Client-intake automation cost calculator
Tally form to HubSpot contact and deal to Brevo acknowledgement, automated with Make, all on the free plans we tested (Tally Free, Make Free, HubSpot Free CRM, Brevo Free). Operation counts are measured in our test runs of 2026-08-16 and 2026-08-20. Prices and plan limits are vendor-sourced with the date we checked them. Defaults and thresholds are our own assumptions and are labeled as such.
Who this is for: a solo consultant or small agency sizing this exact workflow. Who can skip it: if you only need a form that creates a CRM contact, HubSpot's own free form builder does that without Make (checked on 2026-08-18) and this calculator does not apply.
Your numbers
The preloaded values are illustrative defaults, not benchmarks.
Where the numbers come from
| Item | Value | How we know |
|---|---|---|
| New lead, full chain | 6 credits | Measured in every healthy run (v1 on 2026-08-16, v2 on 2026-08-20) |
| Duplicate submission, update path | 3 credits | Measured in v1 (case L003, 2026-08-16). v2 leaves those modules unchanged; the v2 value is an inference, not a new measurement |
| Handled association failure | 7 credits (6 + 1 alert) | Measured once in v2 (case T2, 2026-08-20). A handled duplicate-create failure measured 4 credits (case T3b); the calculator uses the higher figure |
| Make Free | $0, 1,000 credits/month, 7-day execution log retention | make.com/en/pricing, checked on 2026-08-20 |
| Make Core | $9/month on monthly billing, 10,000 credits/month, 30-day log retention | make.com/en/pricing, checked on 2026-08-20. Annual billing is discounted; not modeled |
| Brevo Free | $0, 300 emails/day | Limit shown at signup, checked on 2026-08-06. Re-check before relying on it |
| Tally Free, HubSpot Free CRM | $0 | Plans used in testing, free at signup, checked on 2026-08-05 (Tally) and 2026-08-05 (HubSpot). Not a binding constraint at the volumes tested |
| 80% "close to the cap" threshold, 30-day month for the Brevo average | assumptions | Our choices, not measurements |
Common questions about Make Free's 1,000 credits
- How many leads does Make Free's 1,000 credits cover in this workflow?
- An estimate from our measured usage: a new lead consumed 6 credits in our runs (2026-08-16, two rounds), so 166 healthy new leads would use 996 of the month's 1,000 credits. Duplicates and handled failures change the total, which is what the calculator above works out for your mix.
- What consumes a credit?
- Module operations. In our runs a simple operation consumed 1 credit (terminology checked on 2026-08-18): a healthy new lead cost 6 credits, a duplicate that took the update path 3, and a handled failure up to 7 including the alert email. The error-handler directives themselves were not billed; the alert email cost 1 credit. Whether every module type bills exactly one credit we did not test beyond the modules in this workflow.
- What happens when the 1,000 credits run out?
- We have not tested hitting the cap, so we will not describe the behaviour from guesswork. The paid step up is Make Core at $9 a month on monthly billing for 10,000 credits a month (make.com/en/pricing, checked on 2026-08-20).
- Do failed or handled runs still consume credits?
- In our tests, yes. Our unhandled forced failure consumed 5 credits before the run stopped, and a handled failure consumed up to 7 including the alert. We did not test other failure shapes, so treat this as what we saw rather than a billing rule. Budget for failures, not only for successes.
What this calculator does not know
It assumes one acknowledgement email per new lead, one alert email per handled failure, and no other scenarios on the same Make account. The Brevo check is a 30-day average and cannot tell you about a busy day. It does not model Make credit add-ons, annual discounts, HubSpot paid tiers, or your time. Every v2 figure comes from a single observation per case. In v2, a handled association failure leaves the deal unlinked to the contact, and a handled duplicate drops the newer submission's data instead of merging it. Prices and limits change; the dates above say when we last looked.