BizTalk Server vs Control-M comparison

Microsoft and BMC are both solutions in the Process Automation category. Microsoft is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.0, while BMC is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.7. Microsoft holds a 0.7% mindshare in PA, compared to BMC’s 4.5% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of BMC users who would recommend it.

BizTalk Server

Read 13 BizTalk Server reviews

530 Views
271 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Control-M

Read 121 Control-M reviews

3,737 Views
1,531 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

BizTalk Server

Control-M

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

BizTalk Server and Control-M compete in the integration solutions category. BizTalk Server has the upper hand in Microsoft-centric environments due to its strong integration capabilities, while Control-M leads in task scheduling and automation for complex operations.

Features: BizTalk Server supports seamless integration within Microsoft ecosystems, durable message handling, and extensive use of various adapters. Control-M excels with powerful scheduling, platform versatility, and advanced automation, providing effective batch processing and scheduling.

Room for Improvement: BizTalk Server could benefit from easier deployment, enhanced cross-platform support, and reduced dependency on specialized expertise. Control-M can improve by lowering initial costs, simplifying advanced customization, and enhancing reporting tools for less technical users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Control-M offers an easy deployment process with broad customer support, facilitating quicker adoption. BizTalk Server's deployment can be complex and may demand more technical skills despite strong support from Microsoft.

Pricing and ROI: BizTalk Server typically offers a lower setup cost, but ongoing fees like licensing and specialized expertise can add up. Control-M, while having a higher initial investment, often delivers substantial ROI through its potent automation and scheduling features that cut operational costs over time.

To learn more, read our detailed BizTalk Server vs. Control-M Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

BizTalk Server vs. Control-M

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 848,716 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

BizTalk Server

Ranking in Process Automation

16th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business-to-Business Middleware (9th)

Control-M

Ranking in Process Automation

3rd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

121

Ranking in other categories

Managed File Transfer (MFT) (4th), Workload Automation (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of BizTalk Server is 0.7%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Control-M is 4.5%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Process Automation

Featured Reviews

Srinidhi S

Software Engineer at Shell

For production environments, messages are easily stored within the MessageBox database and offers multiple deployment methods

Some room for improvement means... it's legacy. It's an on-premises system, requiring physical servers for deployment. This is different from Azure; you don't need any servers with Azure. If you have a subscription, you can do whatever you want. There are unit restrictions based on the environment (like non-production vs. production) in BizTalk. You need physical servers and databases. In Azure, those are not required – it's all in the cloud. Now, we have the option of integrating accounts and the On-Premises Data Gateway to connect on-premises BizTalk with Azure. But the trend is moving towards Azure. Not everyone wants a hybrid model. Companies are still going with hybrid scenarios, but they want both BizTalk and Azure. See, whatever you can do in BizTalk, you cannot do the same things the same way in Azure. One example is tracking. In BizTalk, especially for production environments, messages are easily stored within the MessageBox database. Support can assist in retrieving them directly. It's not as easy to track in Azure – everyone can potentially access it, and even reprocessing is different. Logic Apps have a preview mode. If a Logic App is stuck at a particular action, you can resubmit from there. Microsoft is still making improvements – I don't know when they'll have general availability for these features. However, tracking and message storage are more complex in Azure. We have to use Azure Blob storage for archiving, whereas in BizTalk, it's a built-in feature of the MessageBox DB. If you need to debug at any point, you can do so easily in BizTalk. This is one aspect influenced by the on-premises nature of BizTalk. Since everything is moving to the cloud, Microsoft will also end support for BizTalk Server 2030 – there won't be any further support. I don't think they'll release any new versions. 2020 was the last, and it's been four years. After the end of support, I think companies currently using BizTalk will move to Azure or another cloud-based integration technology.

Read full review

Pedro Fuentes

System Engineer at Community Loans of America, Inc.

Cost-effective, excellent support, and centralized access and control

They have a department that handles requests for enhancements. I talked to Control-M guys back in October or November when they had a gathering here in Atlanta. We talked about not being able to go back in history in Helix Control-M for more than two weeks. We submitted a request for enhancement. They told us that they are working on it, and they are thinking of expanding that to 30 days. We would like to see it expand to 90 days, but they are working on it. In Control-M, we were able to go back 180 days, but that was on-prem. The storage of that data was on our own servers. We know that storage is money, and we do not expect them to store that much of the data, but at least 30 to 60 days seem proper.

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

"BIzTalk's integration with Visual Studio is the most valuable feature of this product."

"The AS2 communication protocol is one of the most advanced processes."

"Essentially, you can do whatever you like with these systems, and you do not have to take care about the scaling because if one server is overloaded, it just forwards the message to the next server, even if it were designated to a specific server. It weeds out the messages according to the load. If you want to scale it, you just add new servers."

