Two very different visual workflow builders. Understand their AI capabilities, ease of use, pricing, and integrations to pick the right one in 2026.
If you're trying to decide between Relay.app and Make, you're comparing two very different philosophies of workflow automation.
Make is a visual-first, canvas-based platform built for power users. It connects to over 3,000 apps, supports advanced logic like branching, filtering, iteration, and error handling, and gives you granular control over every step. It's recently gone all-in on AI with next-gen Make AI Agents integrated directly into the Scenario Builder, complete with a reasoning panel, multimodal inputs, and dynamic routing. If you think in flowcharts and want maximum control, Make is impressive.
Relay.app takes the opposite approach. Relay.app is designed so that anyone, technical or not, can build AI-powered workflows in minutes. You describe what you want in plain language, and the Relay.app Agent builds, edits, and improves your workflows for you. AI models like OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini are built right in (no API keys required), and so are human-in-the-loop approvals so you can review what the AI produces before it goes anywhere.
Both platforms are capable. But they're built for different people, and the right choice depends on what you actually need!
Here's how they stack up across the criteria that matter most right now.
Relay.app vs Make: How they compare in 2026
What is
Relay.app
?
Relay.app stands out because it is incredibly easy to use. Non-technical users who have struggled with tools like Zapier and Make.com can create AI workflows in minutes. To create predictable, reliable AI workflows in Relay.app, all you need to do is explain what you want in plain language, and the Relay.app Agent will do it for you, from creation to editing to improving and analyzing results.
Product details
Relay.app is well liked for its ease of use for users and teams of all abilities, both non-technical and technical alike.
You can chat with the Relay.app Agent in natural language to create AI workflows, as well as edit them, improve them, and analyze results.
Relay.app also supports more technical and custom use cases with custom code, complex branching/looping logic, webhooks, and custom HTTP calls.
AI workflows have a simple visual representation that show you exactly what will happen when they run.
Human-in-the-loop options let people review or approve actions. This lets you keep an eye on what the AI is coming up with!
All the best AI models are built-in (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and more) and run using Relay.app's AI credits. You don't need API keys to use them (but you can use your own if you like!).
It has over 100 deep native integrations with popular tools so you can automate work and move data between all the apps you and your team use. (If there's an integration Relay.app doesn't have yet, you can use also custom HTTP requests to connect your tools.)
Pricing
Relay.app has free and paid plans. On paid plans, you can purchase additional steps and AI credits as needed. All plans include free test runs so you can validate your workflows really work before you publish them!
Free tier: Yes. Includes 200 automation steps and 500 AI credits per month.
Professional: For 1 user, $19/month when billed annually.
Team: For 2+ users, $69/month when billed annually.
Enterprise: Custom pricing for organizations with heavy usage or custom requirements.
What is
Make
?
Make is a visual-first no-code automation platform that lets you design complex workflows on a canvas by connecting modules from 3,000+ apps. It supports advanced logic like branching, filtering, iteration, and error handling, making it popular with power users who need more control than simpler tools offer. Make has recently expanded into AI with beta AI Agents, an AI Toolkit, MCP server support, and 400+ AI app integrations including OpenAI, DeepSeek, and Perplexity. Make is well-suited for technical users and teams that need to build sophisticated, multi-step automations with granular control over every step.
Product details
It's a powerful visual scenario builder: The canvas-based editor lets you see exactly how data flows through your automation. Great for debugging and complex logic.
Advanced workflow logic: Supports branching, filtering, iteration, and error handling that most simpler tools can't match.
Strong integration library: Connects with 3,000+ apps, with deep action support across most of them.
Generous pricing relative to complexity: Make offers more operations per dollar than Zapier, making it attractive for higher-volume automations.
Steep learning curve: Make's power comes at a cost. Non-technical users typically need 10–20 hours before feeling comfortable, and concepts like routers, iterators, and aggregators take real investment to learn.
Pricing
Free: $0/month – 1,000 credits/month
Core: $9/month – 10,000 credits/month
Pro: $16/month – 10,000 credits/month plus priority execution and advanced features
Teams: $29/month – 10,000 credits/month plus team collaboration
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Key differences at a glance
🧠 AI capabilities
Both Relay.app and Make have invested heavily in AI, but the experience is starkly different. Relay.app makes working with AI effortless:
All the best AI models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and more) are built in and run on Relay.app's AI credits, no API keys needed
You can just chat with the Relay.app Agent to create, edit, improve, and analyze workflows
Human-in-the-loop checkpoints let you review AI's work before things go to customers or databases
Every workflow has a simple visual representation so you can see exactly what will happen every time it runs
Make has powerful AI features, but they're aimed at a more technical audience:
Next-gen Make AI Agents are now integrated into the Scenario Builder with a reasoning panel, multimodal inputs, and dynamic routing
It has 400+ pre-built AI app integrations including OpenAI, DeepSeek, and Perplexity, but you'll need to manage your own API keys per model
It has MCP server support for connecting agents to external tools
It has human-in-the-loop features, but they're limited to Enterprise customers and still in closed beta
Bottom line: If you want AI that works seamlessly out of the box with built-in safety rails, Relay.app wins. If you're technical and like a visual canvas to see AI agent reasons and routes decisions, you'll probably prefer Make.
