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.
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
| Capability | Pilla | Make |
|---|---|---|
| AI automated action step | Yes | Yes |
| Photo input | Yes | No |
| Checklist | Yes | No |
| Location / clock-in input | Yes | No |
| Group team chats | Yes | No |
| Push notifications on new message | Yes | No |
| Public forms (external submissions) | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server (connect Claude / Cursor / other) | Yes | Yes |
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.
| Feature | Pilla | Make |
|---|---|---|
Workflows | ||
| Recurring workflow templates | Yes | Yes |
| Ad-hoc workflow creation | Yes | Yes |
| Reusable workflow blueprints | Yes | Yes |
| Reusable element templates | Yes | No |
| Custom tags & categories | Yes | Yes |
| Issue reporting on workflows | Yes | No |
| Activity audit trail | Yes | Yes |
| Public template library | Yes | Yes |
| Public forms (external submissions) | Yes | Yes |
| CSV data exports | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk operations | Yes | Yes |
| Template impact analysis | Yes | No |
| Template analytics & insights | Yes | No |
| Template version history | Yes | Yes |
Input Steps | ||
| Text input | Yes | Yes |
| Number input | Yes | Yes |
| Date input | Yes | Yes |
| Time input | Yes | Yes |
| Location / clock-in input | Yes | No |
| Checklist | Yes | No |
| Single-choice input | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-choice input | Yes | Yes |
| Cascading select | Yes | Yes |
| Rating scale | Yes | No |
| Photo input | Yes | No |
| Video input | Yes | No |
| Audio note / input | Yes | No |
| File input | Yes | Yes |
| Signature input | Yes | No |
Guidance Steps | ||
| Rich text guidance | Yes | No |
| Video guidance | Yes | No |
| Photo guidance | Yes | No |
AI Steps | ||
| AI context briefing step | Yes | Yes |
| AI decision gate step | Yes | Yes |
| AI decision tree step | Yes | Yes |
| AI automated action step | Yes | Yes |
Communication | ||
| In-app 1:1 direct messages | Yes | No |
| Group team chats | Yes | No |
| Team-wide broadcasts | Yes | No |
| Photo, video & file attachments | Yes | No |
| Threaded replies | Yes | No |
| Emoji reactions | Yes | No |
| @mention teammates | Yes | No |
| Read receipts | Yes | No |
| Push notifications on new message | Yes | No |
| Messages linked to workflows | Yes | No |
In-app agent | ||
| Plain-English Q&A on how it works | Yes | Yes |
| In-product walkthroughs and tutorials | Yes | Yes |
| Saved chat history & resumable sessions | Yes | Not documented |
| Cites help docs and source data | Yes | Not documented |
| File feedback, bugs & feature requests from chat | Yes | No |
| Q&A on your workflows | Yes | Yes |
| Q&A on your team's performance | Yes | Not documented |
| Q&A across connected integrations | Yes | Yes |
Integrations & API | ||
| Native integrations | Yes | Yes |
| 100+ MCP integrations | Yes | Yes |
| Public REST API | Yes | Yes |
| Outbound webhooks | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server (connect Claude / Cursor / other) | Yes | Yes |
| IP allowlist on API keys | Yes | No |
| Custom API rate limits | Yes | Yes |
Administration | ||
| User roles (staff / manager / admin) | Yes | Yes |
| CSV user & team import | Yes | No |
| Tenant-isolated data | Yes | Yes |
| Account-wide audit logs | Yes | Yes |
| Custom step run allowances | Yes | Yes |
| Annual step run pooling | Yes | Yes |
| SSO & SAML | Yes | Yes |
| SCIM provisioning | Yes | Yes |
| Dedicated success manager | Yes | Yes |
| Custom onboarding | Yes | Yes |
| Service-level agreement (SLA) | Yes | Yes |
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
Pilla brings AI workflow automation to deskless teams. Start free, no credit card needed.