back to the Free plan. If you downgrade, any active scenarios using higher-plan features are stopped, and Make notifies you first.
Make free plan vs Zapier free plan
The most common alternative is Zapier. We cover the full comparison in our Make vs Zapier guide, but on free plans the key difference is the counting model. Make counts credits per module action and includes routers at no credit cost, which suits multi-step, branching workflows. Zapier counts tasks instead, with its own free-plan limits (see our Zapier notes). Zapier is easier to learn; Make usually gives you more automation for free.
Five free-plan automations worth building first
- Enquiries to a spreadsheet and a task: form submission → Google Sheets row → task in ClickUp.
- New subscriber welcome: new sign-up in your email tool → tag them and notify you. Pairs well with a tool from our free email marketing guide.
- Invoice filing: email with a PDF attachment → save it to a cloud folder.
- Weekly summary: once a week, collect last week's rows and email yourself a digest.
- Routing with a router: send enquiries to different people based on keywords, without extra credits for the router itself.
Keep scenarios lean: every extra module is another credit per run.
Bottom line
Make's free plan is one of the most useful free automation plans for small businesses: 1,000 credits a month, branching at no extra credit cost and Make's visual builder. It's ideal for proving that automation saves you time. Once your scenarios run dozens of times a day, budget for a paid plan, and check whether you qualify for Make's Start-up Plan discount.
Frequently asked questions
Is Make.com free?
Yes. Make has a Free plan with 1,000 credits a month. Most module actions use one credit, so it suits low-volume automations. Checked October 2026.
What is a credit in Make?
Credits are Make's billing unit. Each module action in a scenario, such as reading, creating or updating data, uses credits, usually one. Routers and error-handler modules use none, while some AI features use more.
What happens when I use up my free Make credits?
Your scenarios stop until credits are added again. Make says incoming webhooks are queued up to your allowance and processed when scenarios resume, and polling scenarios look for records since their last successful run.
Do unused Make credits roll over?
No. Make's pricing page says credits expire at the end of the term.
Is there a Make discount for small businesses?
Make advertises a Start-up Plan for companies with fewer than 20 employees, described as 50% off Business for companies that qualify. Annual billing is also cheaper than monthly, according to Make.
Prices and plan limits change frequently. We note the date we checked each fact; always confirm on the vendor's official pricing page before buying. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.