Make vs Lightning
Choose Lightning when self-hosting and code-editor-based workflow development matter more than Make’s documented breadth of 3,000-plus integrations, AI agents, templates, and enterprise controls. Choose Make when those broader, ready-made capabilities are requirements; the supplied evidence does not establish equivalent coverage in Lightning.
Decision guide
The practical reasons to choose either option, based on documented capabilities.
Choose Lightning if
- Teams that must self-host workflow automation on their own infrastructure
- Developers who want to build, edit, and deploy workflow projects from a code editor
- Governments, NGOs, and public-service teams managing complex data-integration workflows
Stay with Make if
- You require Make’s documented library of more than 3,000 pre-built integrations; no comparable Lightning library size is documented
- You need built-in AI-agent deployment or MCP workflows; these are not documented for Lightning
- You depend on documented workflow templates or stated SSO, GDPR, SOC 3, and SOC 2 Type II coverage; equivalent Lightning coverage is not supplied
Deployment and operations
Lightning is an LGPL-3.0, self-hostable Elixir application with PostgreSQL. The project recommends Docker for running it on one server and Docker builds with Kubernetes for external deployment. A hosted OpenFn service is also available. Self-hosters assume responsibility for infrastructure, PostgreSQL, configuration, migrations, upgrades, and troubleshooting.
Feature fit
What Lightning covers
- Visual workflow building
- Multi-step workflow automation
- Information-system integration
- Central workflow monitoring
- User and access management
What’s different or missing
- No documented 3,000-plus connector library
- No documented AI-agent deployment
- No documented MCP support
- No documented workflow-template library
- No documented SSO or SOC certification parity
Project snapshot
- GitHub stars
- 292
- Contributors
- 45
- Language
- Elixir
- Last commit
- Aug 14, 2026
- Latest release
- Jul 31, 2026
Categories: Workflow Automation
Sources and editorial review12 linked sources
Public documentation supports this comparison. Automation assists collection and classification; editorial standards and corrections remain the responsibility of Kris.
Lightning ⚡ ... is a workflow automation platform that's used to automate critical business processes and integrate information systems.
readme · github.comPlan and build workflows using Lightning's visual interface to quickly define when, where and what you want your automation to do.
readme · github.comMonitor all workflow activity in one place.
readme · github.comManage users and access by project.
readme · github.comIf you only want to RUN Lightning on your own server, we recommend using Docker.
readme · github.comIf you want to DEPLOY Lightning, we recommend Docker builds and Kubernetes.
readme · github.comLightning is a web app.
readme · github.comUse our [CLI](https://github.com/OpenFn/kit/blob/main/packages/cli/README.md#openfncli) to quickly build, edit and deploy projects from the comfort of your own code editor.
verdict · github.com- If you only want to [_**RUN**_](#run-via-docker) Lightning on your own server, we recommend using Docker. - If you want to [_**DEPLOY**_](#deploy-on-external-infrastructure) Lightning, we recommend Docker builds and Kubernetes.
deployment · github.comPlan and build workflows using Lightning's visual interface to quickly define when, where and what you want your automation to do.
shared feature · github.comMonitor all workflow activity in one place.
shared feature · github.comFYI, Lightning is built in [Elixir](https://elixir-lang.org/), harnessing the [Phoenix Framework](https://www.phoenixframework.org/). Currently, the only unbundled dependency is a [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/) database.
deployment · github.com