"The most valuable feature is its reliability and stability. The first version of BizTalk was released in 2000, and many companies still use it. It was stable until 2013 when we had support."

"I rate the tool's stability a nine out of ten."

"The most valuable feature of BizTalk Server is that it will turn XML into flexible transactions."

"Compared to the current solutions I use, like Azure Logic Apps and other cloud services, BizTalk was far better and more reliable."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its integration with the banks. Its messaging and routing capabilities are good."

More BizTalk Server pros

"We are using Control-M for day-to-day operations only. It is helpful for us in our day-to-day operations. It is a key in our financial sector. We are automating via Control-M in our treasury operations, including any evening updates. Control-M makes things easier and faster by helping our treasury operations go without any interruptions."

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

"Control-M is useful to automate all critical and non-critical processes. Using Control-M, we can automate application workflows as well as file transfers involved in application workflows. We can also use it to run batches related to applications. Automating these processes reduces the RTO and RPO, which helps in the case of failures. It also helps us to identify bottlenecks and take corrective measures."

"Technical support is very helpful and available 24/7."

"The multiple scheduling options allow you to do anything you want, whenever you want, and however you want. You can easily be in control when things happen."

"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."

"The unified view where you can define, orchestrate, and monitor applications, workflows, and data pipelines is important because we have more than one team working on Control-M. We have a support team, a job-creation team, and a SAP team. We can all work together on it. It avoids anyone from working on his part and not using the latest modifications."

"You can let users access the system and manage jobs: self-service."

More Control-M pros

Cons

"BizTalk is in the past, Microsoft is not going to evolve it any further or add any new features."

"The product's deployment can be quicker"

"BizTalk Server is an outdated legacy system that does not support messaging."

"It's a complex product because you have many degrees of freedom to connect different parts together. Whether it's sensible or not, is up to you, but the machine does allow it. But because of the vast degrees of freedom, it's complex."

"It's an on-premises system, requiring physical servers for deployment. This is different from Azure; you don't need any servers with Azure. If you have a subscription, you can do whatever you want. There are unit restrictions based on the environment (like non-production vs. production) in BizTalk. You need physical servers and databases. In Azure, those are not required – it's all in the cloud."

"The product could be improved in monitoring, managing, and support functionalities."

"BizTalk lacks native cloud support. BizTalk doesn't offer in-built support for cloud. We need to use third-party adapters to connect it to cloud services."

"Updating things in BizTalk is a headache."

More BizTalk Server cons

"A Control-M on-prem license is based on the number of jobs, which is the number of tasks a particular customer wants to have. These tasks have to be run within 24 hours window. For example, if you have a license for 100 jobs, you can run a maximum of 100 jobs in a 24-hour window. If your operations could not run 10 jobs, and they ran only 90 jobs, they just carry over to the next day, but the next day, they will have 110 jobs. Control-M asks you to buy those 10 more licenses because you were out of compliance in terms of the number of licenses. This is something that needs to be indicated in Control-M GUI so that customers know the number of licenses they're going to use in this time window. Their support and documentation should be improved. I am not that satisfied with their customer support. Sometimes, they don't have the answers. Their documentation is very poor. It is not well written, and it is not in a very logical manner. You can use it on Unix, Linux, Windows, and AIX, but it needs some improvement on iSeries. It needs a built-in mechanism inside the system to give you an option to restore from the last point of failure. If a process crashes, the Control-M needs to have a mechanism in iSeries where the process can be restored from the last point of failure."

"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."

"They can improve their interface."

"The performance could be better. Control-M Enterprise Manager tends to slow the system down even on a server with a six-core processor and 32 gigabytes RAM. The console is Java-based, so maybe OpenJDK 16 or 17 would be a performance improvement."

"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."

"We've also had a few database bugs within our organization. I think we are migrating to OpenJDK rather than just regular Java and that has since shown some issues with our Control-M instance, timing out and causing our jobs to stop running. We are still working with BMC to fine-tune that and get that resolved."

"The community and the networking that goes on within that community need improvement. We want to be able to reach out to an SME, and say, "Hey, we are doing it this way. Does that make sense?" Ideally, they come back. and say, "Yes, it does make sense to do it that way. However, if you want to do it this way, then it is a little more efficient." We understand that one solution framework doesn't fit everybody. Depending on the breadth of the data and how broad it is, you may have different models for one over the other."

"The high availability that comes from BMC with its supplied Postgres database is very limited. Even using your customer-supplied Postgres database is problematic. We have engaged with them regarding this, but it is difficult. My company doesn't want to do this and BMC doesn't want to do that. We just need to find some middle ground to get the proper high availability. We're also moving away, like the rest of the world, from the more expensive offerings, like Oracle. We are trying to use Postgres, which is free. The stability is good. It is just that the high availability configuration is not ideal. It could be better."

