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Automation Anywhere vs Fortra's Automate comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

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

Automation Anywhere
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
529
Ranking in other categories
Process Mining (1st)
Fortra's Automate
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Automation Anywhere is 11.4%, down from 15.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Automate is 1.4%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
 

Featured Reviews

IPSIT JANA - PeerSpot reviewer
Terminal emulator enhances efficiency while error handling needs improvement
There are improvements needed in error handling processes, as currently, they rely on start and end error commands. A more strategic approach could enhance efficiency. While the implementation of a structured development approach has been introduced, further enhancements could be made to accommodate non-technical users better, perhaps by making the platform more accessible and user-friendly through a flowchart or diagram-based setup. Automation Anywhere can be moderately challenging for business users without technical skills. While the platform offers some drag-and-drop functionality, building automation requires a strong understanding of logical operations and scripting. To become proficient, users may need to invest time in learning basic coding concepts or pursuing relevant certifications. This learning curve can mean that users typically require a few months of training before they can effectively build and implement automation.
Anabel Marco - PeerSpot reviewer
Can automate several processes with only one bot and is easy to implement, administer, and use
We have tried other RPA solutions like UiPath or Automation Anywhere. They are fantastic products but complex, and it's hard to understand everything. It would be best if you had a skilled developer or several. Automate is easy to implement, administer, and use. It's appropriate for us because our cases are simple and easy to automate. We don't need complicated tools with many features; We prefer to get a significant ROI quickly. We can automate several processes with only one bot, so it's much cheaper than other products where you need to buy additional licenses. We need a good value for our automation. The other solutions might be more robust, but Automate is perfect for us because we're not a large enterprise.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The OCR feature in Automation Anywhere is the best I have encountered, even better than Google."
"The most valuable feature, which was launched last year, is Automation Co-Pilot. Microsoft has a co-pilot, but it's only for Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. But Automation Anywhere offers a co-pilot that is suitable for Salesforce, Genesys, Atlassian, and other contact center and standard applications. This is a game-changing feature for Automation Anywhere..."
"The support team is good and is able to resolve the issues or any challenges we encounter."
"Automation Anywhere offers valuable features, including command packages for PDF, Windows, XML, and Excel, as well as universal recording capabilities."
"Automation Anywhere's OCR functionality stands out as the most valuable feature for us, as it allows us to swiftly extract data for repetitive tasks, significantly boosting our efficiency."
"I like the new GenAI and Automation Co-Pilot, which is something like attended automation."
"The OCR application is excellent and has helped resolve many issues that I had been facing."
"The customer engagement is really deep, and they work with the “gemba”. They work with operations very closely. I also believe they have a good product roadmap."
"I actually quite liked the no-coding functionality."
"The ability to connect to websites and pull data is the solution's most valuable feature."
"It's very easy to use. That's a big selling point for it. It has got a drag-and-drop interface, so you can quickly deploy bots."
"The licensing of the product is very good. You only need to license it once and then you have it forever."
"The solution is continuously adding more integrations to help with workflows and bot and task creation."
"The most valuable feature is the drag-and-drop interface, which is very Windows-like."
"This tool has machine learning and voice recognition and computer vision, which are both quite useful aspects. These aren't available in other tools. It's a good addition to this tool and it gives the solution an edge on the market."
"The interface is simple, user-friendly, and very intuitive."
 

