Blue Prism Cloud vs Microsoft Power Automate comparison

SS&C Blue Prism and Microsoft are both solutions in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category. SS&C Blue Prism is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.5, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.1. SS&C Blue Prism holds a 1.3% mindshare in RPA, compared to Microsoft’s 20.9% mindshare. Additionally, 97% of SS&C Blue Prism users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

Blue Prism Cloud and Microsoft Power Automate compete in the automation software category. Microsoft Power Automate seems to have the upper hand due to its seamless integration within the Microsoft ecosystem and a cost-effective licensing model.

Features: Blue Prism Cloud is valued for its stability, robust backend office automation, and support for security controls, appealing to high-security sectors like banking. Its Object Studio tool allows users without programming expertise to automate tasks. Microsoft Power Automate excels in its integration capabilities with Microsoft applications like Excel and Outlook, providing a low-code environment that makes automation accessible to non-programmers. It also offers a wide range of connectors and templates.

Room for Improvement: Blue Prism Cloud needs to enhance its user interface for more intuitive use, improve AI capabilities, offer clearer licensing terms, and provide better integration and training resources. Microsoft Power Automate should focus on streamlining complex tasks, improving integration with non-Microsoft systems, and enhancing its documentation and training offerings. Additionally, its pricing model needs clarity, especially concerning the cost related to handling large datasets and using premium connectors.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Blue Prism Cloud supports various deployment models, including on-premises and private cloud strategies. Microsoft Power Automate, primarily a cloud-based solution, provides simplified setup within the Microsoft ecosystem. In customer support, Blue Prism Cloud generally receives positive feedback but has slower response times, while Microsoft Power Automate offers responsive support with significant community-driven resources.

Pricing and ROI: Blue Prism Cloud is viewed as expensive due to its high initial licensing costs, but it promises substantial ROI through effective automation. Its pricing structure is deemed complex. Microsoft Power Automate offers a cost-effective licensing approach, especially for users of the Microsoft Suite, making it a valuable choice for simple automation tasks. However, premium connectors could lead to increased expenses based on usage levels.

To learn more, read our detailed Blue Prism Cloud vs. Microsoft Power Automate Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Blue Prism Cloud vs. Microsoft Power Automate

March 2025

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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

Automate

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Automate is 1.3%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Blue Prism Cloud is 1.3%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Power Automate is 20.9%, down from 21.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Featured Reviews

Anabel Marco

Account Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Automates processes efficiently with cost-effective scaling and robust customer support

Web scraping is quite good since it offers a lot of possibilities. Another important feature for me is its compatibility with MBI, the Power that is ISEQUADO Centers. I appreciate the ability to scale and increase the number of bots or studios without additional expense. Automate's non-reliance on additional orchestrators makes it quite cost-effective.

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Keith Mcdowell

Chief Executive Officer at Keith F Kube and Associates

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.

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Nilesh Pundkar

IVR Developer at Orange

Good for email routing and management features but additional costs for plug-ins

Power Automate has fewer features and more limitations in general. It's not as mature a product as some of the others, like UiPath or Automate Anywhere. One of the main issues I've found is that Power Automate struggles with accessing Excel or other Office documents on servers. Even though it's a Microsoft product, we often have to log in through remote systems, and syncing can be problematic due to the way we use servers. At the very least, they should provide access to Office 365 directly, without requiring additional logins on servers. Most people utilizing Power Automate are already working within the Office 365 environment. Any proof of concepts (POCs) using Power Automate would naturally be built on top of Office 365.

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

"Web scraping is quite good since it offers a lot of possibilities."

"Overall, the whole product is really nice and provides significant benefits."

"I find it very user-friendly. Our IT department and other departments can seamlessly collaborate without requiring extensive training. As a business department, we particularly value this aspect, as our team doesn't consist of many IT users. However, we couldn't solely rely on a drag-and-drop approach to implement and utilize the solution within our departments."

"It gives us a central place to schedule tasks and run them distributed."

"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."

"I find the ease of use from a programming perspective very valuable."

"I like the interface; it makes managing automation easy. We can set different schedules and templates for each task."

"I would rate the technical support as a nine out of ten because it is quite fast and courteous."

More Automate pros

"The most valuable feature of a non-programmer is diagrams. Someone from an IT background can find it easier to start automation."

"It's easy to use, the interface, the the the the queries is which we use. It's user friendly."

"It’s scalable."

"It provides good, clean data that enhances our AI initiatives."

"The user performance is the most valuable feature."

"Decipher has been a valuable feature that many of our clients use to extract information from documents."

"This product has additional functionality over Blue Prism Cloud Enterprise."

"The product itself is quite mature."

More Blue Prism Cloud pros

"The tool is very good at implementing automation within processes. It's saved us from doing a lot of manual processes."

"Instead of manually triggering payments through the website, everything was done through robotic process automation (RPA), saving us a lot of time."

"The most valuable feature is that it easily integrates with other Microsoft products, so it has multiple connectors. You can create solutions that connect to Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive."

