Power Automate vs Zapier vs Make: Which Suits Your Business?
By Kesley Kernes · 23 October 2026 · 7 min read
If your business runs on Microsoft 365, Power Automate is usually the sensible first choice, because you may already be licensed for it and your data stays inside your Microsoft environment. Zapier is the quickest to learn and connects to a very wide range of apps, which suits teams on Google Workspace or a mix of cloud tools. Make sits in between: more visual and flexible than Zapier, and often cheaper at volume, but with a steeper learning curve.
That's the short answer to Power Automate vs Zapier. The longer answer depends on four things: which systems you run, who will build and own the automations, where your data is allowed to go, and how many tasks you'll run each month. This guide works through each one for small and medium businesses (SMEs) with roughly 10 to 200 staff. For the bigger picture, from choosing what to automate first to ownership and running costs, see our complete guide to business process automation.
Power Automate vs Zapier vs Make at a glance
All three tools do the same basic job: when something happens in one system, they do something in another, without a person copying and pasting. The differences are in cost model, ease of use and where your data lives.
| Power Automate | Zapier | Make | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Microsoft 365 businesses | Mixed cloud apps, fast setup | Complex, high-volume flows |
| How it's priced | Per user (AUD) | Per plan and task volume | Per plan and usage credits |
| Learning curve (our view) | Moderate | Easiest | Steeper |
| Data location | Your Microsoft region, including Australia | United States | US or EU |
The table is a starting point, not a verdict. A 40-person accounting firm on Microsoft 365 and a 120-person distributor running a cloud ERP, Shopify and Google Workspace will reach different answers, and both can be right.
What each tool costs an Australian business
Power Automate publishes an Australian price list in AUD, and many Microsoft 365 users already have basic use rights. Zapier and Make price by plan and by how much work your automations do.
Power Automate
Microsoft's Power Automate licensing FAQ says Microsoft 365 business plans (Business Basic, Standard and Premium) include limited Power Automate use rights covering standard connectors. That means many simple flows between Outlook, SharePoint, Teams and Excel cost nothing extra, within Microsoft's daily action limits.
The catch is premium and custom connectors, which cover many links to systems outside Microsoft 365. They need a paid licence. As of October 2026, Microsoft's Australian Power Automate pricing page lists Power Automate Premium at AU$22.40 per user per month, paid yearly, excluding GST. If ten people in your operations and finance teams need premium flows, that's about AU$224 a month before GST. Unattended bots that run without a person logged in are licensed separately through the Power Automate Process plan, at AU$224.50 per bot per month paid yearly, excluding GST.
Zapier
As of October 2026, Zapier's pricing page lists the Professional plan from US$19.99 a month for one user and the Team plan from US$69 a month for up to 25 users, with shared workflows and single sign-on on Team. Those are starting prices: the bill climbs with the number of tasks your automations run each month, so check the currency and billing period shown when you price it.
Make
Make charges by usage credits, broadly one credit for each step of a workflow each time it runs. Its pricing page offers Free, Core, Pro, Teams and Enterprise plans, with cheaper rates for paying annually. Make is often good value for high-volume, multi-step flows, but model your own volumes before you commit, because a busy workflow with many steps can use credits quickly.
Work out the real cost
In our experience, licence fees are often not the biggest cost. Building, testing, documenting and maintaining each automation can easily cost more in staff time than the subscription. If you want a rough idea of what your repetitive work costs before choosing a tool, the ROI Calculator gives you a free estimate in under a minute.
Where your data goes, and why it matters
For many established SMEs, data location is the deciding factor, not price. Power Automate runs in your Microsoft environment's region, and Australia is a supported region. Zapier and Make process your data overseas.
- Power Automate: Microsoft's regions overview explains that flows are created in a Power Platform environment tied to a specific region, and lists Australia among the supported regions.
- Zapier: Zapier's data privacy overview states that it hosts data on AWS servers in the United States.
- Make: Make's help centre lists US and EU data zones. Australia isn't one of them.
Overseas hosting isn't automatically a problem, but it needs a deliberate decision. The Privacy Act generally applies to businesses with annual turnover above $3 million, which can include many established SMEs, and to some smaller ones, such as private sector health service providers. If your automations move personal information about clients, patients or staff to an overseas service, the cross-border rules in Australian Privacy Principle 8 may apply. The OAIC's APP 8 guidelines explain when. This is general information only, so get privacy advice for your own situation, and capture the decision in your AI and automation policy. Our complete guide to AI policy for Australian businesses covers what that policy should say.
Who will build and own the automations?
The right tool is the one your team can maintain after the person who built it goes on leave. This matters more than any feature list.
- Zapier suits operations or admin staff with no technical background. Many people can build a useful two or three step workflow in an afternoon.
- Make suits someone who is comfortable with logic, such as branching, loops and data mapping. It rewards a confident builder and frustrates a reluctant one.
- Power Automate sits in the middle. Simple flows are approachable, but premium connectors, error handling and environments usually need someone with Microsoft 365 admin skills or IT support.
Whichever you choose, give every automation a named owner, a one-paragraph description of what it does and a plan for when it breaks. An automation nobody understands is a risk, not a saving.
A simple way to decide
Most SMEs can make this call in a short meeting by answering five questions in order.
- What do we already run? If it's Microsoft 365 and most flows stay inside it, start with Power Automate.
- Will personal or sensitive data pass through? If yes, check where each tool processes data and confirm it fits your privacy obligations.
- Which systems need to connect? Check each tool's connector list for your CRM, accounting, job management or ERP system. A missing connector can rule a tool out.
- Who will build and maintain it? Match the tool to that person's skills, not the vendor's demo.
- How much volume will we run? Estimate monthly tasks or steps, then price two tools on the same workload.
It's also fine to use more than one. Plenty of businesses use Power Automate for anything touching Microsoft 365 and Zapier or Make for a handful of connections Microsoft doesn't cover well. Just keep the number of tools small enough that someone can see every automation in one list.
Frequently asked questions
Is Power Automate free with Microsoft 365?
Partly. Microsoft 365 business plans include limited Power Automate use rights with standard connectors, so simple flows between Microsoft apps don't cost extra. Flows that use premium or custom connectors need a Power Automate Premium licence for the users involved.
Is Zapier or Make better for a small and medium business?
Zapier is usually easier for non-technical staff and quicker to get running. Make is more flexible for complex, multi-step workflows and is often good value at higher volumes. Trial both on the same real workflow before deciding.
What about n8n?
n8n is another popular option, often chosen by technical teams because it can be self-hosted. That gives more control over data location, but your business then carries the job of hosting, securing and updating it, which is a real cost for most SMEs.
Get it working on your own systems
The best way to choose between Power Automate, Zapier and Make is to build one real workflow, on your own systems, with the people who'll own it. That's what NovoPro Working Sessions are for: you bring a real problem, and we aim to stand up a working proof of concept with you in the room, so you can see which tool fits before committing.
If you'd like to talk through which workflow to start with, book a 15-minute Problem First Call.
Written by Kesley Kernes, Founder and Principal Consultant of NovoPro. Kesley holds an MBA and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, previously established an RPA Centre of Excellence, and helps small and medium businesses across Newcastle, the Hunter and Australia use AI and automation to make and save money.