Cons

"It has been challenging integrating Automation Anywhere with other solutions, due to all of the controls, as we are a bank."
"Reliability and error handling should be improved."
"There is a limitation with Automation Anywhere where if you want to build your own packages and deploy them, it is very difficult."
"Automation Anywhere says that you can use this tool for any type of application, but there are some for which it is not compatible."
"Automation Anywhere courses are a little bit complex to understand. You need a little bit more time, and accessibility is also a little bit of an issue."
"I would like to see a built-in read-only role for the control room so that the bot creators can log in and monitor the production environment without any auditing concerns."
"I would like for AA to add an inbuilt debug log that has functionalities to view the values of variables during run time in order to have a point-to-point debugging in case of an error."
"We have in-house, a few variables, which we use from technical perspectives. We don't have them in Automation Anywhere, but they introduced them yesterday."
"The technical support could be better. We suffer from language barriers, as we are in Argentina."
"Fortra's Automate is not as reliable as I would like it to be."
"Some companies have asked for voice integration. This is likely part of the roadmap."
"The OCR for Hebrew text needs to be improved."
"They do not encrypt passwords, so this is an issue with HIPAA compliance."
"While this solution is continually improving, as it is now, the user interface could use improvement when I compare it to a product like UiPath."
"The solution has a very weak knowledge base."
"Error messages should be better. For error status, there should be better documentation because a lot of times, error messages that you get are quite vague. For example, you get a message saying that the workflow has run into an unknown status, which is vague. It just tells you that it failed, but you don't know how or why it failed. It makes debugging difficult."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Initially, they charged a premium, but now the rest of the vendors have increased their overall pricing and Automation Anywhere is not that high at this time. It's pretty viable."
"It is expensive. Automation Anywhere has reduced the price slightly, as we have grown. However, the price is still excessive enough that we are engaged in PoCs on other tools."
"It is subscription-based. They have different schemes. The price depends on how you negotiate with the local partner or local representative in your country."
"This solution costs approximately $3,500 USD per license."
"It is reasonable and affordable. If you consider the tasks that we can get done using this, the pricing is reasonable and affordable."
"The cost for scalability is much cheaper than developing a new system."
"We are interested in saving manual engineer man-hours. So far, we have saved $100,000."
"Annually, we are paying almost one million reais."
"I believe the price falls within a reasonable range, which significantly influenced our decision regarding the product. This aspect is crucial for any technological solution, especially in our country where enterprises might be hesitant to invest heavily in something untested or uncertain about its practicality and potential returns."
"Once you buy the software, you just pay for the support for backend help."
"From a distributor's side, one of the biggest selling points is its price point. Without going into any numbers, compared to UiPath, Automation Anywhere, and Blue Prism, we're significantly cheaper. The main difference is that other competitors usually charge you per process. However, in Automate's case, it's priced per bot. So, a bot can run multiple processes at the same time, but you are only priced for a single bot."
"While solutions like UiPath and Blue Prism cost around $11,000-$12,000 for each license, this product costs around $7,000 and you can keep it forever."
"From a distributor's perspective, one of the biggest selling points of Automate is its price point."
"The pricing is quite reasonable. We can run the process with one bot. The limitation is at the server level because they have some resources, and sometimes that is enough. It isn't too expensive, so you can get a good return off of one, and you can also have a pack of five bots that is quite competitive."
"I'm only involved in running the product and maintaining the systems, so I can't speak to the cost."
"I like the way this solution is priced because you can buy a license, or you can buy the software outright."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
14%
Healthcare Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What do you like most about HelpSystems AutoMate?
We use it for specific cases, mainly secure file transfers, which are vital for us. And it works for us.
What is your primary use case for HelpSystems AutoMate?
We used the platform primarily for task automation, including transmitting EDR files. Additionally, we've utilized it for repetitive tasks, such as downloading web-based reports using the browser a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra Automate?
The starter pack was all we needed and was reasonable. Others were either more expensive or didn't do all that I wanted to do without an addon.
 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise
HelpSystems Automate, Automate
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
Aldergrove Financial Group, Preferred Health Professionals, Mindbeam Technologies, First Credit Union in British Columbia, Vestcom International, Prime Liberty Benefits, University of Tampa, CNLBancshares, World Precision Instruments, BJ's Restaurants, Globe Pequot Press, Accudata Technologies, Norton Healthcare, Pacific Toxicology Laboratories
Find out what your peers are saying about Automation Anywhere vs. Fortra's Automate and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,791 professionals have used our research since 2012.