Aspera Managed File Transfer vs Control-M comparison

IBM and BMC are both solutions in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category. IBM is ranked #10 with an average rating of 9.0, while BMC is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6. IBM holds a 2.8% mindshare in MFT, compared to BMC’s 6.9% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of BMC users who would recommend it.

Aspera Managed File Transfer

Read 4 Aspera Managed File Transfer reviews

937 Views
918 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Control-M

Read 184 Control-M reviews

22,169 Views
3,325 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Aspera Managed File Transfer

Control-M

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 13, 2026

Aspera Managed File Transfer and Control-M are competitors in the enterprise software space. Control-M has the upper hand with comprehensive features, making it a preferred choice even though Aspera offers competitive pricing and support.

Features: Aspera Managed File Transfer is noted for its high-speed file transfers, optimal for large data sets. It’s also beneficial for transferring large files quickly and efficiently. Control-M excels in job scheduling, automated workflows, and cross-platform integration. Its valuable features include the user-friendly interface and application integration, easing complex scheduling tasks.

Room for Improvement: Aspera could enhance user experience by expanding its feature set beyond rapid data transfer. Improved integration capabilities could also benefit its market reach. Control-M might reduce complexity in deployment and simplify initial setup processes, improving user onboarding.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Aspera offers a simple deployment process with strong customer service, allowing a more rapid setup that suits file transfer-focused companies. Control-M’s deployment may be more complex, but its in-depth customer service is praised for addressing intricate integration challenges effectively.

Pricing and ROI: Aspera provides a cost-effective solution with a good return on investment for companies heavily involved in file transfers. Control-M, with potentially higher initial costs, offers significant return on investment through its extensive features, enhancing operational efficiencies in workflow management.

To learn more, read our detailed Aspera Managed File Transfer vs. Control-M Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Aspera Managed File Transfer vs. Control-M

February 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 881,565 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Aspera Managed File Transfer

Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)

10th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Control-M

Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

184

Ranking in other categories

Process Automation (2nd), Workload Automation (1st), AI IT Support (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category, the mindshare of Aspera Managed File Transfer is 2.8%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Control-M is 6.9%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Managed File Transfer (MFT) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Control-M	6.9%
Aspera Managed File Transfer	2.8%
Other	90.3%

Managed File Transfer (MFT)

Featured Reviews

Balamurugan Kumarasamy

Deputy General Manager Information Technology at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Data transfer improvements with an easy setup and responsive support

There are other products of Aspera which come as add-ons, however, we haven't purchased those, like report generation, since that was not our requirement. The features we needed were included in the basic edition, and that works for us. If there is any failure in the data transfer and it can automatically detect and reinitiate it, that would be great.

Read full review

Raj Pattni

Batch Admin at NBC Universal

Brings data together from multiple platforms and optimizes cross-environment orchestration

The features of Control-M that I like the most include the ability to easily integrate or bring in different platforms into Control-M. For instance, AWS, mainframe, TWS, and something that's running on Autosys can all be brought into Control-M, converted to how Control-M runs it, and then the batch can be executed. This centralizes various applications in Control-M, which doesn't just have to handle batch processes, but also other tasks like reporting on required data. I find this functionality very useful and the setup is impressive, with more advancements yet to come. With Control-M, my company has achieved several measurable improvements since I started. The metrics indicate that the number of failures has dropped, and we have addressed the issue of excessive false alerts that I encountered when I joined. Previously, we received an overwhelming number of alerts daily, but now we manage to maintain that at a normalized level, perhaps around five to fifteen alerts, depending on running core batches and their setup.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We were able to effectively nullify the China firewall since the China firewall was disrupting our data transfer."

"Good user interface and ability to set up multiple file transfer jobs."

"The main feature of Aspera Managed File Transfer is that it's an incredibly fast protocol, you can use all the bandwidth available. If I need to send large amounts of data this is the fastest protocol on the market. I have been using it for some minor projects and it is very powerful."

"Aspera Managed File Transfer is an optimal solution for customers who want to transfer large files to remote sites with lower bandwidth and in less time."

"We were able to effectively nullify the China firewall since the China firewall was disrupting our data transfer."

"The reporting and the analytics that I can generate out of my schedules are valuable."

"The feature we use most in Control-M is related to the file transfer module. It is quite advanced compared to the other tools like Automate, etc. The new version which has come of same MFT has a lot of advanced features which makes it very easy to work with. There is less need for written programs and more GUI-based stuff."

"Cross-platform support: A Linux job can be dependent on a Windows job, which can be dependent on many other flavours of hardware/software. Your batch is therefore managed by a single tool, allowing you to monitor your entire flow."

"The best features of Control-M are that it is easy to use; even a non-technical person can learn it in a couple of days with normal documentation and a few videos."

