Keep 4, Cut 4: My Real Automation Stack, Ungated
This started as a rapid-fire segment: keep four, cut four, automation tools, answer on instinct. Instinct is easy. Defending it is the useful part. So here is the full answer. The four tools that earned a permanent slot, the four that got cut, the reasoning behind every verdict, and the complete two-layer stack I run behind the scenes, including the AI layer I normally only send over DM. No gate on any of it.
The scoreboard
Rules of the segment: eight tools, instant verdicts, no take-backs. Here is where everything landed before we get into why.
KEEP: Zapier, Make, n8n, Airtable Automations
CUT: IFTTT, Power Automate, Pipedream, Notion AIKeep: the 4 that earned their slot
Zapier. Fastest to wire up, full stop. Idea to live automation in minutes, and that speed matters when the thing needs to run today, not next sprint. Make. Best power for the price. When a workflow outgrows a straight trigger-to-action line, this is where it moves. You get a lot of machine per dollar. n8n. Self-host it, get unlimited runs. You stop paying per task, and the heavy workflows that would rack up a bill elsewhere just cost you server time. Owning your automation layer hits different. Airtable Automations. If your data already lives in Airtable, the automations sitting directly on top of it cover more ground than most people expect before you ever pay.
Cut: the 4 that didn't make it
IFTTT. Cut. It's 2026. It taught a generation what automation was, and that generation moved on. Power Automate. Cut. If your company hands it to you, use it at work. Nobody building their own stack starts here. Pipedream. Cut. It's aimed at people who want to write code around every workflow. Different sport. I want the automation, not a codebase. Notion AI. Cut, and yes, I flinched on camera before saying it. AI typing inside your notes is a glorified text box, not automation, and this was an automation question.
The full stack, ungated
On the show this part sat behind a comment gate. Here it is just the next block. The four keepers are the plumbing. The AI layer is what makes the plumbing smart. ChatGPT sits inside the zap as the brain. Claude takes the long document steps. Perplexity handles the research step. Gamma turns the output into a deck. Eight tools, two layers, and each one does exactly one job.
My real automation stack:
Zapier (fastest to wire up)
Make (best power for the price)
n8n (self-host, unlimited runs)
Airtable Automations (free tier is huge)
ChatGPT (the brain inside the zap)
Claude (long doc steps)
Perplexity (research step)
Gamma (auto-deck step)Steal the logic, not the list
Look at why each keeper survived. Zapier is speed. Make is power per dollar. n8n is ownership. Airtable is free-tier headroom. Four tools, four different reasons, zero overlap. That's the actual lesson. Every tool in your stack should justify itself in five words or fewer. If it can't, it's a cut, no matter how nice the landing page is. Run your own keep four, cut four this week. Most stacks shrink, and nothing breaks.
The filter: every tool in your stack justifies itself in five words or fewer. If it can't, it's a cut.
Zapier: speed
Make: power per dollar
n8n: ownership
Airtable: free-tier headroom
Run your own keep 4, cut 4 this week. Most stacks shrink, and nothing breaks.Get the next one first
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