Make (formerly Integromat) built a loyal following as a visual, node-based automation builder — powerful, but with a learning curve, and it treats AI as just another module you wire in rather than something built into the core. Over the last year, a new wave of automation tools has shown up with a different premise: AI reasoning baked into every step, workflows that fix themselves when something breaks, or the ability to automate websites that don't even have an API.
If you're evaluating whether to stick with Make or try something newer, here are 6 real tools worth knowing — what each one does differently, what it costs, and where it honestly falls short.
The short version
If you want the closest like-for-like replacement with AI models built in, start with Latenode. If you want the cheapest AI-native option and don't need deep technical control, Stepper's $19/month Pro tier is hard to beat. If reliability is your actual pain point with Make (workflows silently breaking when an API changes), Workload's self-healing automation is the most direct fix. If you need to automate a website that has no API at all — something Make genuinely can't do — Airtop is built exactly for that.
1. Latenode — Make/Zapier/n8n alternative with 1,200+ AI models built in
Latenode is the most direct competitor on this list: a visual workflow builder like Make, but with over 1,200 AI models (GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini) already plugged in, so your automations can draft, summarize or make decisions using AI without you juggling separate API keys for each provider. It has 5,500+ ready integrations and a 99.9% uptime SLA.
Pricing: Free (10,000 CPU-seconds/month, 5 active workflows); pay-as-you-go from $10.80 per 100,000 CPU-seconds; managed service from $199/month plus setup fees.
Honest limits: billing by CPU-seconds is harder to estimate upfront than Zapier's simple task-count model, and the managed service tacks on setup fees beyond the subscription.
2. Stepper — describe the workflow, AI builds it
Stepper skips the visual canvas almost entirely: you describe what you want in plain language, and its AI turns that into a working workflow across hundreds of apps. It explicitly positions itself as a Zapier/Make alternative.
Pricing: Free (unlimited workflows, 200 steps/month, 5,000 credits); Pro $19/month (unlimited steps, 15,000 credits); extra credits at $1 per 1,000, which never expire.
Honest limits: it's younger and smaller than Zapier's 9,000+ app ecosystem, so long-tail integrations and templates are thinner — and AI-built automations are worth reviewing before you trust them in production.
3. Workload — automations that fix themselves
The single most common complaint about no-code automation is that a workflow runs fine for months, then an app updates its interface or API and everything silently breaks. Workload is built specifically around that failure mode: it watches workflows continuously and automatically repairs broken steps when something changes, on top of connecting 1,000+ apps.
Pricing: Basic free (300 tasks for life, 1 user); Premium $49/month (3,000 tasks/month, 10 users, AI self-repair included); Enterprise $299/month (100,000 tasks/month, 50 users).
Honest limits: its integration ecosystem is less mature than Zapier or Make's, and the free tier's "lifetime" task cap (rather than monthly) makes it awkward for ongoing testing.
4. ORCFLO — a canvas for chaining AI reasoning steps
ORCFLO is a drag-and-drop canvas built around multi-step AI reasoning — summarize this, then check that, then post there — running on a schedule or trigger. You choose which AI model (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Mistral, xAI) handles each step without managing separate API keys, and it tracks cost in real time with spend caps per run.
Pricing: Free (500 credits, 30 days); Solo $15/month (1,500 credits); Power $30/month (3,600 credits); overage billed beyond that.
Honest limits: its integration catalog (30+) is far smaller than Zapier's thousands, it's a young product with limited long-term reliability track record, and credit-based pricing is less predictable than a flat plan for heavy use.
5. Airtop — automates the websites Make can't touch
Make and Zapier connect apps through APIs — but plenty of tools, especially older or internal ones, simply don't have one. Airtop fills that gap by automating tasks directly on websites: logging in, clicking through forms, pulling data, the manual work a human would otherwise do. It ships an open-source (MIT) SDK for Node.js and Python and integrates natively with Make, Zapier and n8n rather than replacing them outright.
Pricing: Free (1,000 credits, 3 sessions, no card required); Starter $26/month; Professional $170/month; Enterprise $502/month (10% off annual billing).
Honest limits: the credit model can get expensive at real volume, its open-source SDKs have limited GitHub adoption so far (16 and 6 stars), and it needs more setup than a plug-and-play tool like Zapier.
6. Pokee AI — one instruction, 90+ connected apps
Pokee AI takes multi-step instructions in plain English and carries them out across 90+ connected apps (covering 1,000+ underlying tools via OAuth), with a long-context model (10M+ tokens/session) built to track complex tasks without losing the thread. It also offers air-gapped and on-device options for teams that need data to stay fully private.
Pricing: Free (500 credits/month); Lite $19.99/month (2,000 credits); Pro $49.99/month (6,000 credits); Ultra $199.99/month (40,000 credits); Enterprise on quote (30% off annual billing).
Honest limits: the free tier's 500 credits won't cover real workloads, there's no open-source or self-hosted edition (unlike some competitors), and enterprise features like on-prem or air-gapped deployment require a custom quote.
Comparison at a glance
| Tool | What it does differently | Starting paid price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latenode | 1,200+ AI models built in, 5,500+ integrations | $10.80/100K CPU-sec | Closest direct Make replacement with AI |
| Stepper | Describe the workflow, AI builds it | $19/mo | Cheapest AI-native option |
| Workload | Self-healing workflows | $49/mo | Fixing Make's "silent breakage" problem |
| ORCFLO | Multi-model AI reasoning steps, cost tracking | $15/mo | Workflows that need actual AI judgment |
| Airtop | Automates sites with no API | $26/mo | Legacy/internal tools Make can't reach |
| Pokee AI | 90+ app agent platform, long context | $19.99/mo | Complex multi-step instructions across many tools |
Conclusion
Make isn't going anywhere — it's mature, broadly integrated, and still a fine default for straightforward automation. But if AI reasoning, self-repair, or API-less browser automation are things you find yourself wanting, these six tools each solve a specific gap rather than just cloning Make's canvas. None of them are free lunches: read the credit models carefully, since usage-based pricing on AI-heavy workflows can surprise you faster than Make's task-based billing ever did.