"Control-M is a very powerful tool and very dynamic and helps us a lot on a daily basis."

"Maintaining and monitoring of workloads have been and continue to be the most valuable feature in our environment."

"I would definitely recommend Control-M to every institute because it is extremely helpful to manage every task without any manual error."

"If they have ad hoc requirements, then they can theoretically schedule their own file transfers with the Self Service. We are trying to push as much work back to the customers or developers that have that requirement, because they prefer to help themselves, if possible. We try empowering them and enabling them through Control-M, especially for file transfers, because it is a much broader base of the business then just with batch scheduling. Typically, with SAP batch scheduling, it would work with dedicated teams. With file transfers, the entire business is involved. There are business users, end users, etc. It definitely needs to be as simple as possible and as managed as well as possible. They need to manage it themselves, if possible, because our team is not growing but the number of customers, applications, and jobs are growing. We need to hand back some of the responsibility to the customer for them to resolve and action it."

More Control-M pros

Cons

"The solution's pricing is high and should be reduced."

"Deployment is complex and it was difficult to get support."

"If there is any failure in the data transfer and it can automatically detect and reinitiate it, that would be great."

"If you want to do a file transfer between two countries, and one is not China, then you have other more affordable options."

"Aspera Managed File Transfer should be packaged into another solution. Explaining to customers you need to have multiple solutions from multiple vendors for their use cases can get complicated for them to understand."

"I'm currently working on the SaaS version, but I've also worked on the on-prem versions before. There is a handful of features that haven't been added to the SaaS version, and the BMC knows that. It's a matter of time before they prioritize the missing pieces and bring them into the SaaS version."

"The response time could be faster when you need a person to answer your questions. There are situations where availability becomes crucial."

"I would like to have a web version of Control-M to replace the client. Currently, our support and jobs-creation teams are using the client and that needs to be installed on a PC. It's very heavy, consuming a lot of resources compared to the web portal. I know that they're trying to improve the client with the latest version, but for me, there hasn't been enough improvement yet."

"I'd like to see MFT included as part of the overall product and not a cost add-on as AFT used to be included and they stopped supporting that and now have come up with MFT and you now have to pay for it separately."

"Support is one aspect that they really need to improve. Though we receive support for current versions, the challenge arises when working in large organizations with legacy workflows or applications, typically 10 to 20% of the total."

"After we complete FTP jobs, those FTP jobs will be cleared from the Control-M schedule after the noon refresh. So, I struggle to find out where those jobs are saved. Then, we need to request execution of the FTP jobs again. If there could be an option to show the logs, which have been previously completed, that would help us. I can find all other job logs from the server side, but FTP job logs. Maybe I am missing the feature, or if it is not there, it could be added."

"We're only using the functionality that we need to use. However, we've had an opportunity to work with one application owner here who wanted to do some transfers in the cloud and things like that. I know that there were some challenges on that, but they finally got all that set up. There was a learning curve though."

"The infrastructure could be improved."

More Control-M cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was close to $10,000 to $20,000."

"Aspera Managed File Transfer is not an inexpensive solution. I am not aware of many competitors to determine how affordable the price is overall."

"This product saves hours in a day based on my experience working here versus other companies with manually operations."

"We have a license till 2024. We are good and satisfied with it."

"Its cost can be more competitive. One of the main things customers look at is the cost. It's not affordable. The cost is very high, according to my customers."

"It is an expensive solution."

"The annual licensing within BMC Control-M is on a per task basis. Three- and five-year contracts are also offered. The customer usually buys a bundle of tasks, e.g., 5,000 tasks, then my team configures Control-M for their usage."

"For the tooling that you get, the licensing is acceptable. It has competitive pricing, especially with all the value that you get out of it. There are additional costs with some of the additional modules, but they are all electives. Out of the box, you get the standard Control-M experience and the standard license. They're not forcing some of the modules on you. If you decide that you do need them, you can always purchase those separately."

"The product price is reasonable. I rate the pricing an eight."

"Apart from the standard license, if we avail any additional features, there's an extra cost. For example, Workload Archiving is an additional feature from the standard product, so we pay extra for that."

More Control-M pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Managed File Transfer (MFT) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,565 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

27%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	37
Midsize Enterprise	23
Large Enterprise	141

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Aspera Managed File Transfer?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Aspera Managed File Transfer?

We have an office in China, and we wanted to transfer data from China to the UK. We have an office in the UK as well.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Aspera Managed File Transfer?

For our requirements, IBM Aspera fit very well into the budget. It's subjective. I'd rate it nine out of ten. If you want to do a file transfer between two countries, and one is not China, then you...

See all answers

How does Control-M compare with AutoSys Workload Automation?

