Automation · checked 2026-10-19Can I vibecode Make?
KINDA· weekend project
A runner that takes a webhook, a schedule or a feed item and walks a graph of HTTP calls with routers, iterators and aggregators fits a weekend of agent work, and it covers the few automations most people actually run. What costs the time is the long tail: each service needs its own OAuth app, token refresh and quirks, and Make's library of apps is maintained by a whole team. With only API keys and incoming webhooks, a personal version works; with Google, Slack and CRM OAuth, it turns into upkeep. Self-hosting n8n or Activepieces trades the build for server upkeep.
$10.59/moprice
$127you'd save a year
weekendbuild time
—people replaced it
What you need on hand.
DifficultyAdvanced · Real infrastructure or OAuth work.
TimeA weekend; connectors and webhooks are the slow part
- Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
- Python 3.12 and uvNo native modules beyond `cryptography`, which ships wheels.
- API keys for your servicesServices that only offer OAuth are the ones to leave out of the first version.
- A public HTTPS addressWebhooks need a tunnel or a small VPS.
- Your Make blueprintsExport each scenario as .blueprint.json to use as a spec for the agent.
Before you buildMake Free's 1,000 credits and 15-minute interval are enough for a handful of light scenarios, so check it before paying.
- 1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
- 2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
- 3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.
The prompt
Build me a personal scenario runner with routers and iterators to replace Make. Requirements:
- Python 3.12: FastAPI with Jinja2 pages, SQLite through SQLAlchemy 2.0 in ./data/runner.db, and
APScheduler for schedules. `uv run fastapi run` serves http://localhost:4770.
- A scenario is a JSON graph of modules. Triggers: webhook (POST /hook/<id>, secret token in
the URL), schedule (cron), RSS or Atom poll with a seen-items table. Actions: HTTP request
(`httpx`), JSON parse, set variable, send email (smtplib, SMTP in .env), post to a Slack or
Discord incoming webhook, write to a SQLite data store.
- Flow control like Make: a router with up to five routes, each with its own filter and a
fallback route; an iterator that turns an array into one bundle per item; an aggregator that
turns bundles back into an array, a joined text or a sum.
- Mapping: `{{moduleId.path}}` resolved with `jsonpath-ng`, plus an allow-list of functions
(formatDate, join, length, if, lower). No eval.
- Editor: a form-based module list per route, with a Mermaid diagram of the whole graph beside it
and a Run once button that shows every module's input and output bundles.
- Run log: every execution stores its bundles per module. A failed run is kept as incomplete and
can be resumed from the failing module. Error handling per module: ignore, retry 3 times with
backoff, or follow an error route.
- Credits: count one per executed module (routers and error routes free). Show totals per scenario
and per month, and pause every scenario when a monthly cap from .env is reached.
- Connections: API keys in a table encrypted with AES-GCM (`cryptography`), key in .env.
- Export and import a scenario as .blueprint.json with the secrets left out.
- Single user, one password from .env. No accounts, no telemetry; calls go only to URLs I set.
- Out of scope: OAuth connectors, a drag-and-drop canvas, teams, app libraries. Use HTTP and keys.
- README: exposing /hook/* by tunnel or VPS, and the services that work with just an API key.Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.
Then keep going
Next prompts, same folder.
The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Make.
Extend the scenario runner in this folder. Requirements: - An import page for Make's .blueprint.json files. - Map the modules the runner supports (HTTP, router, iterator, aggregator, set variable) and list every module it does not, with the app and action name, instead of dropping it. - Create the scenario as disabled and show a diagram so I can check it before enabling. - Update the README.
Add alerts to the scenario runner in this folder. Requirements: - Email through SMTP and optionally a Slack or Discord incoming webhook when a run ends incomplete. - Send at most one alert per scenario per hour, with a count of failures since the last one. - A weekly digest of runs, failures and credits used. - Update the README.
Add data stores to the scenario runner in this folder. Requirements: - Named stores with a key and a JSON value, with modules to get, set, delete and search by key. - A page to browse, edit and export each store as JSON. - A size cap per store set in .env, with an error module result when it is exceeded. - Update the README.
Add a Google Sheets connection to the scenario runner in this folder. Requirements: - A Google OAuth flow with offline access (`googleapis`), tokens encrypted like other connections. - Modules to append a row, read a range and update a range. - Show a warning in the README that a Google Cloud project in Testing status issues refresh tokens that expire after 7 days. - Update the README.
What you lose
- Thousands of ready app modules with managed OAuth connections
- The drag-and-drop canvas and the shared scenario templates
- Teams, roles and shared scenarios
- Hosted reliability: queued webhooks, execution history and alerts
- AI modules and the custom apps and functions on higher plans
Why people still pay
Make is cheap for what it does and does not need a server: someone else keeps connectors, webhooks and schedules alive. People also like seeing a scenario drawn as a map, which is easier to hand to a colleague than a script.
