AI Automation Specialist — Eliser Eguia Tual

Choosing between n8n, Zapier and Make

Choose an automation platform around your actual apps, required actions, expected volume, hosting needs and the team responsible for maintaining it.

For a Zapier build, first check that the trigger and actions you need are supported by your apps. My portfolio includes an AI content workflow connecting source extraction, content processing and publishing steps.

For a Make.com build, map the scenario routes, field mappings and failure cases. My portfolio includes a workflow connecting Asana, Xero and Google Sheets.

n8n offers cloud and self-hosted deployment options. My n8n examples include meeting preparation and minutes, job monitoring and AI messaging. Self-hosting requires someone to own updates, backups and infrastructure; connected external services may still process data outside that infrastructure.

• Multi-step workflows connecting CRMs, spreadsheets, accounting systems and messaging platforms
• AI-assisted steps — classification, extraction, summarisation and drafting inside a workflow
• Scheduled jobs: reporting, reconciliation, data cleanup, monitoring
• Webhook receivers and custom API integrations for tools with no native connector
• Self-hosted n8n deployment where data residency or cost rules out a hosted platform

Where AI belongs in a workflow

Most business automation does not need a model, and adding one where deterministic logic would do makes a workflow slower, more expensive, and harder to debug. A model earns its place when the input is unstructured — free text, a document, a transcript, an email — and the output needs judgement rather than a lookup.

That is where I use the Anthropic Claude API: classifying inbound messages, extracting structured fields from documents, summarising call transcripts into CRM notes, drafting replies a human then approves. The workflow around it stays deterministic, so when something breaks it is clear whether the failure was the logic or the model.

When automation is the wrong answer

Some processes should not be automated in a no-code tool. If a workflow needs state across many steps, complex retries, or has to serve a user interface, stitching it together in Zapier produces something nobody can maintain. At that point the honest answer is to build the application — Next.js on Supabase and Vercel — and keep the automation platform for what it is genuinely good at.

Knowing where that line sits is most of the value. Recommending a build when a Zap would do wastes money; recommending a Zap when it needs a build wastes more.

Common questions

Should I use n8n, Zapier or Make?

Compare app support, the trigger and actions, expected volume, hosting requirements and who will maintain the workflow. My portfolio has examples for all three platforms so you can review comparable work before scoping a build.

Can automation workflows use AI models?

Yes. All three platforms can call the Anthropic Claude API and similar services. The useful pattern is a deterministic workflow with a model handling the one step that needs judgement, not a model orchestrating the whole process.

What does self-hosting n8n actually require?

Self-hosting requires infrastructure and responsibility for configuration, security updates, backups and recovery. External APIs and AI providers used by the workflow still receive the data sent to them. Review current n8n documentation and licensing for your intended deployment.