More Control-M cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was not cheap, but it was affordable."

"The cost will depend on the client's requirements."

"BizTalk Server is not freeware. There's a significant licensing cost involved. Be sure you will actually utilize its features fully."

"Based on the knowledge, it is relatively cheaper than Azure Identity Services and cloud services in general."

"The solution is expensive."

"BizTalk Server is cheap. I would rate its pricing a two out of five."

"It works on task-based licensing."

"We have account based licensing. There are two or three types of licensing. One of them is based on the number of jobs, so we a license close to 4,000 jobs per day. The cost is based on the different modules, which we buy from them. If we a buy a hardware module, which we are presently using and integrating, that is an additional cost, but I'm not sure of the amount. Each module comes with a different cost."

"Licensing costs are around $3000 a year."

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

"BMC does NOT have a great licensing model from my perspective."

"You're going to spend a lot of money upfront, but the benefits you're going to get out of it are going to quickly pay for it."

"Pricing is generally affordable, though some features cost a bit more."

More Control-M pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Process Automation solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BizTalk Server?

The tool's most valuable feature is its integration with the banks. Its messaging and routing capabilities are good.

See all answers

What needs improvement with BizTalk Server?

BizTalk is deployed on-premise. Deployment methodologies are vast in the cloud area. Whereas, if we want to update even a single thing on BizTalk, we need to take the DLL, put it in the system, and...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering BizTalk Server?

When I started my career with BizTalk, people told me the vendor would sunset BizTalk Server, but it didn't happen. Higher versions are still being released. The product will not face the sunset. A...

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?

It is a little bit expensive.

See all answers

Comparisons

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs BizTalk Server

Compared 16% of the time

SEEBURGER Business Integration Suite vs BizTalk Server

Compared 15% of the time

Camunda vs BizTalk Server

Compared 14% of the time

IBM Sterling B2B Integration Services vs BizTalk Server

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft System Center Orchestrator vs BizTalk Server

Compared 9% of the time

More BizTalk Server Competitors

AutoSys Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 16% of the time

Automic Automation vs Control-M

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 7% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs Control-M

Compared 6% of the time

Stonebranch vs Control-M

Compared 5% of the time

More Control-M Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

BizTalk Server

April 2025

Download BizTalk Server product report

Buyer's Guide

Control-M

April 2025

Download Control-M product report

Also Known As

No data available

Control M

Overview

Connects systems both inside and across organizations, exchange data and orchestrate business processes across multiple systems.

Microsoft

Control-M is used for enterprise workload automation, orchestrating finance, retail, healthcare, and supply chain processes. It handles batch job scheduling, managed file transfers, cloud integrations, and compliance auditing across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

Organizations leverage Control-M to efficiently monitor and manage business-critical processes like payroll, HR, SAP, Informatica, and database tasks. It enhances visibility, security, and error resolution. Automating and optimizing workflows in data centers, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, Control-M supports diverse technological environments. The platform's robust capabilities make it suitable for effective centralized management of applications and data pipelines, ensuring enhanced collaboration and scalability.

What are Control-M's most important features?

Integration capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with various systems
Automation API: Facilitates automation through APIs
Managed File Transfer: Simplifies secure file transfers
GUI console: Intuitive graphical user interface
Role-based administration: Provides access control
Single-pane view: Centralized monitoring dashboard
Scheduling options: Flexible job scheduling
Workflow orchestration: Coordinates complex workflows
Reporting: Generates insightful reports
Monitoring: Tracks and manages tasks
Forecasting: Predicts future workloads
Self-service portal: Empowers users with self-service tools
Plugins: Extends functionality through additional plugins

What are the benefits or ROI of using Control-M?

Enhanced visibility: Centralized view of all processes
Ease of use: User-friendly interface
Error reduction: Minimizes manual errors
Improved collaboration: Facilitates teamwork
Scalability: Supports growth and scale
Support: Comprehensive customer support

Control-M is implemented in industries like finance to handle payroll and HR tasks, in retail for inventory management and supply chain processes, and in healthcare for compliance auditing and patient data processing. Organizations benefit from streamlined workflows and automated processes across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments, ensuring efficient and secure operations.

BMC

Sample Customers

Centrebet, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, QualCare, Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, DTEK, Allscripts, United BioSource, Hogg Robinson

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

Buyer's Guide

BizTalk Server vs. Control-M

April 2025

Free Report: BizTalk Server vs. Control-M

Find out what your peers are saying about BizTalk Server vs. Control-M and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our BizTalk Server vs. Control-M report.

See our list of best Process Automation vendors.

We monitor all Process Automation 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.