🎯 Ease of use
Ease of use is where the gap is widest. Relay.app is built for non-technical users who've struggled with tools like Zapier and Make. You can chat with the Relay.app Agent in natural language to build workflows, and the visual builder shows you exactly what will happen when they run. With Relay.app, most people can get from an idea to useful, working, reliable workflow in minutes.
Make is powerful but has a steep learning curve. Concepts like Routers, Iterators, and Aggregators take real investment to learn. Most new users need 10–20 hours before they're comfortable. The canvas-based editor is great for debugging complex logic, but it can overwhelm people who just want to get something running quickly.
💰 Pricing
Relay.app has a great free plan to get you started. All plans include free test runs so you can validate workflows before you set them live.
Free: 200 automation steps + 500 AI credits/month
Professional: $19/month (billed annually) for 1 user
Team: $69/month (billed annually) for 2+ users
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Make also offers a free plan for getting started:
Free: 1,000 credits/month
Core: $9/month for 10,000 credits
Pro: $16/month for 10,000 credits + priority execution
Teams: $29/month for 10,000 credits + collaboration
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Make's credit-based model gives you more operations per dollar, which is attractive for high-volume automations. But Relay.app includes AI models out of the box with no separate API costs, and human-in-the-loop features aren't restricted to enterprise customers.
🔌 Integrations
Make has the clear advantage here with 3,000+ app integrations. It's one of the most connected platforms on the market. If you rely on niche or legacy tools, Make probably supports them.
Relay.app offers 200+ deep native integrations with popular tools, plus custom HTTP requests and webhooks to connect anything it doesn't cover natively. The integrations are fewer in number but still cover the apps most teams actually use day-to-day. Relay.app's integrations are also intentionally designed to be as user-friendly as possible, so they're easier to set up.
🔧 Advanced capabilities
Make shines for power users:
Make offers complex branching, filtering, and parallel processing
You can make custom API calls and data transformations
Reusable AI agents are shared across multiple scenarios
Configure granular error handling and retry logic
Relay.app also supports advanced use cases. But Relay.app's focus is on making these advanced use cases accessible, not just possible:
Relay.app also offers custom code, complex branching/looping logic
For connecting with apps that aren't yet available natively, you can set up webhooks and custom HTTP calls
So which one should you pick?
Choose Relay.app if:
You value simplicity and reliability over maximum configurability
You want to build AI workflows without necessarily having a technical background
You have a small team and you want to get everyone on board quickly and easily
Human-in-the-loop approvals are important to your processes
You want easy access to the top AI models without thinking about it
Choose Make if:
You're a power user or automation consultant who thinks in flowcharts
You use some niche or legacy apps, so a library of 3,000+ integrations speaks to you
You want granular control over every step, route, and error path
You're comfortable managing your own AI API keys
You're running high-volume automations where cost-per-operation matters most
The visual canvas appeals to you
The verdict
In 2026, the automation landscape has shifted toward AI-native platforms that make it easy for anyone to build intelligent workflows. Relay.app leads that charge. Relay.app is the fastest path from idea to working AI workflow, with human-in-the-loop approvals that give you confidence in what the AI is doing.
Make remains one of the most powerful visual automation platforms available. If you need advanced logic, massive integration coverage, and full control over every detail, Make is hard to beat.
But if ease of use, built-in AI, and human oversight are your priorities, Relay.app is the better choice for most teams.
Jacob Bank
Founder/CEO at Relay.app
Jacob is the Founder and CEO of Relay.app. Prior to founding Relay.app, Jacob was a Director of Product Management at Google, where he led the product teams for Gmail, Google Calendar, and several other Google Workspace products. Before that, Jacob was the Co-founder and CEO of Timeful (acquired by Google in 2015), a smart calendar that leveraged insights from behavioral psychology and AI to help people spend time on their most important priorities. He has a BA in Computer Science from Cornell University and was pursuing a PhD in the AI Lab at Stanford before dropping out to found Timeful.
FAQs
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