Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Blue Prism Cloud vs Fortra's Automate comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Blue Prism Cloud
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortra's Automate
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Blue Prism Cloud is 1.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Automate is 1.3%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
 

Featured Reviews

Keith Mcdowell - PeerSpot reviewer
It helps us save on staff costs
I rate Blue Prism Cloud eight out of 10 for ease of setup. It's a cloud-based solution, so it isn't hard to set up. The deployment time is hard to quantify because I work for the government, and we need to go through all these internal reviews, but the technical part takes three to four weeks. The biggest challenge is security because we need to integrate it with Active Directory and set up VPN tunnels, security profiles, etc. We deployed Blue Prism in-house and used three people to set it up. One solution engineer is enough to maintain it.
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

"It is an easily scalable solution."
"The most valuable feature of Blue Prism's Virtual Workforce is that it is quite stable."
"There is no latency in the product."
"Its AI features allow customers to find specific documents via an index."
"One of the most valuable features is automating manual and repetitive business processes, streamlining operations and reducing manual labour."
"The solution is very complete. It's a good solution, for the kind of features that they offer."
"If I look at the top four, I believe it is far more user-friendly than the other competition."
"It automates our accounts payable process, requiring no human interaction and saving us a hundred percent of the time."
"The best feature of Automate is its ease of use, which is a major selling point."
"The pricing is excellent. I would give them perfect marks in that regard."
"We are still in the process of rolling it to production and tweaking it (our AD groups are a mess), but the improvements are priceless. Having users ID's created the same way every time without human error is the best part. We don't need to worry about why groups were not added, user rights not set to folders or missing a private folder being created, typos or just even knowing when things are done and logged."
"We use it for specific cases, mainly secure file transfers, which are vital for us. And it works for us."
"This product is quite easy to install, learn, and use, with our new employees being able to start using it in projects for clients after only two weeks of internal training."
"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."
"Compared to other vendors, it's the scheduling tool because a lot of vendors want to charge you extra for their enterprise-level license to have a scheduling tool built in to give you the ability to set up regular schedules to run and do certain data checks."
"We have found the pricing to be very reasonable."
 

Cons

"There are a few smart services that are not available in Blue Prism. For example, Excel sheets that are converted into a CS sheet have limitations with the number of columns when imported. This could be improved."
"It could be more flexible."
"I believe they need to become more competitive within the market in order to maintain their market share. We were essentially a Blue Prism shop and sold Blue Prism, but because of the price point, many clients are now looking at competitors."
"Blue Prism Cloud needs to improve support, though documentation is available online. It is not detailed, which does not help."
"I think that there are some improvements in the product performance that are needed in Blue Prism Cloud...The initial setup of the product needs a lot of time and effort."
"The main issue is screen scraping with Blue Prism gives us a big challenge because we need to define which technologies are web-based have been built instead of by itself discovering the technology that it is built on."
"The product’s licensing cost is expensive compared to other tools in the market."
"Several things need improvement, like ease-of-use, adding tended robots, adding process recording, and updating the look and feel so it seems modern."
"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."
"Fortra's Automate is not as reliable as I would like it to be."
"The solution has a very weak knowledge base."
"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."
"There is room for improvement regarding cloud functionality; there are a few missing features, and the logging could be better, especially air logging. We can go into logging events and create our own task, but it would be nice if this were more detailed."
"The interface could be more user-friendly and easier to navigate."
"It's possible that they could use a stronger community for seeking guidance and help."
"The product also has a limited use case in some respects."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We found the pricing reasonable, and it aligned with our budgetary requirements."
"Blue Prism comes at a higher price point compared to other solutions on the market."
"There are many RPA solutions available from different vendors and the pricing for Blue Prism is competitive."
"Though I don't have many details, I think Blue Prism Cloud is an expensive product compared to the other tools in the market since you need to pay for resources like machines."
"The price is very competitive when you are comparing to other providers."
"I rate the platform’s pricing a seven out of ten."
"It is highly-priced."
"Pricing can be negotiated in situations where there will be heavy usage."
"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 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."
"Once you buy the software, you just pay for the support for backend help."
"From a distributor's perspective, one of the biggest selling points of Automate is its price point."
"It comes with a package that costs approximately $20,000 USD per year."
"The cost is a bit high for a small business like ours, but we manage with Fortra's Automate."
"Compared to other products, the pricing model for this solution is much more convenient, flexible, and adaptable to the Portuguese reality."
"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."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solutions are best for your needs.
816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Blue Prism Cloud?
It's easy to use, the interface, the the the the queries is which we use. It's user friendly.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Blue Prism Cloud?
If we utilize Blue Prism's full capabilities, then it is cost-effective. Otherwise, the pricing can seem high. It requires the right processes.
What needs improvement with Blue Prism Cloud?
Decipher, one of their solutions, is a waste of time. Other than that, there's nothing specific I can think of.
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

Blue Prism Thoughtonomy Virtual Workforce, Blue Prism Virtual Workforce, Thoughtonomy Virtual Workforce
HelpSystems Automate, Automate
 

Learn More

Video not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cabot Credit Management, Hovis, Utilita
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 Blue Prism Cloud vs. Fortra's Automate and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,636 professionals have used our research since 2012.