Azure Automation vs Control-M comparison

Microsoft and BMC are both solutions in the Process Automation category. Microsoft is ranked #27 with an average rating of 8.0, while BMC is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. Microsoft holds a 1.1% mindshare in PA, compared to BMC’s 4.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of BMC users who would recommend it.

Azure Automation

Read 2 Azure Automation reviews

422 Views
422 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Control-M

Read 134 Control-M reviews

20,170 Views
3,429 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Azure Automation

Control-M

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Azure Automation and Control-M based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Process Automation solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Automation vs. Control-M Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Automation vs. Control-M

September 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 867,497 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

Azure Automation

Ranking in Process Automation

27th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Control-M

Ranking in Process Automation

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

134

Ranking in other categories

Managed File Transfer (MFT) (3rd), Workload Automation (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of Azure Automation is 1.1%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Control-M is 4.6%, up from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Process Automation Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Control-M	4.6%
Azure Automation	1.1%
Other	94.3%

Process Automation

Featured Reviews

Chiara Protiviti

Associate director at Protiviti

Automation enhances task efficiency and supports innovation

I currently work with SAP, but I haven't stopped working with that vendor at all. My involvement is cross-technology, so I'm exposed to S/4HANA and other technologies, which are very different from a couple of years ago. Currently, I am working for a consultancy that is agnostic to technology, so tactically and strategically we provide implementation or knowledge on various technologies including Microsoft, Business Central, Project Operations, SAP, and Board, which are different and linked to various business areas. Mostly I am working with Microsoft solutions now. In the last recent year, Microsoft is the technology with which we have the most exposure on current implementations, including both Business Central and Project Operations. I have been working with Microsoft Business Operation for approximately a year and a half. I am working with different products on Azure, as it is the platform we use to implement various types of solutions, including automation, IPA, and artificial intelligence. Other colleagues work with Azure File Storage, Blob Storage, and App Services, as these are more related to cloud work. I am working with Azure Automation, which is a process automation tool. While we have used the alerts and scheduling functions in Azure Automation very often, I am not able to judge or review their effectiveness. Integrating Azure Automation with other Azure services is very easy because there are pre-integration tools available that can be easily integrated with different technologies. The main benefits Azure Automation provides include being useful for recurrent tasks, which help reduce manual intervention and allow people to focus on more added value tasks, enhanced by artificial intelligence for more complex duties. I rate Azure Automation an eight out of ten.

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Mark_Francome

Senior System Specialist at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Easily connects to different platforms and ties everything together in a centralized screen

Areas of Control-M that have room for improvement include the reporting feature. The reporting on Control-M hasn't changed much over the years, although it is in a different internal format. It used to be Crystal Reports, and now they've upgraded that. It would be better if that was really flexible where you could define your own reports. You can customize it a little bit, but when people come in with complex questions, you should be able to use that tool and access anything in the database. Control-M has two internal databases that are core to the product. You can go in and do your own SQL queries against the database, but this reporting tool should really be able to do everything that you can do with SQL, and give you good information. Instead, you end up having to export to spreadsheets and then change and update them. It can be very labor-intensive to get this information out. Other than the reporting, they've addressed most things over the years. Control-M is a tool that's been around for more than 30 years, so they have actually fixed most issues that you would encounter. They have a request for enhancement process that most users have sent requests to, but it doesn't move very quickly. The other challenge is they're supporting so many different platforms; BMC just wants it to be a trouble-free release. When users request new features, such as improved reporting, BMC's priority remains maintaining a clean-running system.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Azure Automation is the scripting."

"The best features of Control-M include the fact that you can easily connect different platforms—for anybody coming to it, if you needed to script a solution that connected Windows and Unix and mainframe, that would be difficult, but with Control-M, you can just sit back and connect a COBOL program running on the mainframe, trigger something on the Windows platform, then do a file transfer on Linux, and that's all basically just drag and drop."

"The Automation API has opened up a world of possibilities for us, including the ability to create workflows on-demand using traditional DevOps tools."

