Make.com vs Power Automate for UK Businesses (2026)

This comparison usually comes down to one question: how deep are you in Microsoft 365? If your business runs on Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Excel and Dynamics, Power Automate is half-paid-for already and integrates in ways nothing else can match. If you run a best-of-breed stack of independent SaaS tools, Make is more flexible, easier to learn, and often cheaper for what you actually do. Everything else — pricing, connectors, RPA, AI — flows from that one fact. This guide makes the call in business terms.

Last updated: May 2026 · Covers Make (formerly Integromat) and Microsoft Power Automate as of 2026

• Power Automate wins decisively if you're a Microsoft 365 shop — cloud flows are bundled with many M365 licences, and the Office/Teams/SharePoint/Dynamics integration is unmatched.
• Make wins if you run a mixed SaaS stack — broader third-party connectors, a friendlier visual builder, and transparent per-operation pricing.
• RPA (desktop automation) is Power Automate's trump card — Make has no equivalent for automating legacy desktop software.
• Data residency: Power Automate inherits your M365 tenant region (can be UK); Make is US-based SaaS with a DPA. For Microsoft shops, residency is usually easier to defend with Power Automate.

What is Make?

A platform-agnostic visual automation tool (formerly Integromat). You build "scenarios" on a visual canvas, wiring together modules from a large library of independent SaaS apps. Make's strengths are a friendly-but-powerful builder, strong branching and data-handling, and per-operation pricing that's generous and transparent. It doesn't care what stack you run — it treats Google, Microsoft, Slack, Notion, Stripe and the rest as equals.

Best for: businesses on a mix of independent SaaS tools who want flexibility and clear pricing without committing to one vendor's ecosystem.

What is Power Automate?

Microsoft's automation layer for the Microsoft world. It comes in two distinct flavours that people often conflate:

• Cloud flows — the Make/Zapier equivalent, connecting apps via triggers and actions. Bundled (with standard connectors) in many Microsoft 365 business licences.
• Desktop flows (RPA) — robotic process automation that drives the user interface of legacy desktop applications, the kind with no API. This is genuinely differentiated; neither Make nor Zapier does it.

Power Automate's superpower is depth inside Microsoft 365 and Dynamics — approvals in Teams, document workflows in SharePoint, Excel and Dataverse operations, plus AI Builder for document processing. Its complexity is the cost: licensing (standard vs premium connectors, per-user vs per-flow) and an admin model that rewards businesses with IT capacity.

Best for: Microsoft-centric organisations, and any business that needs to automate legacy desktop software via RPA.

Head to head

Pricing in plain terms

Power Automate can look "free" and Make can look cheap — both are half-truths.

Power Automate's cloud flows with standard connectors are included in many M365 plans, so businesses already paying for Microsoft often have it at no extra cost. The moment you need premium connectors (most non-Microsoft SaaS, HTTP, Dataverse) or RPA, you're into paid per-user or per-flow plans, and the licensing genuinely confuses people.

Make's per-operation pricing is simpler to predict and generous at the entry tiers, but you're paying for it as a standalone tool regardless of what else you run.

The honest rule: if you're already paying Microsoft, price the marginal cost of the premium connectors you specifically need — that's the real number, not the headline "included." If you're not a Microsoft shop, Make is almost always the cheaper and simpler path.

Data residency and GDPR

For UK businesses, residency usually favours whoever you already trust with your data.

• Power Automate processes data within your Microsoft 365 tenant's region. If your tenant is UK/EU, your automation data largely stays there, and you're extending a Microsoft data-processing relationship you already have and have already risk-assessed.
• Make is US-headquartered SaaS with a Data Processing Agreement. Widely used compliantly in the UK, but it's another third party in your data chain.

If Microsoft is already your data processor of record, Power Automate is typically the easier residency story to defend. If you want maximum control over where data lives, neither beats a self-hosted option — see n8n vs Zapier vs Make for the self-hosting route.

The verdict

Choose Power Automate if you live in Microsoft 365, need approvals/documents/Teams workflows, or need RPA for legacy desktop software. The integration depth and bundled cloud flows are decisive.

Choose Make if you run a varied SaaS stack, want a friendlier builder and predictable pricing, and don't need RPA. It's the more flexible, vendor-neutral choice.

For many UK SMEs the real answer is a mix — Power Automate for the Microsoft-internal workflows, something lighter for the rest — which is exactly where automation projects get complicated.

When you shouldn't be choosing a tool at all

Picking the platform is 10% of the work. The other 90% is designing workflows that match how your business actually runs, integrating systems that weren't built to talk to each other, handling the edge cases, and keeping it all alive when an API changes or a licence lapses. A half-built Power Automate flow or an unmonitored Make scenario doesn't save time — it creates a new thing to babysit.

This is where most internal automation efforts stall: the tool gets bought, a few flows get built, and then the person who built them gets busy and it rots.

Frequently asked questions

Is Power Automate free with Microsoft 365?

Cloud flows with standard connectors are included in many M365 business licences. But premium connectors (most third-party apps, HTTP, Dataverse) and desktop-flow RPA require paid plans. Budget for the specific premium capabilities you need, not the headline "included".

Can Make connect to Microsoft 365?

Yes — Make has connectors for Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Excel and more. They work well, but they're not as deep or native as Power Automate's first-party integration with the same tools.

What is RPA and do I need it?

Robotic Process Automation drives the user interface of software that has no API — typically old desktop applications. If you need to automate a legacy system that can't be reached any other way, Power Automate's desktop flows are the answer and Make can't help. If all your tools have APIs, you don't need RPA.

Which is easier to learn?

Make's canvas is generally friendlier for non-specialists building cloud automations. Power Automate is capable but its licensing and admin model carry more enterprise complexity, which is why Microsoft shops often lean on IT or a partner to run it.

Which is better for a small UK business?

If you already pay for Microsoft 365 and your workflows are Microsoft-internal, Power Automate is the obvious start. If you run a mix of independent SaaS tools, Make is more flexible and simpler to price. For sensitive data needing UK-only residency, consider self-hosted n8n instead.

Related reading

• n8n vs Zapier vs Make: Best Automation Tool for UK SMEs
• The Complete Guide to AI Automation for UK SMEs in 2026
• AI Automation ROI: Real Numbers for UK Businesses
• How to Choose an AI Automation Agency

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