How to Use HTTP Modules in Make.com to Call Any Free AI API

What Is an HTTP Module in Make.com?

One of the most underrated features of Make.com is the HTTP module. While most beginners stick to the pre-built app connectors — Google Sheets, Gmail, Blogger — the HTTP module unlocks something far more powerful: the ability to connect Make.com to literally any service on the internet that has an API, whether Make.com has a native integration for it or not.

An HTTP module is essentially a way to make a web request from inside your automation. You tell it where to send the request (the URL), what method to use (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE), what headers to include, and what data to send in the body. The service responds, and Make.com passes that response to the next module in your scenario.

This is how bloggers connect Make.com to free AI APIs like Groq — there is no native Groq integration in Make.com, but the HTTP module makes it work perfectly. If you have followed our guide on building a free AI blogging system with Make.com, Groq and Blogger, you have already used HTTP modules without necessarily understanding the full depth of what they can do.

Why HTTP Modules Matter More Than Native Integrations

Make.com has around 1,500 native app integrations. That sounds like a lot — and it is — but the internet has hundreds of thousands of APIs. Every new AI tool, every niche SaaS product, every government data source, every free image service has an API. Native integrations cover the popular ones. HTTP modules cover everything else.

For bloggers and content creators, this matters because the most useful free AI tools in 2026 — Groq, Pollinations.ai, Hugging Face inference endpoints, and others — do not have native Make.com integrations. Without the HTTP module, you would be locked out of all of them on the free plan. With it, you can build AI-powered automations that rival what paid platforms charge hundreds of dollars per month to provide.

Understanding HTTP modules is the skill that separates Make.com beginners from Make.com power users. This guide will take you through everything you need to know to use them confidently.

The Four HTTP Methods You Need to Know

Every HTTP request uses a method that tells the server what you want to do. For automation purposes, you will primarily use two of these.

GET — used to retrieve data. You are asking the server to send you something. No data is sent in the body. Examples: fetching a webpage, retrieving an image from a URL, checking the status of something. The Unsplash image URL in our blogging system is a GET request — you send a URL and get an image back.

POST — used to send data and get a response back. You are giving the server information and asking it to process it. Examples: sending a prompt to an AI API and getting a response, submitting a form, creating a new record. Every Groq API call in our blogging system is a POST request — you send a prompt in the body and receive generated content in the response.

PUT — used to update an existing record. Less common in blogging automations but useful if you are updating posts, records, or user data via an API.

DELETE — used to delete a record. Rarely needed in content workflows but worth knowing it exists.

How to Set Up an HTTP Module in Make.com Step by Step

Here is the exact process for adding and configuring an HTTP module in your Make.com scenario.

1. In your scenario canvas, click the plus (+) icon to add a new module
2. Search for HTTP and select it from the results
3. Choose Make a request from the action options
4. In the URL field, enter the API endpoint you want to call
5. Set the Method to GET or POST depending on what the API requires
6. Under Headers, click Add Item and enter your required headers (most APIs need at least Content-Type and Authorization)
7. If using POST, set Body type to Raw and select JSON, then paste your request body
8. Click OK to save the module

After running the module once, Make.com will show you the response structure and allow you to map the output fields to subsequent modules in your scenario.

Calling the Groq AI API with an HTTP Module

This is the most practical use case for bloggers. Here is the exact configuration to call Groq from a Make.com HTTP module and generate AI content for free.

URL:

https://api.groq.com/openai/v1/chat/completions

Method: POST

Headers (add two items):

Name: Authorization
Value: Bearer YOUR_GROQ_API_KEY_HERE

Name: Content-Type
Value: application/json

Body type: Raw — JSON

Request content (body):

{
  "model": "llama-3.3-70b-versatile",
  "messages": [
    {
      "role": "user",
      "content": "Your prompt here"
    }
  ],
  "max_tokens": 4000,
  "temperature": 0.7
}

To extract the AI's response in downstream modules, use this mapping path:

data.choices[].message.content

Replace YOUR_GROQ_API_KEY_HERE with your actual key from console.groq.com. The key goes in the Authorization header with the word Bearer in front of it and a space between them — this is a standard format called Bearer token authentication used by most modern APIs.