"It's an intuitive product. It's not overly technical."

"The initial setup is very simple."

"It's not hard to learn, which means we'll be able to make more workflows in the future."

"Good core applications."

"It is a low-code platform. It is easy to use and good for automating small tasks such as expense approvals, timesheet approvals, etc."

More Microsoft Power Automate pros

Cons

"I would like to see some better web automation, a wizard like the one in the product WinAutomation would be very nice."

"I find that most important features are strong, however, there is a lack of good development for artificial intelligence, such as machine learning."

"I believe we need to test various OCR tools that assist in evaluating, let's say, six different customer resyncs. We analyze their spending patterns and documentations, but current OCR support has limitations, requiring highly standardized documents, which isn't always the case. With a more advanced OCR system, we could improve processes related to credit risk management and legal matters. We're exploring how to integrate Fortra's Automate with our CRM platform, taking cues from instances where Salesforce seamlessly merged with Automate. However, we use a different CRM, Insight for New Enterprise, and we're seeking ways to connect the automation process within our CRM. We aim for the automation to continue smoothly, even in instances where traditional automation methods might face hurdles."

"I would like the updates to be easier to deploy. Integration with Amazon S3 is somewhat lacking."

"I currently have three bugs open with them that I don't know if they are addressed in the new release."

"Sometimes when we communicate with the ERP system and there is an issue, we are not always aware of the specifics of Automate and the source of the problem."

"The documentation is not that great."

"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."

More Automate cons

"Blue Prism might consider adding package options to allow users to come onboard in different ways that meet their needs rather than buying in to the whole package."

"Improvement should be per customer requirements."

"There is room for improvement in the speed."

"It would be useful if some of the information protocols came built within the app instead having to create them."

"It could be more flexible."

"They should work on the solution's pricing."

"It takes a while to get up and running."

"The cost is a bit high. Other tools are much cheaper."

More Blue Prism Cloud cons

"We expect Microsoft Power Automate to work like any other RPA software, but at present, it is fairly lax, especially in the RPA space. We have a very limited set of use cases today for Microsoft Power Automate. Microsoft should make it a full-featured RPA product like other solutions that we use, such as Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath. This is predominantly the area that they need to improve on. Microsoft Power Automate is quite complex to use as well, especially if you want to do advanced workflows or advanced automation. The regular simple workflows are quite easy and straightforward, but the moment you want to do something complex, it is almost impossible for one of our employees to work on it."

"The thing which needs the most improvement is really the documentation. It should have better details of the processes."

"More OCR and AI capabilities are needed to improve the solution. Other solutions have better features, such as Blue Prism and UiPath."

"The BPM component needs improvement."

"Microsoft Power Automate could improve by adding more features to the free version it would be good because there are many features that you have to pay for. There are some functions that IT personnel, like myself, have a difficult time using and could be made more user-friendly."

"Tech support could be more hands-on. Right now, they simply direct users to documentation instead of directly dealing with issues."

"The tool must be more stable."

"The tool should improve its price."

More Microsoft Power Automate cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I like the way this solution is priced because you can buy a license, or you can buy the software outright."

"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."

"I'm only involved in running the product and maintaining the systems, so I can't speak to the cost."

"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."

"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."

"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."

More Automate pricing and cost advice

"Blue Prism comes at a higher price point compared to other solutions on the market."

"It is highly-priced."

"Pricing can be negotiated in situations where there will be heavy usage."

"There are costs for the machine to run the robots."

"The licensing of the solution is on a subscription-based model and costs around 4,999 for one bot's license. If someone wants to increase the number of bots you want from Blue Prism, then they provide a discount."

"I rate the platform’s pricing a seven out of ten."

"There are many RPA solutions available from different vendors and the pricing for Blue Prism is competitive."

"The pricing for Blue Prism Cloud is two out of ten because it's higher than every other technology. My company is on a three-year Blue Prism Cloud license."

More Blue Prism Cloud pricing and cost advice

"It has a cost-effective pricing model compared to competitors."

"I give the cost a three out of ten."

"You can have two types of licenses, one is user-based, and the other is app-based in the Power Platform."

"There is a per-user licensing model for individual users."

"It comes with the Microsoft suite. I'd rate it an eight out of ten in terms of pricing."

"We are using the free version of Power Automate."

"This solution can save money when used for simple tasks specifically using only Microsoft products."

"There is zero licensing cost. It comes with our Microsoft Office subscription."

More Microsoft Power Automate pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

14%

Healthcare Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Educational Organization

10%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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.

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What is your primary use case for HelpSystems AutoMate?

I am a consultant and I am making a lot of processes in human resources, payroll, certifications, trainings, web scra...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra Automate?

The pricing is quite good compared to its competitors. Competitors are often more expensive than Automate. I would ra...

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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.

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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 req...

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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.

See all answers

RPA that Bots can run without centralized control?

