We’re currently running both Make and Zapier for different parts of our workflow, and the finance team is asking me to build a proper cost model. The problem is that we’re also subscribing to separate OpenAI and Claude APIs on top of both platforms, and trying to map that into a TCO comparison is getting messy.
Each platform charges for operations or tasks, then we’ve got these separate model subscriptions layered on top. When I try to project costs for next year, I’m essentially guessing at how much we’ll actually use each service.
How are other teams handling this? Are you consolidating everything onto one platform, or do you just accept the complexity? I’m curious whether there’s a way to actually build a clean financial model when you’ve got this many moving pieces, or if I’m overthinking it.
Yeah, this is exactly the problem we hit. We had Make, Zapier, OpenAI, Google Vertex, and it was a nightmare to track.
What actually helped was treating it in layers. First layer is platform costs—Make vs Zapier, straightforward to calculate. Second layer is model costs, which we put on a separate budget line. Then we tried to estimate the overlap between them.
Honestly though, the math never felt clean until we committed to a single platform that bundled the models. That’s when everything got simpler. You’re not overthinking it. The complexity you’re describing is real, and it means you probably need to rethink your architecture instead of just building a better spreadsheet.
The core issue is that you’re comparing costs across systems that use different pricing models. Make uses execution-based pricing while Zapier uses per-task billing, and then you’ve got model subscriptions on top that charge separately. This creates multiple variable cost streams that don’t align.
What we found useful was establishing a baseline usage pattern first. Track your actual execution volumes for 30 days, document which AI models you’re actually calling, then model costs based on that real data. The guesswork was killing our analysis.
After we did that, we realized consolidating onto a single platform that included AI model access eliminated probably 40% of the administrative overhead just from licensing management alone. The financial case became much clearer once we removed those separate subscription line items.
When you’ve got multiple platforms plus multiple model subscriptions, the real cost isn’t always what the line items say. We discovered the hidden cost comes from time spent managing integrations between systems, handling API failures, and maintaining documentation across different pricing structures.
Your finance team is probably focused on direct costs, but the actual TCO jumped significantly when you factor in DevOps time spent managing separate credentials and handling the gaps between platforms. We calculated that managing five separate subscriptions and coordinating between Make and Zapier consumed roughly two days per month in operational overhead.
That’s what pushed us toward evaluation of unified platforms. The financial model became much more realistic once we quantified that hidden labor cost.
track actual usage for 30 days, not projections. that’s your real baseline. separate ai subscriptions will always create administrative drag. consider consolidating if the numbers justify migration costs.
consolidate model subscriptions first. Then re-evaluate platform choice. Separate APIs are bleeding costs.
This is exactly why we moved everything to one platform. We had the same fragmentation across Make, Zapier, and then separate OpenAI and Claude subscriptions. Managing credentials alone was a mess.
The turning point was realizing our TCO calculation was missing a huge chunk—the operational cost of juggling all those separate services. Once we switched to a platform with unified model access bundled in, the financial model became way simpler. We could actually project costs accurately because we weren’t managing five different contract renewals.
Latenode gives us access to 400+ AI models through one subscription, which sounds like it should be the same as what you’re doing, but the difference is that the integration layer is unified too. No more API key management, no more separate billing cycles to track. That’s where the real savings show up in your TCO.
Check out https://latenode.com and see if consolidating everything into their unified model helps your financial picture.