Decision pages
Head-to-head comparisons for the choices people actually get stuck on. Written to help you decide, including when the answer is "neither" or "do it yourself."
Platform choices
Mostly a question of pricing model, not technology.
AI agent vs chatbot
A chatbot answers. An agent answers and then acts in your systems. Why that single difference drives the whole cost and risk gap, and which one your inquiries actually need.
- Answering is the whole job: a chatbot
- Answering is half the job: an agent
Make vs Zapier
Zapier is easier to start and more expensive to scale. Where the crossover sits, what a migration costs, and when staying on Zapier is the right call.
- Faster to ship simple work: Zapier
- Cheaper once logic branches: Make
n8n vs Zapier
Opposite ends of the same spectrum: maximum convenience against maximum control. Who each one is genuinely for.
- Cheapest at high volume: n8n
- Nobody to run a server: Zapier
Make vs n8n
The closest comparison of the three, and the one where modeling your operation count actually decides it. Covered in full on the answers page.
- Better default for most: Make
- High volume or self-hosting: n8n
Approach choices
Bigger decisions than which tool to use.
Build vs buy
When an off-the-shelf product beats a custom automation, when it does not, and the six categories where buying almost always wins.
- A mature software category: buy
- The gap between your products: build
In-house vs agency vs freelancer
Three ways to get automation built, with the honest failure mode of each. Including the case where you should not hire us.
- Twelve months of work lined up: in-house
- One well-defined build: a freelancer
Hire vs automate
The arithmetic including the rows vendors leave out. Covered in full on the answers page.
- Judgment and unpredictable volume: hire
- High-volume, rule-driven, stable: automate
Still stuck between two options?
Scoping is free and ends in a written recommendation, including when the recommendation is to buy something off the shelf rather than build anything.
You will talk to Fayez or Kareem. Nobody else.