Calling a Free Image API with an HTTP Module

For bloggers who want to automatically pull a relevant featured image into each post, the Unsplash source URL is the most reliable free option. This is a GET request, which means it is even simpler than the Groq call.

URL (paste directly, replacing the keyword with your dynamic variable):

https://source.unsplash.com/1280x720/?digital+marketing

Method: GET

No headers or body needed. Unsplash returns the image directly in the response. In Make.com, set the Parse response option to handle the image data, then map it to your Blogger or WordPress module.

For a dynamic keyword pulled from earlier in your scenario — for example, using the blog title as the search term — replace the static keyword with a mapped variable from a previous module.

Understanding Headers and Why They Matter

Headers are pieces of metadata that travel alongside your HTTP request. They tell the server important things about who you are, what format your data is in, and what format you want the response in. Getting headers wrong is one of the most common reasons HTTP modules fail.

The two headers you will use most often are:

Content-Type: application/json — tells the server that the body of your request is formatted as JSON. If you are sending a JSON body and forget this header, many APIs will reject your request with a 400 Bad Request error.

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY — tells the server who you are. The word Bearer is part of the standard format and must be included exactly as shown, with a capital B and a space before your key. Getting this wrong produces a 401 Unauthorized error — the most common error people encounter when first setting up Groq in Make.com.

Some APIs also require an Accept: application/json header to tell the server what format you want the response in. Check the documentation of whatever API you are calling to see what headers it requires.

Parsing the Response: How to Extract Data from API Responses

When an API responds to your HTTP module, it typically returns JSON — a structured format that looks like nested objects and arrays. Make.com automatically parses this and lets you map specific fields to downstream modules.

For example, the Groq API response looks roughly like this in structure:

{
  "choices": [
    {
      "message": {
        "content": "The AI generated text goes here"
      }
    }
  ]
}

To extract the generated text in a downstream module, you click the variable picker and navigate to: data → choices[] → message → content. Make.com represents this as data.choices[].message.content in the mapping interface.

The square brackets after choices indicate it is an array — a list of items. The [] notation tells Make.com to take the first item from that array. This is standard for most AI API responses which return one completion per request.

Common HTTP Module Errors and How to Fix Them

401 Unauthorized — your API key is wrong, missing, or formatted incorrectly. Check that your Authorization header says exactly Bearer YOUR_KEY with a space and no extra characters. Make sure the key itself is correct and has not expired.

400 Bad Request — the request body is malformed. Usually means your JSON is invalid (missing a bracket or comma), the Content-Type header is missing, or a required field in the body is absent. Validate your JSON using a free tool like jsonlint.com before pasting it into Make.com.

429 Too Many Requests — you have hit the API's rate limit. Wait and try again, or reduce the frequency of your calls. For Groq specifically, adding a delay between modules or enabling sequential processing in your scenario settings prevents this.

530 or 1033 Connection Error — the service is down, geo-blocked, or the URL is wrong. Test the URL directly in your browser first. If you are in a region where the service is geo-blocked (common with Pollinations.ai in Nigeria), switch to an alternative service that works in your region.

Empty response body — the module ran successfully but returned nothing. This usually means the API returned an error in a format Make.com did not parse correctly. Turn on the Evaluate all states as errors option in the HTTP module settings to catch these silent failures.

Advanced HTTP Module Tips for Bloggers

Use the Parse response toggle. In the HTTP module settings, enabling Parse response tells Make.com to automatically structure the JSON response for easy mapping. Without it, you get a raw string that is harder to work with.

Chain multiple HTTP modules. There is no limit to how many HTTP modules you can use in one scenario. Our AI blogging system uses five separate HTTP modules in sequence — one for the title, one for the meta description, one for categories, one for the image prompt, and one for the full article. Each one passes its output to the next.

Store API keys as Make.com variables. Instead of pasting your API key into every HTTP module separately, you can store it once as a scenario variable and reference it across all modules. This makes key rotation much easier.