Make or your own copy?
Over
Your usage
12h ×$/h
Make, 1 yr$127
Your own copy, 1 yr$46running + build session
You keep$81pays for itself in 2 months
Estimate · A $5 VPS or a home machine behind a tunnel; SMTP at low volume fits free tiers. The build is token usage on your agent plan.
Take your data, then cancel.
1 · Take your data out of Make
- 1Per scenario: open Scenarios, pick one, click the three dots at the upper right of the Scenario Builder and choose Export blueprint; a .blueprint.json file downloads.
- 2A blueprint holds modules, module settings and mapped values; you must create connections again after importing it, and the imported file must be under 2 MB.
- 3Copy blueprint to clipboard gives the same JSON as text, which you can paste into another scenario or an LLM.
- 4We found no bulk export of every scenario in the help pages; for many scenarios, script the backup through the Make API, which Core and above include.
2 · Cancel Make
- 1Go to Org in the left sidebar, then the Subscription tab under My Plan, and click Cancel subscription in the Manage section.
- 2Give a reason and continue, pick the one team to keep (Free supports one), then confirm; Make emails a confirmation, and Renew subscription undoes it.
- 3You are not charged for the next period and keep the paid plan until the end of the current billing cycle; then the organization moves to Free.
- 4Unused credits are not carried to the Free plan, which has 1,000 credits a month.
- Scenarios that use features of a higher plan are stopped on a downgrade, so check them before the cycle ends.
- An account can hold only one free organization: further organizations become unlicensed and cannot run scenarios until subscribed.
- Webhooks queue while credits are used up, and are processed when credits are added.
- Export every scenario before you cancel and note the connections each one needs, since connections do not travel in blueprints.
The escape hatch
Don't feel like building it? These are already free.
n8n Community EditionFreeNode-based workflow editor under the Sustainable Use License: free to self-host for internal use, with some enterprise code under a paid licence.★ 208k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗ActivepiecesOpen sourceNo-code automation builder; the code outside its ee folders is MIT, and the Docker image self-hosts.★ 25k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗WindmillOpen sourceScripts in Python, TypeScript and other languages turned into workflows, webhooks and UIs; AGPLv3 core with commercial licences.★ 18k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗
WebVisit ↗ActivepiecesOpen sourceNo-code automation builder; the code outside its ee folders is MIT, and the Docker image self-hosts.★ 25k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗WindmillOpen sourceScripts in Python, TypeScript and other languages turned into workflows, webhooks and UIs; AGPLv3 core with commercial licences.★ 18k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗
The numbers
Make pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual, per month | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1,000 credits a month, the no-code visual builder, routers and filters, 15-minute minimum interval between runs, 1 MB of data storage. |
| Core | $10.59 | $9 | 10,000 credits a month at the starting slider position, unlimited active scenarios, scheduling down to the minute, higher data transfer limits, access to the Make API. |
| Pro | $18.82 | $16 | Everything in Core plus priority scenario execution, custom variables and full-text search of execution logs. |
| Teams | $34.12 | $29 | Everything in Pro plus teams and team roles, and creating and sharing scenario templates. |
| Enterprise | custom | — | Custom functions, enterprise app integrations, 24/7 support, overage protection and advanced security features. |
- Free tier
- 1,000 credits a month, 1 MB of data storage and a 15-minute minimum schedule; scenarios stop running once credits are used up.
- Billing
- Monthly, or annually at about 15% less; the pricing page opens on the annual view, so the figure shown first is the annual per-month price. Credits expire at the end of the term. Paid plans run to the end of the billing cycle and then drop to Free.
- Hidden costs
- Each action a scenario performs uses a credit, so loops and iterators multiply cost; routers and error handlers are free. AI modules can use more than one credit. When credits run out, scenarios stop; extra credits are sold in bundles of 1,000 or 10,000 and expire after a month. Make's forum has threads from users who say credit billing runs out sooner than operations did, and staff answer that standard modules still cost one.
- Source
- www.make.com
Also on the list
Related apps
Free gives 1,000 credits a month with the visual builder, routers and filters, and a 15-minute minimum interval between runs.
Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: Thousands of ready app modules with managed OAuth connections, The drag-and-drop canvas and the shared scenario templates.
About $10.59 a month on the Core plan, $127.08 a year (checked 2026-10-19).
Thousands of ready app modules with managed OAuth connections; The drag-and-drop canvas and the shared scenario templates; Teams, roles and shared scenarios; Hosted reliability: queued webhooks, execution history and alerts; AI modules and the custom apps and functions on higher plans. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.
Yes: n8n Community Edition (free), Activepieces (open source), Windmill (open source).