"The solution has the power to reduce resources, which is good for business. It is constantly updated to remain compatible with new technologies such as Amazon, Azure, and Google Cloud. It's very easy to take advantage of the compatibilities."

"Control-M provides us with a unified view, where we can easily define, orchestrate, and monitor all our application workflows and data pipelines. It also provides the ability to filter. So, if I don't want to see everything, I can also narrow it down or open ViewPoint. This is very important since we have thousands of jobs to monitor. If we did not have this ability, it would be very difficult to see what is going on."

"By implementing automation tools, you can minimize human errors and improve efficiency."

"It has certainly helped speed things up."

"It's a user-friendly tool."

"The workflow is much easier compared to the ACS services we were using."

More Control-M pros

Cons

"The solution’s user interface could be improved."

"One feature I would like to include is in the middle of the monitoring domain. In the monitoring domain, if I have to update a number of jobs, the only way to do it is by manually clicking on each job. I would like a feature that allows me to do a mass update in the jobs, which I feel is still lacking."

"We develop software. More frequently, we are working with microservices and APIs, using our integration tool, MuleSoft. While Control-M is really a good tool to integrate with other tools, it is important for them to continue improving their microservices and API."

"I do not have any specific suggestions for additional features that should be included in the next release."

"The unifying features between Control-M for different platforms needs improvement. The scheduling options on the Control-M mainframe jobs are different than they are on our Linux server. There are a few differences here and there."

"Areas in Control-M that have room for improvement lie more on the AI side. I'd like to see more enhanced workload automation, particularly expanding automation in API integration with other systems, improving user experience, and including templates. We still have to explore CI/CD pipelines and scalability."

"There is definitely room for improvement. Version 9.0.20 actually comes with a web-based interface, but there are still a lot of things unavailable with it. There will eventually be more inclusions added into the web interface, but there is still a long way to go."

"I would like not to have to reach out to a third-party application company to do automated notifications. Right now, we still have people manually calling people and emailing people. There's a company called xMatters - and there are others - that has an API through Control-M that can automate any aspect of failure management. I'd like to see it build right into the product. I'd like to see a better notification product."

"The UI can be challenging for new users due to its learning curve. Additionally, there are some errors during automation. More detailed logs would be helpful."

More Control-M cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"This is now from my previous years as support for banks and big companies. If it's not enterprise scale, I find that it's too expensive for smaller companies. You really have to be quite big and need to have a dedicated support staff to run it, then you'll be fine. What we've seen at smaller companies, it's too expensive because they want to automate everything. Now, stuff that can literally run once a day for the rest of their lives is costing them $3 a job a day. It becomes too expensive, eventually. They are not seeing the return on investment because it's not business critical. Nobody is going to die or they're going to lose money if that job didn't run exactly at 11 minutes past 4:00. It's definitely for bigger enterprise companies, especially banks or healthcare providers. We have had an instance where Control-M was unavailable due to external factors for 20 minutes and there was a loss of almost a million euros because the solution involved logistics."

"Control-M isn't cheap, but this is an enterprise model."

"This is an area where it is a little difficult to work with BMC. They want to do licenses by job, which is what we have. For example, the simplest is to license by job, but they can also license by nodes. While the licensing is simple to use, it might not be the correct licensing model for the customer. It is okay because we want to license by job, which is something measurable. At the end of the day, licensing by job is the most important."

"Pricing can be steep, but you get what you pay for."

"The price is right because of the licensing schema, which is based on nodes and processes. You purchase what you use, no more and no less, and you can grow with time."

"The pricing of Control-M is reasonable."

"It is not bad. The company can afford it, and it pays for itself. We have those jobs running automatically."

"We are paying way more for Control-M than we've paid for any of our other scheduling tools."

More Control-M pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

24%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

26%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	24
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	113

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Azure Automation?

The most valuable feature of Azure Automation is the scripting.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Automation?

Based on feedback, Azure Automation needs to stay up-to-date with real technology game changers and include new features that meet market demands. It is essential for Azure Automation to capture ne...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Azure Automation?

