Switching from Make to n8n — when the rebuild is worth it

Expect a rebuild, not a file drop. In Make, everything you build is a scenario, and modules are the building blocks. A standard scenario follows fixed rules. The first module is the trigger. Later modules run in sequence. A blueprint is a reusable copy of that scenario: scenario modules, module settings, and mapped values. You export it from the Scenario Builder as a .json file, or copy the JSON to the clipboard. Import is the same file, back into Make. The imported blueprint must stay below 2 MB. After import, the help article tells you to create your own connections, edit the scenario, schedule it, and save. That path moves a scenario inside Make. It does not create an n8n workflow.

n8n saves workflows in JSON. From the editor menu you can Download the current workflow, Import from File, or Import from URL. That path moves a workflow inside n8n. Exported workflow JSON includes credential names and IDs. HTTP Request nodes may contain authentication headers when imported from cURL. Remove or anonymize that before you share the file. None of it reads a Make blueprint.

n8n packages are a different n8n-to-n8n file. A package is a .n8np archive, in Preview, available from n8n 2.27.0. You export it with the n8n CLI or API, not from the editor. It can carry workflows, folders, and projects. A credential file in the package holds ID, name, and type only. Credential secrets never travel. On import, n8n matches a credential that already exists on the target instance, or creates an empty placeholder for you to fill in. Executions and execution history do not travel. Data table rows do not travel. n8n says a package is not a full backup. That placeholder is on another n8n instance. It is not a Make scenario.

So the expectation is: one scenario becomes one workflow you build. The trigger module becomes the first node. Each later module becomes another node. Fields are mapped again. Do not assume a Make router, filter, or data-store module lands as the same node.

A Cloud trial download is the same limit in the other direction. If you do not upgrade by the end of the trial, n8n deletes the workspace. You have 90 days to download workflows. That file is n8n JSON. It is not a Make blueprint, and it is not a finished move.

Source: Make — what’s a scenario · Make — blueprints · n8n — export and import · n8n — packages · n8n — try free then choose a plan · accessed 2026-10-12

Make says users still need to create connections after importing a blueprint. You create a connection in the Scenario Builder when you add a module. The steps vary by app: a login, or a username, API key, client id, and client secret. If Make does not offer an integration, the HTTP app is Make’s path. Manage connections under Credentials. All users in that Make team can use the connections created there. Editing a connection replaces the stored details: Make does not keep the original connection data, so you enter the credentials again. None of that fills an n8n credential.

On n8n you create the credential on that instance. Names and IDs in an exported workflow JSON are not secrets. A package credential file holds ID, name, and type only. Credential secrets never travel. The empty placeholder, when import creates one, is on the target n8n instance. It is not a filled Make connection. HTTP Request nodes can still carry authentication headers if the workflow was imported from cURL — clean those before you share the file, and do not paste a Make secret into a node as if the blueprint had carried it.

Plan the overlap around that fact. Name who will create each n8n credential and who still owns the Make connection until the scenario is off. A scenario that still runs is not an n8n credential.

Source: Make — blueprints · Make — connect an application · n8n — export and import · n8n — packages · accessed 2026-10-12

Make webhooks create a URL that an external app, or another scenario, can call. Custom webhooks use Make’s Webhooks app. Some webhook detail views include a Webhook URL. That URL does not become an n8n production URL. If senders POST to the Make URL, point them at the new n8n production URL before you rely on the new job. Do not leave both URLs writing the same row. Make deactivates a webhook that is not connected to any scenario for more than 5 days (120 hours) and then returns 410 Gone. Keep the Make scenario connected during the overlap.

A Data store is a Make tool. The types-of-modules article lists it with tools that do not use a third-party connection, and says a Data store may ask you to create the store inside Make. The blueprint article lists scenario modules, module settings, and mapped values. It does not list data-store records. The pricing FAQ says an organization can use up to 1,000 data stores regardless of plan, that the minimum size of one data store is 1 MB, and that the Free plan’s 1,000 credits equal 1 MB of data storage and 1 data store. n8n packages carry data-table schemas, not rows, and that file is n8n-to-n8n. A Make data store is not an n8n data table. The records stay in Make unless you copy them yourself into a store the new workflow can read.

