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Apache Airflow vs Automation Anywhere comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.8
The tool's open-source nature and Python integration enhance efficiency, though some users see no return on investment.
Sentiment score
7.2
Automation Anywhere delivers high ROI with quick cost recovery, boosting efficiency and productivity in data-heavy, repetitive tasks.
In terms of cost, we participated in projects achieving two to three million dollars in annual savings.
As a return on investment, we have achieved a 250% ROI in six to nine months, and sometimes it increases up to 380% percent.
Automation Anywhere has helped us save money.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Users mainly rely on community resources and online documentation, occasionally using internal teams or tech support for assistance.
Sentiment score
7.1
Automation Anywhere's support is knowledgeable and effective despite occasional delays, with valued account managers and praised community resources.
There is enough documentation available, and the community support is good.
Forums and community resources like Stack Overflow are helpful.
Whenever we need help, we can reach out to them, and they help us out.
We also have dedicated account managers and technical experts to solve our problems related to Automation Anywhere.
We just have to raise a ticket, after which we receive a call, email, or ping from the Automation Anywhere team.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Apache Airflow is scalable, effectively used in multi-server applications, supported by cloud integration, despite some deployment complexities.
Sentiment score
7.5
Automation Anywhere is scalable and flexible, suitable for large organizations, though budget considerations and infrastructure are necessary.
The solution is very scalable.
Apache Airflow scales well, especially when deployed in Kubernetes environments.
For Windows-based applications, it provides UI interface automation, which enhances its scalability.
Automation Anywhere is highly scalable for both horizontal and vertical expansions.
I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Apache Airflow is generally considered stable, though some experience challenges with bugs, management, and infrastructure under heavy load.
Sentiment score
7.1
Automation Anywhere offers generally stable performance, though users occasionally face issues, particularly during updates and transitions.
I would rate the stability of the solution as ten out of ten.
Apache Airflow is stable and I have not experienced significant issues.
With the latest applications, there are no significant issues like freezing or crashing.
The platform runs smoothly, and the deployment process is user-friendly in both UAT and production environments.
It usually does not lag or crash.
 

Room For Improvement

Apache Airflow struggles with usability, lacking features and integration, needing improvements in scalability, documentation, and platform support.
Automation Anywhere requires improvements in user-friendliness, stability, integration, support services, pricing, and accessibility for better user experience.
It is not suitable for real-time ETL tasks.
There is no dashboard for us to check all the Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs); a dashboard would help us analyze the work better.
It is better to write a Python script instead of using Automation Anywhere's package when dealing with Excel because it is buggy and tends to break.
Making the product more lightweight by reducing its dependency on infrastructure could greatly help in the long run.
It would be beneficial if the platform provided options for power developers to integrate seamlessly with languages like Java or C#, allowing them to write their own scripts and code.
 

Setup Cost

Apache Airflow is free, but infrastructure costs and commercial support from providers like Astronomer or hyperscalers may incur fees.
Enterprise buyers view Automation Anywhere as more expensive, suiting large organizations needing comprehensive features and flexible pricing.
I prefer using the open-source version rather than the enterprise version, which helps manage costs.
Apache Airflow is a community-based platform and is not a licensed product.
It is more cost-efficient compared to all other RPA platforms.
Automation Anywhere costs are aligned with UiPath and Blue Prism, which are also expensive.
It is not cheap, with costs ranging between 700 to 800 dollars per month.
 

Valuable Features

Apache Airflow is popular for its user-friendly interface, Python support, extensive integrations, scalability, and open-source community backing.
Automation Anywhere excels with user-friendly interfaces, AI tools, and cloud support, enhancing efficiency and productivity for non-technical users.
Apache Airflow is an open-source platform that allows easy integration with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
Reliability is good, and when integrated with Kubernetes, it performs better compared to on-premises environments.
I can set it up to provide users with a form to fill in all required information, and then the bot operates based on those specifications.
For example, the email module has been enhanced over the years to support all the latest authentication technologies. That is very important as we move away from username and password and embrace multi-factor authentication.
Automation Anywhere has undergone drastic changes over the past five years, transitioning from version 10 to A360, including desktop-based and cloud-based options.
 

Categories and Ranking

Apache Airflow
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Automation Anywhere
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
556
Ranking in other categories
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (2nd), Process Mining (1st), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (3rd), Agentic Automation (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of Apache Airflow is 6.8%, down from 9.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Automation Anywhere is 0.1%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM)
 

Featured Reviews

Kemal Duman - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables efficient orchestration of batch processes with very good reliability
I am using Apache Airflow to orchestrate my jobs, projects, and batch ETL jobs. It manages tasks, orchestrates jobs, and helps in handling batch processes effectively, incorporating integrations like DBT and Great Expectations Apache Airflow is easy to scale and its UI improves with each release.…
Vatsal Mehta - PeerSpot reviewer
Accommodates diverse use cases and effectively meets customer requirements
AI agents need further improvements. AI agent technology in agentic process automation is still evolving. We have only scratched the surface, and there are many potential use cases yet to be explored. As technology advances, I believe it will enable us to implement more comprehensive automation solutions. Document Automation has issues related to speed. When I compare Document Automation with IQ Bot, IQ Bot is faster than Document Automation. My understanding is that they are still evolving Document Automation, and this issue of slowness will be resolved in the upcoming .35 version, so we are good with that. They are working on signature identification and validations for handwritten documents. Currently, we are able to extract data out of scanned but digital images, but there is still scope for improvement for handwritten documents.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which would you choose - Camunda Platform or Apache Airflow?
Camunda Platform allows for visual demonstration and presentation of business process flows. The flexible Java-based option was a big win for us and allows for the integration of microservices very...
What do you like most about Apache Airflow?
Apache Airflow is easy to use and can monitor task execution easily. For instance, when performing setup tasks, you can conveniently view the logs without delving into the job details.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache Airflow?
I prefer using the open-source version rather than the enterprise version, which helps manage costs.
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is very good in certain situations but lacks in others. For me, it's more the team tha...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applications that AA has limitations for, such as the Oracle. For web-based applicatio...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.
 

Also Known As

Airflow
Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Agari, WePay, Astronomer
Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Airflow vs. Automation Anywhere and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,253 professionals have used our research since 2012.