Make Vs Zapier: Our View On How They Differ & Which To Choose | Lindy
Make Vs Zapier: Our View On How They Differ & Which To Choose
Written by Everett Butler
Personally Tested
Head of Marketing
Everett compared Make, Zapier, and Lindy across AI features, workflow depth, and ease of use, examining lead capture, scheduling, and customer support automation.
Everett Butler
Head of Marketing
Everett is Head of Marketing at Lindy. He’s focused on building a world class brand for Lindy and driving awareness, growth and affinity for our products.
Reviewed by Flo Crivello, Founder and CEO of Lindy
Flo Crivello is the founder and CEO of Lindy. Before that, he founded Teamflow and was a product manager at Uber. He writes about technology, startups, and the future of work on his blog.
Last Updated: March 25, 2026
Table of contents
- How Make vs Zapier Compare: At a Glance
- Meet the Contenders
- Feature Breakdown
- Which Tool Should You Choose?
I spent weeks comparing Make vs Zapier (vs Lindy, of course!) to see which is better for automating workflows in 2026. Zapier is simple and widely connected, Make offers deeper visual control for advanced workflows, and Lindy is the all-around AI assistant you can text to handle the real business tasks.
How Make vs Zapier Compare: At a Glance
| Capability | Make | Zapier | Lindy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Workflow Type | Visual, multi-step workflows built on a drag-and-drop canvas with AI assistance | Beginner-friendly automations across apps, with optional AI features | An AI assistant you text to run tasks and coordinate work across your tools |
| Data Handling | Transformations, filtering, branching, and AI decision-making | Transfers, mappings, and AI-powered reasoning | Understands context and takes action based on what you ask in plain English |
| Setup | Visual canvas; AI Agents use natural language goals | Copilot assists with natural language; manual mapping is also available | You tell it the outcome, not the steps, and it handles the setup behind the scenes |
| Maintenance | Agents adapt; scenarios may need occasional fixes | Agents adapt; Zaps may need occasional updates | Adjusts based on new information and flags you only when something needs attention |
| Collaboration | Connects 2,000+ apps; agents are reusable across workflows | Connects 8,500+ apps; agents can work across tools | Works across 4,000+ app integrations and handles multi-step tasks to update systems, send messages, and keep everyone in sync |
- Choose Make: If your workflows need more logic, branching, and control across multiple tools. It is a better fit for teams managing detailed operational processes, advanced support routing, or layered internal systems where seeing and shaping each step matters more than getting started quickly.
- Choose Zapier: If you want the fastest way to connect apps and keep core workflows moving without much setup. It fits teams that care most about lead routing, notifications, and simple CRM updates, and who prefer something straightforward over deeper customization or a more assistant-like experience.
- Choose Lindy: If you want automation to feel more like delegating work than configuring rules. It suits teams handling scheduling, follow-ups, support context, or cross-tool coordination, especially when you want to describe what needs to happen in plain English and let the assistant carry it forward.
Meet the Contenders
Make: Best For Visual Control Over Complex Workflows
Make is built for teams that want to see the logic behind every step. Its visual canvas gives you more control over routing, filters, branching, and multistep workflows, which makes it a stronger fit for advanced automations.
Zapier: Best For Simple App-To-App Automation
Zapier is the easiest of the three to get running if your team wants straightforward automations between tools. It works well for fast trigger-based tasks like sending form leads into a CRM, posting updates to Slack, or keeping records synced across apps.
Lindy: Best For Delegating Work In Simple Words
Lindy is different from Zapier and Make because you do not start by building flows. You text Lindy what you need done, and it handles the work across your tools in the background. That makes it a better fit for teams that want automation to feel more like handing work to an assistant than configuring logic step by step.
Feature Breakdown
Most teams automate a few core areas: capturing leads, managing tasks and meetings, and handling support. Here’s how each tool approaches those workflows.
Lead Capture and CRM Automation
Make
Make can enrich lead data, move information between tools, update CRMs, and keep dashboards current. Filters and Routers keep the flow efficient, skipping irrelevant leads and routing qualified ones for enrichment or outreach.
Zapier
Zapier automates lead capture by moving data from forms, ads, and sign-ups into your CRM the moment it's submitted.