Test modules individually. Right-click any module in your scenario and choose Run this module only. This lets you test a single HTTP call without running the entire scenario — essential for debugging without burning through API rate limits or Make.com operations.

What Else Can You Connect to With HTTP Modules?

Beyond Groq and Unsplash, here are other free or low-cost APIs that bloggers can connect to via Make.com HTTP modules:

• OpenWeatherMap — free weather data, useful for travel or lifestyle blogs
• NewsAPI — free tier for fetching current news headlines to inspire blog topics
• Hugging Face Inference API — free access to thousands of open-source AI models for text, image, and audio tasks
• Pexels API — free high-quality stock photos with a straightforward API
• Google Custom Search API — free tier for programmatic search results
• Exchange Rate API — free currency conversion data, useful for forex blogs

For forex content specifically, having live exchange rate data automatically pulled into your posts adds genuine value that static articles cannot match. If forex is part of your content strategy, pairing live data APIs with your automation setup gives you a real competitive edge. Our broader collection of free AI tools for bloggers covers more options worth exploring.

HTTP Modules vs Native Integrations: When to Use Which

Native integrations are pre-built connections that Make.com maintains. They are easier to set up because the authentication and field mapping are handled for you. Use them when they are available and when the native integration covers everything you need.

HTTP modules are the right choice when there is no native integration, when the native integration does not expose the specific API endpoint you need, or when you want more control over exactly what is sent and received. For AI APIs, HTTP modules are almost always the right choice because most AI providers update their APIs frequently and native integrations often lag behind.

The combination of native integrations for standard tools (Google Sheets, Blogger, Gmail) and HTTP modules for AI and specialist APIs is what makes Make.com so capable for content automation. This hybrid approach is exactly what powers the free AI blogging system we documented — Blogger uses the native integration, Groq uses HTTP modules, and Google Sheets uses the native integration. Each tool handled the way that works best.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need to know how to code to use HTTP modules?
No. HTTP modules require no coding. You fill in fields in a form interface — the URL, the method, the headers, and the body. The only thing that looks like code is the JSON body, and even that is just structured text following a simple pattern you can copy from any API's documentation.

Q: How do I find the right URL and body format for an API?
Every API has documentation that specifies its endpoint URLs, required headers, and body format. Search for the API name followed by "documentation" or "API reference". For Groq specifically, the documentation at console.groq.com shows the exact format needed.

Q: Can HTTP modules handle file uploads?
Yes. Set the body type to Form Data or Multipart and attach the file. This is useful for APIs that accept image uploads or document processing.

Q: Is there a limit to how many HTTP modules I can use per scenario on the free plan?
There is no module count limit — you can use as many as you need. The only constraint is that each module execution counts as one operation toward your monthly 1,000 operation free tier limit.

Q: What is the difference between Make.com's HTTP module and a Webhook module?
An HTTP module makes an outgoing request from Make.com to an external service. A Webhook module listens for incoming requests from an external service to Make.com. They are complementary — webhooks receive data, HTTP modules send requests and receive responses.

Final Thoughts

The HTTP module is the single most powerful feature available on Make.com's free plan. It is what transforms Make.com from a simple app connector into a genuine automation platform capable of integrating with any AI, any data source, and any service on the internet. For bloggers who want to build real AI-powered workflows without paying for expensive native integrations, mastering HTTP modules is the most valuable skill you can develop.

Start with the Groq API call — it is the most immediately useful for content creation and the configuration is straightforward once you understand headers and JSON. From there, the same logic applies to any other API you want to connect.

As your blog grows and your content strategy evolves, understanding how to combine automation with smart SEO thinking will separate you from bloggers who just publish and hope for the best. Our guide on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) for 2026 covers the strategic layer on top of the automation foundation you are building. And if you are monetising through affiliate programs, our guides on affiliate marketing for beginners and blogging for affiliate marketing will help you turn that traffic into income. For European audiences, keep your tools compliant with our GDPR compliant AI tools guide.