Pilla vs Make

Make positions itself as "The visual AI automation platform". Pilla is AI workflow automation built for deskless teams — the people doing the work on their feet, not at a desk.

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Compared against Make's own documentation · last verified Thu May 21 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

The short version

Choose Pilla if
Pilla wins when the work being automated is done by frontline humans on phones, not back-office staff in browsers.
Choose Make if
Make has real strengths Pilla does not try to replicate.

At a glance

CapabilityPillaMake
AI automated action stepYesYes
Photo inputYesNo
ChecklistYesNo
Location / clock-in inputYesNo
Group team chatsYesNo
Push notifications on new messageYesNo
Public forms (external submissions)YesYes
MCP server (connect Claude / Cursor / other)YesYes

How Make positions itself

Make brands itself as "the visual AI automation platform." The pitch is a drag-and-drop scenario canvas where you connect 3,000+ apps, route data through routers, filters, iterators, and error handlers, and increasingly drop in AI Agents that take autonomous decisions and actions. Make sells horizontally across IT, Operations, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Customer Experience, and HR, from solo builders on the free plan up to Enterprise. The 2026 narrative pairs the visual builder with Maia (chat-to-scenario assistant), Make AI Agents (user-built LLM agents inside scenarios), and an MCP server that exposes the 30,000+ Make actions to external AI clients like Claude and ChatGPT.

When teams choose Make

Make has real strengths Pilla does not try to replicate. The 3,000+ native integration library is broad and well-maintained, with sophisticated flow-control primitives (routers, iterators, aggregators, error handlers) that Pilla deliberately doesn't expose. Make's visual canvas is the gold standard for back-office automation buyers who think in nodes and pipes. The Make MCP server plus Make AI Agents is a credible AI layer for technical operators wiring Claude or ChatGPT to a SaaS stack. Enterprise gating is mature: SAML SSO, SCIM, audit logs, 99.5% SLA, dedicated CSM, on-premise agent, custom credit allowances. Engineering-adjacent ops teams will reach for Make first.

When Pilla wins

Pilla wins when the work being automated is done by frontline humans on phones, not back-office staff in browsers. Make has no native checklist step, no photo or location-stamp capture as a workflow step, no signature pad, no rating field, no rich worker-facing UI for taking action on a shift. It has no native team-communication surface at all — no DMs, no broadcasts, no read receipts, no first-party mobile app pushing to a worker's pocket. Make's workers are scenarios; Pilla's workers are people. Where the customer's bottleneck is "my deskless team needs to do the work, capture proof, and chat about it," Pilla fits and Make doesn't.

Full feature comparison

How Pilla and Make compare across 72 capabilities. A dash means the feature is not documented on Make's own site.

FeaturePillaMake

Workflows

Recurring workflow templatesYesYes
Ad-hoc workflow creationYesYes
Reusable workflow blueprintsYesYes
Reusable element templatesYesNo
Custom tags & categoriesYesYes
Issue reporting on workflowsYesNo
Activity audit trailYesYes
Public template libraryYesYes
Public forms (external submissions)YesYes
CSV data exportsYesYes
Bulk operationsYesYes
Template impact analysisYesNo
Template analytics & insightsYesNo
Template version historyYesYes

Input Steps

Text inputYesYes
Number inputYesYes
Date inputYesYes
Time inputYesYes
Location / clock-in inputYesNo
ChecklistYesNo
Single-choice inputYesYes
Multi-choice inputYesYes
Cascading selectYesYes
Rating scaleYesNo
Photo inputYesNo
Video inputYesNo
Audio note / inputYesNo
File inputYesYes
Signature inputYesNo

Guidance Steps

Rich text guidanceYesNo
Video guidanceYesNo
Photo guidanceYesNo

AI Steps

AI context briefing stepYesYes
AI decision gate stepYesYes
AI decision tree stepYesYes
AI automated action stepYesYes

Communication

In-app 1:1 direct messagesYesNo
Group team chatsYesNo
Team-wide broadcastsYesNo
Photo, video & file attachmentsYesNo
Threaded repliesYesNo
Emoji reactionsYesNo
@mention teammatesYesNo
Read receiptsYesNo
Push notifications on new messageYesNo
Messages linked to workflowsYesNo

In-app agent

Plain-English Q&A on how it worksYesYes
In-product walkthroughs and tutorialsYesYes
Saved chat history & resumable sessionsYesNot documented
Cites help docs and source dataYesNot documented
File feedback, bugs & feature requests from chatYesNo
Q&A on your workflowsYesYes
Q&A on your team's performanceYesNot documented
Q&A across connected integrationsYesYes

Integrations & API

Native integrationsYesYes
100+ MCP integrationsYesYes
Public REST APIYesYes
Outbound webhooksYesYes
MCP server (connect Claude / Cursor / other)YesYes
IP allowlist on API keysYesNo
Custom API rate limitsYesYes

Administration

User roles (staff / manager / admin)YesYes
CSV user & team importYesNo
Tenant-isolated dataYesYes
Account-wide audit logsYesYes
Custom step run allowancesYesYes
Annual step run poolingYesYes
SSO & SAMLYesYes
SCIM provisioningYesYes
Dedicated success managerYesYes
Custom onboardingYesYes
Service-level agreement (SLA)YesYes

Pricing

Pilla

£19+ / team / month

Free tier to start. Priced per team, not per seat, so every user is included.

Make

$9 / per operation

Free tier available. Enterprise plan available.

Frequently asked questions

Is Pilla a good Make alternative?
Pilla wins when the work being automated is done by frontline humans on phones, not back-office staff in browsers.
What can Pilla do that Make can't?
Checked against Make's own documentation, Pilla offers reusable element templates, issue reporting on workflows, template impact analysis, template analytics & insights, and location / clock-in input — none of which Make documents.
When should I choose Make over Pilla?
Make has real strengths Pilla does not try to replicate.
How much does Pilla cost compared to Make?
Pilla starts free and is priced per team rather than per seat, from £19 per team per month with all users included. Make offers a free tier and starts at $9 per operation.

Run your workflows where the work happens

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