Lindy
Lindy acts like a sales assistant who helps manage the lead cycle end-to-end. It can research companies, enrich contact data, and score prospects so sales teams focus on stronger leads.
Winner: Zapier is the cleanest choice for fast lead routing and simple CRM handoffs. Make gives you more control, while Lindy is better once the job moves beyond capture into follow-ups and outreach.
Task, Calendar, and Meeting Automation
Make
Make automates multistep processes with routing, filtering, and data mapping. It handles workflows that require more than a simple trigger and action.
Zapier
Zapier automates administrative work across tasks, calendars, and meetings by keeping information consistent between apps.
Lindy
Lindy helps you manage meetings end-to-end by checking schedules, proposing times, sending invites, and taking care of any changes that come up.
Winner: Lindy is the best fit here. Zapier and Make can sync calendars and trigger tasks, but Lindy handles scheduling more like an assistant by checking availability, proposing times, sending invites, and handling reschedules.
Customer Support and Ticketing
Make
Make can automatically create and manage tickets from incoming messages, forms, or chat logs, assigning them to the right person and updating status fields in real time.
Zapier
Zapier captures tickets the moment activity happens: a chat in Drift, an email, a form submission, or even a payment or order.
Lindy
Lindy monitors your inbox and chat channels, flags real customer issues, and helps sort them so nothing important gets missed.
Winner: Make stands out when support workflows need more routing logic and hands-on control. Zapier is strong for quick ticket handoffs, while Lindy fits better when you want more context around replies and escalations.
Automation Models: Make vs Zapier
Make
Make runs on a visual canvas. You build “scenarios” by dragging and connecting modules, each one representing an app or action.
Zapier
Zapier offers two ways to automate: traditional Zaps and AI-powered Agents.
Lindy
With Lindy, you don’t build flows on a canvas or configure branching logic. You make a request, and it handles the execution.
Which Tool Should You Choose, Make.com or Zapier?
After testing all three, the right pick comes down to how you want automation to feel in day-to-day work. Zapier is the easiest place to start for simple app-to-app automations. Make gives you more control when your workflows get complex. Lindy is the better fit if you want to delegate work in plain English and have an AI assistant handle the follow-up across your tools.
Choose Make if you:
- Need visual control over multi-step workflows across CRMs, dashboards, project trackers, or internal systems.
Choose Zapier if you:
- Want simple automations that keep your apps in sync the moment something changes.
Choose Lindy if you:
- Want an AI assistant to monitor your tools, summarize updates, and take action based on what matters to your team.
What It’s Like to Work With Lindy
Teams pick Lindy when they want automation to feel less like wiring tools together and more like delegating work.
Setting up feels like giving a teammate instructions
Lindy starts with a prompt, not a flowchart. Talk to it like you would to a teammate.
You get context and follow-ups without babysitting the process
Once it’s running, Lindy handles the small decisions that usually create busywork.
Connections are the boring part, and that’s the point
Once Lindy is linked to tools like Slack, Gmail, and HubSpot, it can move work across them without you stitching every step together.
Make vs Zapier vs Lindy: How They Differ in Real Use
At a high level, these tools solve the same problem. In practice, they feel very different. Zapier centers on triggers, Make on visual workflows, and Lindy on delegation.
Get Started with Lindy: Your Personal AI Automation Assistant
Lindy is built for teams that want results without wiring triggers or building workflows. You text Lindy what you need, and it handles the work across your tools.
FAQs
Is Zapier better than Make?
Zapier is better for simple automations and broad app integrations, while Make is better for advanced workflows that need complex logic and control.
What is the main difference between Zapier and Make?
The main difference is that Zapier uses simple, trigger-based automations, while Make gives you visual control over every workflow step.
How is Lindy different from Zapier and Make?
Lindy is different because it lets you delegate tasks by describing outcomes, while Zapier and Make require detailed workflow setups.
Do Zapier and Make both offer AI features?
Yes, both Zapier and Make offer AI features, helping you automate tasks and build workflows with natural language instructions.
Which tool is best for non-technical teams?
Lindy is usually best for non-technical teams because you can describe tasks in plain English, while Zapier is also a good choice for simple, trigger-based automations.