Control-M acts as a single, centralized interface for monitoring and managing all batch processes, which is helpful because nothing gets left unattended since it is all visible in one place, and th...

See all answers

What do you like most about Control-M?

First of all, the shift from manual to automation has been valuable. We have a tool that can automate.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Control-M?

From what I know about pricing, I would probably put Control-M in the expensive category, but you do pay for what you get; you are paying for a premium product.

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM Sterling File Gateway vs Aspera Managed File Transfer

Compared 23% of the time

Kiteworks vs Aspera Managed File Transfer

Compared 13% of the time

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct vs Aspera Managed File Transfer

Compared 10% of the time

JSCAPE by Redwood vs Aspera Managed File Transfer

Compared 9% of the time

webMethods.io vs Aspera Managed File Transfer

Compared 9% of the time

More Aspera Managed File Transfer Competitors

AutoSys Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 13% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs Control-M

Compared 8% of the time

Automic Automation vs Control-M

Compared 6% of the time

Stonebranch vs Control-M

Compared 5% of the time

IBM Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 5% of the time

More Control-M Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Managed File Transfer (MFT)

January 2026

Download Aspera Managed File Transfer product report

Buyer's Guide

Control-M

January 2026

Download Control-M product report

Also Known As

No data available

Control M, BMC Control-M Managed File Transfer, BMC Australia CTM

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

IBM

BMC

Overview

IBM Aspera takes a different approach to tackling the challenges of big data movement over global WANs. Rather than optimize or accelerate data transfer, Aspera eliminates underlying bottlenecks by using its proprietary fasp technology that fully utilizes available network bandwidth to maximize speed and quickly scale up with no theoretical limit. Using fasp, transfers are secure end-to-end and are largely unaffected by file size, transfer distance, or network conditions, making transfer times up to 100Xs faster than TCP-based protocols.

IBM Aspera offers SaaS, on-prem, and hybrid solutions to meet the needs of modernizing infrastructures. All solutions offer robust security and compliance, intuitive file sharing, workflow automation, central administration, and real-time visibility. Quickly and easily initiate transfers across hybrid infrastructures, including support for cloud-to-cloud transfers. IBM Aspera offers unmatched transfer speeds, end-to-end security, reliability, and exceptional bandwidth control.

IBM

Control-M SaaS by BMC is tailored for growing teams, offering essential orchestration for managing hybrid cloud workflows starting at $29,000 annually.

Control-M integrates automation, orchestration, and a user-friendly interface to streamline workflows across banking, DevOps, and cloud environments. Key modules like Managed File Transfer and cross-platform support simplify job monitoring, while Batch Impact Manager enhances scheduling. Despite its capabilities, improvements in output analysis, reporting customization, offline access, and API integration are desired by users.

What are Control-M's key features?

Automation and Orchestration: Simplifies workflow management.
Integration: Connects with diverse applications seamlessly.
User Interface: Facilitates easy navigation.
Managed File Transfer: Streamlines secure file movements.
Self-Service: Empowers users to independently manage tasks.
Cross-Platform Support: Handles complex workflows efficiently.
Batch Impact Manager: Enhances scheduling and SLA management.
API Integration: Extends versatility across environments.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Increased Efficiency: Optimizes operations through automation.
Scalability: Supports enterprise growth and workload demands.
Improved SLA Management: Enhances reliability in scheduling.
Cost Savings: Streamlines processes to reduce operational costs.
Process Optimization: Ensures secure and efficient data exchanges.

Control-M is implemented in industries such as finance and enterprise operations, aiding in automating batch processing across platforms like SAP and Teradata. It integrates with secure file transfers, ERP systems, and databases, whether deployed on-premises or cloud, ensuring seamless operation optimization.

BMC

Sample Customers

Gwinnett County Public Schools, Evonik, Voith, BITMARCK, Oracle

The Bank of East Asia, LINE Bank Taiwan, Coop, Air Europa, Carrefour, Itau Unibanco, Snam, Embraer, ANZ Bank, EDP, Dominio's, Tampa General Hospital, W&W Informatik GmbH, Veterans General, Up Sí Vale, Sky Italia, REWE digital GmbH, Raymond James, Railinc, Navistar, Management Science Associates, Colruyt, CARFAX, Banpara, Aspiag Service, Amadeus, AG Insurance, ING Bank Slaski

Buyer's Guide

Aspera Managed File Transfer vs. Control-M

February 2026

Free Report: Aspera Managed File Transfer vs. Control-M

Find out what your peers are saying about Aspera Managed File Transfer vs. Control-M and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,565 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Aspera Managed File Transfer vs. Control-M report.

See our list of best Managed File Transfer (MFT) vendors.

We monitor all Managed File Transfer (MFT) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.