Yes, Attended Bots which can run without centralized control Module. RPA Tools like Automation Anywhere, uiPath ,Pow...

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How do I choose between UiPath and Microsoft Power Automate?

Microsoft‌ ‌Power‌ ‌Automate‌ ‌is‌ ‌intuitive‌ ‌and‌ ‌easy‌ ‌to‌ ‌integrate‌ ‌and‌ ‌use.‌ ‌I‌ ‌like‌ ‌that‌ ‌there‌ ‌...

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How is Automation Anywhere compared to Microsoft Power Automate?

‌Neither‌ ‌solution‌ ‌requires‌ ‌any‌ ‌coding‌ ‌experience,‌ ‌and‌ ‌both‌ ‌are‌ ‌easy‌ ‌to‌ ‌use‌ ‌and‌ ‌have‌ ‌great...

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Comparisons

UiPath vs Automate

Compared 36% of the time

Automation Anywhere vs Automate

Compared 8% of the time

Blue Prism vs Automate

Compared 5% of the time

VisualCron vs Automate

Compared 5% of the time

More Automate Competitors

Blue Prism vs Blue Prism Cloud

Compared 19% of the time

UiPath vs Blue Prism Cloud

Compared 16% of the time

Robocorp vs Blue Prism Cloud

Compared 15% of the time

SAP Intelligent RPA vs Blue Prism Cloud

Compared 14% of the time

ServiceNow Automation Engine vs Blue Prism Cloud

Compared 8% of the time

More Blue Prism Cloud Competitors

UiPath vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 29% of the time

Automation Anywhere vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 17% of the time

Blue Prism vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 17% of the time

IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 7% of the time

ABBYY Vantage vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Power Automate Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automate

March 2025

Download Automate product report

Buyer's Guide

Blue Prism Cloud

March 2025

Download Blue Prism Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power Automate

March 2025

Download Microsoft Power Automate product report

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate

Blue Prism Thoughtonomy Virtual Workforce, Blue Prism Virtual Workforce, Thoughtonomy Virtual Workforce

Power Automate, Microsoft Flow, MS Power Automate, WinAutomation by Softomotive, ProcessRobot by Softomotive, Minit

Overview

Automate offers a user-friendly solution with a drag-and-drop interface for efficient task automation and integration with major platforms like SAP and Azure, making it ideal for quick deployment with minimal coding and training.

Automate provides powerful features for businesses seeking efficient automation, offering compatibility with databases, email integration, and cloud platforms. Its simple interface supports both beginners and experienced users, simplifying tasks like invoice processing, HR automation, and data transformation. Cost-effective pricing and flexible licensing enhance its appeal while integration capabilities and scheduling tools ensure smooth workflow automation.

What are Automate's Key Features?

Drag-and-Drop Interface: Simplifies automation with intuitive design.
Integration Capabilities: Connects with platforms like SAP and Azure for seamless data flow.
Database and FTP Triggers: Enhances automation potential through direct data interaction.
Efficient Scheduling: Automates tasks with precise timing and control.
Web Scraping: Automates data extraction for quick analysis and reporting.

What Benefits and ROI Should Users Expect?

Rapid Deployment: Minimizes coding efforts for quick implementation.
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers flexible pricing models to suit budget constraints.
Operational Efficiency: Reduces manual workloads and enhances productivity.
Comprehensive Integration: Facilitates improved data management across systems.
Scalability: Adapts to growing business needs with ease.

In industries such as healthcare, banking, and logistics, Automate is used for tasks like invoice payment automation, data transformation, and task automation. This leads to streamlined processes and reduced manual workload, illustrating its value in enhancing operational efficiency through diversified workflows.

Fortra

The Thoughtonomy Virtual Workforce is a highly flexible intelligent automation platform. It uses software to replicate the way people work in existing applications and systems, the processes they follow, and the decisions they make, to deliver automation without disruption.

SS&C Blue Prism

Microsoft Power Automate is a powerful tool that streamlines and automates tasks within an organization.

It is used for workflow automation, data integration, and creating automated notifications and approvals.

Power Automate connects different applications and services, such as SharePoint, Excel, and Outlook, to automate data transfer and synchronization.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

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

Cabot Credit Management, Hovis, Utilita

1. Coca-Cola 2. General Electric 3. Siemens 4. Accenture 5. Deloitte 6. Johnson & Johnson 7. Ford 8. Nestle 9. Procter & Gamble 10. IBM 11. Amazon 12. Google 13. Microsoft 14. Adobe 15. Cisco 16. Oracle 17. SAP 18. Intel 19. HP 20. Dell 21. Verizon 22. AT&T 23. T-Mobile 24. Walmart 25. Target 26. Home Depot 27. McDonald's 28. Starbucks 29. Nike 30. Apple 31. Facebook 32. Twitter

Buyer's Guide

Blue Prism Cloud vs. Microsoft Power Automate

March 2025

Free Report: Blue Prism Cloud vs. Microsoft Power Automate

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