When you’re ready to automate your client onboarding process, one of the first questions you’ll run into is:
“Should I use Zapier or Make?”
Both platforms are incredibly powerful, and both can save you hours of manual work every week, but they have different strengths. And when it comes to onboarding new clients smoothly, choosing the right tool for your business can make all the difference.
We’ve used both extensively to automate onboarding for CPA firms, creative agencies, and even our own internal processes here at The Automated Agency. So let’s break it down.
Zapier: Best for Simplicity and Speed
Zapier is often the go-to starting point for automation beginners, and for good reason. It’s fast to set up, easy to use, and integrates with nearly every tool you can think of.
For client onboarding, it handles common workflows like:
- Sending a contract when a form is submitted
- Triggering a welcome email after payment
- Creating tasks in your project management tool
- Notifying your team when a new client comes on board
If your onboarding process is fairly linear – meaning Step A triggers Step B and so on – Zapier is usually the best fit. It excels at:
- Clean, no-code setup
- Fast deployment (you can build something useful in under 30 minutes)
- Rock-solid reliability for common business apps
We’ve built entire onboarding systems in Zapier using as few as 5–7 Zaps, including contracts, email sequences, ClickUp task creation, and team alerts.
Pros:
✅ Simple visual builder
✅ Great for standard onboarding flows
✅ Massive library of supported apps
✅ Super user-friendly
Cons:
❌ Limited when workflows get complex
❌ Multi-path logic can be harder to manage
❌ Can be more expensive at scale compared to Make
Make: Best for Complex, Visual Workflows
Make shines when onboarding is more dynamic or you need to customize each client’s path.
Let’s say:
- Some clients get assigned to different teams based on plan type
- You need to loop through form fields or documents
- You want to generate a custom agenda and upload it somewhere, then link it back to your project management tool
Make handles all of that beautifully. It’s built for complex logic and gives you a powerful visual builder where you can map out multiple branches, filters, and custom functions.
Client onboarding automations we’ve built in Make often include:
- Decision trees based on service tier
- Custom document generation with looping and conditionals
- Internal Slack + email notifications that change based on client data
- Auto-uploading client assets and linking them to internal systems
Pros:
✅ Perfect for customized onboarding journeys
✅ Advanced logic and branching
✅ Built-in tools for working with data, loops, and conditions
✅ Often cheaper at scale
Cons:
❌ Steeper learning curve
❌ Can be overkill for simple use cases
❌ Some app integrations are less intuitive than Zapier
So, Which One Should You Use?
Here’s our quick advice:
- ✅ Use Zapier if your onboarding process is straightforward, you want to get started fast, and you prefer something clean and simple.
- ✅ Use Make if your onboarding process includes lots of conditions, client-specific routing, or you want more control over data and logic.
Still unsure? You might not have to choose. Some of our clients use both: Zapier for external-facing automations (contracts, email, forms) and Make for complex internal workflows.
Bonus Tip: You Don’t Have to Pick Alone
At The Automated Agency, we start with a process audit using our TADA Framework (Trigger, Actions, Data, Apps). That helps us figure out which platform is the best fit before we build anything, and it often reveals steps you didn’t realize could be automated.
If you’re still manually onboarding clients, or stuck deciding between Zapier and Make, let’s have a quick call. We’ll walk through your process and help you choose the right automation path — no overwhelm required.