In Zapier, open My Zaps. Export a list of every active Zap with its trigger, action count, and monthly tasks used (last column of the dashboard).

Split into three groups:

Migrate now - high-volume Zaps where cost savings justify the work.
Migrate later - low-volume Zaps that run fine and nobody looks at.
Delete - Zaps that last ran 6+ months ago or use apps you no longer have.

Migrate in descending order of monthly tasks. The top 20% of your Zaps usually account for 80% of your bill.

Create a free account at make.com. The free plan includes 1,000 operations/month, which is enough for testing and light production use.

Create an Organization and a Team. Inside, scenarios are grouped by Team - set these up to mirror your Zapier folders.

Before rebuilding, understand the mental model shift:

Zapier Zap = one trigger, then N actions run in order.
Make Scenario = one or more triggers, connected modules in a graph. You can branch with routers, loop with iterators, combine results with aggregators.

A simple 3-step Zap is a 3-module scenario - no change. Complex Zaps with Paths, Formatter steps, and multi-step filters simplify dramatically in Make's visual model.

Create a new Scenario. Add the first module - this is your trigger. Search for the same app you use in Zapier (Gmail, Airtable, HubSpot, etc.) and pick the matching trigger (Watch Emails, Watch Records).

Authenticate with the app. Make calls these "connections" and you'll reuse them across scenarios. Triggers can be:

✓ Instant (webhook) - fires immediately
✓ Scheduled (polling) - fires every N minutes
✓ Manual - fires only when you click Run

Run the trigger once to pull a sample payload. You'll map data from this in later steps.

Add action modules after the trigger. Make draws lines between modules as you go - this is your scenario graph.

For each action, map input fields using Make's field mapper (drag from the left pane or click to insert). This replaces Zapier's {{step_1.field}} syntax with visual references.

Tip: Make's Text parser and Tools → Set variable modules replace Zapier's Formatter steps and usually with more power. Don't reach for Formatter equivalents until you've checked the native modules.

Right-click any connector line between modules and add a Filter. This is Zapier's "Only continue if" but more flexible - you can test against any field from any prior module.

Error handling is Make's killer feature: right-click any module and add an error handler. Common patterns:

Break + resume - log the error, store the payload, move on.
Rollback - reverse prior steps if a later one fails.
Retry - wait N seconds and try again.
Route to alert - send yourself a Slack/email on failure.

Click Run once to fire the scenario manually. Make shows a visual execution: each module highlights green (success) or red (error), with the exact data that flowed through each bubble.

Compare with Zapier's task history for the same trigger event. Data should match. If fields are missing or formatted differently, fix the mapping and test again.

Once happy, set the scenario schedule (Every 15 minutes is the default) and toggle it on.

For each migrated Zap: turn off the Zap in Zapier, monitor the Make scenario for 48 hours, then mark the Zap for deletion.

Don't cancel Zapier until every critical Zap has run at least once successfully in Make. Some integrations (especially older ones) behave differently between the two platforms.

When everything is green, downgrade your Zapier plan to Free or cancel. Most teams save $300-1,500/year net of the Make subscription.