A schedule is set in Make’s Schedule settings. An instant trigger sets the scenario to run as soon as data arrives, and you can reschedule it. After you import a blueprint in Make, the help article tells you to schedule the scenario and save. The developer Get scenario blueprint response can include a scheduling object. That object is still Make’s schedule. It is not an n8n Schedule Trigger. Set the schedule again on the n8n workflow. The Make export does not carry a live sender over, and an n8n JSON file does not read the Make URL.

The rest of what sticks — history, one-tool steps, permissions, leftover quota — is on What does not migrate. This page does not reprint that list.

Source: Make — webhooks · Make — types of modules · Make — blueprints · Make — pricing · Make developer — scenario blueprints · n8n — packages · n8n — export and import · accessed 2026-10-12

The parallel-run period is one critical job, not the whole account. Keep that scenario on. Rebuild it as one workflow. Create the n8n credentials. If the job has a webhook, re-point the sender for the window you are comparing, and do not let both copies write the same live row. Compare the writes for the same trigger window — the row, the message, and what happens when a required field is missing. Then turn that scenario off. Leave the scenario intact until the workflow has handled a real run, so you can turn the workflow off and leave the scenario on if the writes do not match.

A manual click in the n8n editor is not that proof. Only production executions count toward the quota: runs started by triggers, schedules, or polling. Manual executions do not count. Compare a production window, not only an editor test.

Do not move every scenario on the same day. Make and n8n do not publish a required number of days for that overlap. This page does not invent a required number of days. The checklist — which job, what to compare, how to go back — is Parallel-run one job before you switch.

Scenario history does not shorten that period. Make keeps scenario history on the History tab: run date and time, status, duration, operations, credits consumed, and the details of that run. You can export the tab as CSV. The file includes execution status, timestamp, author, operations count, execution duration, and a link to the execution. How many days those entries stay depends on the plan. That file is history. It is not an n8n workflow, and it does not become execution history. n8n packages do not carry executions or execution history. That list stays on the tool where it ran.

Source: Make — scenario history · Make — webhooks · n8n — understand executions · n8n — packages · accessed 2026-10-12

Credits are what you buy and consume to use Make. For non-AI apps, 1 operation equals 1 credit by default. Some modules use more than that default. The pricing FAQ says most actions consume 1 credit, and that error-handler modules and the Router module do not count. A scenario can use anywhere from two credits to thousands of credits in a single run. An execution is a single run of a workflow. Pricing is based on monthly workflow executions. The docs page says only production executions count toward the quota. Step count does not add a second execution. One credit is not one execution. Leftover Make credits do not become n8n executions.

If Make credits run out, scenarios do not continue until credits are added again. Incoming webhooks queue up to the webhook queue storage on the plan, then process once credits return. That queue is still Make. It is not an n8n execution balance.

Name the same job in both units before you treat a switch as a smaller bill. The dictionary is Tasks vs credits vs executions. The Make credit map is Make credits and operations and Make pricing explained. The n8n plan-and-execution map is n8n pricing explained. This page does not claim you will save. It publishes no annual savings. It does not invent a monthly dollar.

Source: Make — credits · Make — pricing · n8n — understand executions · n8n — pricing · accessed 2026-10-12

Primary vendor pages. Access date for every citation on this page: 2026-10-12. Plan names stay as published. Dollar bills stay off this page.

• Make — what’s a scenario · accessed 2026-10-12
• Make — blueprints · accessed 2026-10-12
• Make — connect an application · accessed 2026-10-12
• Make — credits · accessed 2026-10-12
• Make — scenario history · accessed 2026-10-12
• Make — webhooks · accessed 2026-10-12
• Make — types of modules · accessed 2026-10-12
• Make — pricing · accessed 2026-10-12
• Make — change your subscription · accessed 2026-10-12
• Make developer — scenario blueprints · accessed 2026-10-12
• n8n — export and import · accessed 2026-10-12
• n8n — packages · accessed 2026-10-12
• n8n — understand executions · accessed 2026-10-12
• n8n — try free then choose a plan · accessed 2026-10-12
• n8n — choose how to use n8n · accessed 2026-10-12
• n8n — pricing · accessed 2026-10-12