Sending an invoice is the best part of business—getting paid. But creating that invoice? That is a soul-crushing mix of copy-pasting from a contract into Quickbooks, checking bank details, and praying you didn't typo the amount.

If you process more than 20 invoices a month, you need to automate your invoicing workflow. The question is no longer "should I?" but "which tool is powerful enough to handle it?"

The market is dominated by two giants: Zapier (the friendly giant) and Make (formerly Integromat, the technical wizard). We built the exact same complex invoice workflow in both tools to see which one breaks first.

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The Challenge: The "Multi-Line" Problem

Basic automation is easy: "When I get a new Stripe payment, create a receipt in Xero." Both tools do this in their sleep.

But real business is messy. Here is the test scenario we ran:

  • Trigger: A "Deal Won" in HubSpot with 3 different products (Line Items).
  • Action: Create a Customer in QuickBooks Online.
  • Action: Create an Invoice with matching line items, tax rates, and a due date of +30 days.
  • Action: Email the PDF to the client.

This "Line Item" requirement is where most automation fails. Let's see how they stacked up.

Contender 1: Zapier

Zapier is famous for its linear "Trigger -> Action" logic. It connects to over 5,000 apps, meaning it likely supports your obscure CRM.

The Good

  • Speed: Set up took 10 minutes.
  • AI Copilot: You can type "Connect HubSpot to Quickbooks" and it builds the skeleton for you.
  • Paths: You can create simple branching (If deal > $1k, send email to Manager).

The Bad

  • The Array Problem: Zapier struggles with multiple products. If your deal has 3 items, Zapier often jams them into one line or requires complex "Formatter" steps.
  • Cost: It gets expensive fast. A multi-step invoice process consumes "Tasks" rapidly.

Contender 2: Make (Integromat)

Make looks like a sci-fi map. It uses a visual canvas where bubbles float around. It allows for circular logic, complex data transformation, and error handling.

The Good

  • Iterators & Aggregators: This is the killer feature. Make can take a list of 3 products, "explode" them into individual items, process them, and then "package" them back into one invoice. It handles the Multi-Line problem perfectly.
  • Price: Generally 5x cheaper than Zapier for high-volume workflows.

The Bad

  • Complexity: The learning curve is a cliff. You need to understand concepts like JSON, Arrays, and Collections.
  • Support: Less "hand-holding" than Zapier.

Real-World Automation "Gotchas"

Before you build this, you need to prepare your data. Automation is essentially a very fast, very stupid intern. If you feed it garbage, it will create garbage at light speed.

ERROR 400: INVALID DATE
This is the most common error. HubSpot stores dates as "Unix Timestamp" (1698765432). Quickbooks expects "YYYY-MM-DD".

In Zapier: Add a "Formatter" step to convert the date.
In Make: Use the built-in function `formatDate(date; "YYYY-MM-DD")` right inside the field.

Tip: If your data is messy (names in all caps, addresses formatted wrong), read our guide on cleaning messy data before you try to automate it.

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The Verdict: Which Should You Choose?

We measure success by "ROI on Time." How long does it take to build vs. how much time it saves.

Choose Zapier If:

  • Your invoicing is simple (1 product per invoice).
  • You have zero coding knowledge and want a "set and forget" solution.
  • You are automating less than 100 invoices a month.

Choose Make If:

  • You have variable line items (e-commerce orders).
  • You need to perform calculations (e.g., specific tax logic for different countries) inside the automation.
  • You are price-sensitive and have high volume (1,000+ operations).

Conclusion

If you are a solo freelancer, stick with Zapier. The extra $20/month is worth avoiding the headache of learning Make's interface.

If you are a scaling agency or e-commerce business, Make is the only tool robust enough to handle the complexity of multi-line invoicing without breaking.

Remember, automation isn't free—it costs time to set up and maintain. But manual invoicing is a burn rate accelerator. It kills your cash flow by delaying when you get paid.

Not sure if you should automate it or just hire someone to do it? Use our Freelancer vs Employee Calculator to compare the cost of a VA vs. the cost of software subscription.