My clients mainly use Azure Automation for back-office processes and operations, as the application of this product is wide-ranging. It depends on their in-house capabilities and the opportunities ...

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?

Pricing for Control-M depends on the licensing model, with different options such as the per-agent model or the per-job model. BMC is phasing out the per-agent model in favor of per-job licensing, ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Camunda vs Azure Automation

Compared 21% of the time

Rundeck vs Azure Automation

Compared 17% of the time

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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 8% of the time

IBM Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 6% of the time

AWS Step Functions vs Control-M

Compared 2% of the time

More Control-M Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Process Automation

August 2025

Download Azure Automation product report

Buyer's Guide

Control-M

September 2025

Download Control-M product report

Also Known As

No data available

Control M

Interactive Demo

Demo not available

Microsoft

BMC

Overview

Azure Automation is a powerful tool that allows users to streamline and automate various tasks and processes within the Azure environment.

It is commonly used for automating resource provisioning, managing virtual machines, scheduling and executing scripts, and orchestrating workflows. Additionally, Azure Automation is valuable for monitoring and alerting, as well as managing and deploying applications.

Users appreciate its ability to automate tasks, streamline workflows, and improve efficiency. The platform's scalability, integration with other Azure services, and wide range of pre-built automation modules make it a valuable tool for managing and tracking automated processes.

Microsoft

Control-M by BMC is engineered to manage hybrid cloud workflows, offering orchestration capabilities starting at $29,000 annually. Aimed at helping growing teams, it efficiently supports cross-environment scheduling and automation needs.

Control-M offers robust cross-platform scheduling, automation, and integration with applications such as SAP and Informatica. Users appreciate its ease of use with a graphical interface, centralized management, and monitoring capabilities. Advanced features, including Managed File Transfer, automated error handling, and real-time alerts, enhance productivity. The ability to unify workflows and support diverse environments makes Control-M a trusted tool in many sectors. While improvements in reporting flexibility and API integration with tools like ServiceNow are needed, addressing performance issues during upgrades could enhance its value. Offering improved support for new technologies and cloud environments is beneficial, with cost-effectiveness being a consideration.

What are the key features of Control-M?

Cross-Platform Scheduling: Facilitates seamless task management across various OS environments.
Automation: Provides efficient workflow automation for complex processes.
Third-Party Integration: Ensures smooth integration with applications like SAP and Informatica.
Graphical Interface: Simplifies job management and monitoring with user-friendly design.
Managed File Transfer: Enhances data transfer processes with structured handling.
Real-Time Alerts: Offers notifications for immediate response to workflow issues.

What benefits should organizations expect from Control-M?

Increased Efficiency: Streamlines operations and reduces manual workload.
Enhanced Productivity: Automation and monitoring features boost operational output.
Improved Compliance: Supports SLA achievement and regulatory requirements.
Operational Agility: Provides flexible and adaptable task management across platforms.

Control-M is leveraged in industries like finance for enterprise scheduling and data management, supporting mainframe, Linux, Unix, Windows, and cloud platforms. It contributes to workflow orchestration and workload automation, improving operational efficiency and enhancing IT infrastructure across those environments.

BMC

Sample Customers

1. Adobe 2. BMW 3. Coca-Cola 4. General Electric 5. Johnson & Johnson 6. NBCUniversal 7. Pfizer 8. Samsung 9. Siemens 10. Toyota 11. Verizon 12. 3M 13. Accenture 14. Airbus 15. Allianz 16. American Express 17. AT&T 18. Bank of America 19. Boeing 20. Cisco 21. Dell 22. ExxonMobil 23. Ford 24. General Motors 25. IBM 26. Intel 27. JPMorgan Chase 28. Microsoft (self-use) 29. Nestle 30. Procter & Gamble 31. Shell 32. Walmart

CARFAX, Tampa General Hospital, Navistar, Amadeus, Raymond James, Railinc

Buyer's Guide

Azure Automation vs. Control-M

September 2025

Free Report: Azure Automation vs. Control-M

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Automation vs. Control-M and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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