How CustomJS Can Save You Money
Make.com recently announced changes to its pricing model with a new credit-based system.
While this offers more granular billing, it can significantly impact costs for scenarios with loops, long execution durations, or heavy processing.
If you run complex JavaScript logic inside Make, there’s now a smarter way to save credits (and money):
use the native CustomJS module instead of Make's built-in modules for certain tasks.
Under the new credit system:
- - Most modules cost 1 credit per operation
- - Some modules cost more if they have higher complexity or longer runtime
- - If you iterate over large datasets, each loop iteration is billed separately
- - Long-running operations (especially with AI or file processing) may consume credits dynamically based on execution time
This means that if you:
- - Run loops with many iterations
- - Process large amounts of data
- - Execute long-running logic inside Make
your credit consumption can explode.
Imagine you have a scenario that:
- - Fetches 50 items from a database
- - Runs JavaScript on each item (duration: 30 seconds per item)
In Make:
- - Each iteration = 1 credit
- - 50 iterations = 50 credits
- - If the JavaScript runs for 30s per item, certain modules may be billed dynamically based on time — adding even more credits
If 1 credit ≈ $0.01 (example rate), that’s already $0.50 per scenario run.
Run that daily and you’re looking at $15/month — just for this one scenario.
The native CustomJS module lets you run JavaScript logic outside of Make’s credit system for heavy workloads.
Here’s why it’s cheaper:
- - You can process all 50 items in a single request
- - You’re billed based on requests, not per iteration
- - You can run up to 60 seconds of JavaScript per request
- - Free tier: 20 requests/day (≈ 600/month if usage is consistent, but it’s based on your actual daily need — so some days you can use more, some less)
- - Paid plans start at $10/month for higher volumes
| Scenario | Make.com (Credits) | Native CustomJS Module |
|---|
| 50 iterations/day × 1 credit each | 50 credits/day = 1500/month (~$15) | Free if ≤ 20/day, else $10/month |
| 100 iterations/day × 1 credit each | 100 credits/day = 3000/month (~$30) | $10/month |
| 200 iterations/day × 1 credit each | 200 credits/day = 6000/month (~$60) | $10/month |
- - Make.com’s new credit system can quickly become expensive for loops, long-duration processing, or high iteration counts
- - The native CustomJS module lets you run code outside of Make’s per-iteration billing
- - You might even run it completely free if your daily average stays under 20 requests/day (≈ 600/month, but can be unevenly spread depending on your needs)
- - Paid plans are predictable: $10/month for higher volume
Bottom line: If you run complex JavaScript in Make, moving it to the native CustomJS module can save you up to 80% in costs.