BotFarm vs VisualCron comparison

Automation Anywhere and NetCart AB are both solutions in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category. Automation Anywhere is ranked #20 with an average rating of 8.0, while NetCart AB is ranked #21 with an average rating of 8.3. Automation Anywhere holds a 0.3% mindshare in RPA, compared to NetCart AB’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Automation Anywhere users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetCart AB users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

BotFarm and VisualCron are competitive automation solutions in the realm of streamlining operations. BotFarm is seen as having an advantage in pricing and support, while VisualCron is considered superior due to its advanced features.

Features: BotFarm offers scalable RPA capabilities, extensive bot management tools, and portability across tasks, making it ideal for diverse enterprise needs. VisualCron excels in task scheduling, workflow automation, and database integration, providing a comprehensive and customizable solution adaptable to various systems.

Room for Improvement: BotFarm could enhance its user interface and expand features beyond basic automation to improve overall functionality. It may also benefit from better integration capabilities with third-party tools and improved reporting features. VisualCron could strengthen its alerting system, offer better documentation, and expand its range of plugins to increase versatility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: BotFarm is recognized for its straightforward deployment process and efficient onboarding, supported by responsive customer service. VisualCron provides a flexible deployment model complemented by comprehensive support solutions, catering to businesses requiring personalized setup and detailed guidance.

Pricing and ROI: BotFarm offers a cost-effective structure with a rapid ROI, appealing to budget-conscious businesses. In contrast, VisualCron, with higher initial costs, justifies its investment through enhanced productivity and long-term gains, offering a compelling ROI for companies seeking feature depth over initial spend.

To learn more, read our detailed BotFarm vs. VisualCron Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

BotFarm vs. VisualCron

January 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

Fortra's Automate

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Fortra's Automate is 1.4%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of BotFarm is 0.3%, down from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VisualCron is 0.7%, up from 0.6% 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 Software Greenhouse

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.

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Ganesh-Subramanian

Digital Transformation Lead at Expleogroup

Offers enhancement in data accuracy with low-code requirements and easy onboarding

It's a scalable product. In our organization, we sometimes write a script once and reuse it several times, which improves workflow efficiency. Our team inputs the datasets one by one or in a batch mode into BotFarm and schedules them or calls individually as needed. For instance, if one individual has 15 or 20 forms that need to be scanned and logged immediately, it's possible to implement with BotFarm and its scheduling operations. The solution is ideal for small and medium-sized enterprises and can fit in for large enterprises as well, depending upon the use case. For instance, if 100 agents are working across different locations through a mobile app, all the data from the agents can be stored in a common repository and scheduled. BotFarm can be configured based on the architecture and business operations.

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Sourav-Dutta

Technical Lead - Database Administrator at SMART ENERGY SYSTEMS LLC

It's user-friendly, and I didn't need long to understand the process

We use VisualCron for all our automation needs, like connecting to FileZilla, calling APIs, generating PGP keys, creating encryption files with the PGP key login to Azure, etc. It can automatically log in to SQL Server and execute SQL script jobs in bulk. We had 2,000-3,000 users at my previous…

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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

"I actually quite liked the no-coding functionality."

"We have found the pricing to be very reasonable."

"A great feature that you seldom see in these kind of systems is the ability to use a database as trigger to launch a task. This is something I asked for a few years ago and that was added."

"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."

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

"The most valuable feature is the drag-and-drop interface, which is very Windows-like."

"The interface is simple, user-friendly, and very intuitive."

"We use it for specific cases, mainly secure file transfers, which are vital for us. And it works for us."

More Fortra's Automate pros

"The main features of the solution are the IQ Bot and web-based automation."

"The solution has been very user-friendly."

"There are not many challenges when setting up this solution, and there is a good amount of documentation to go with it."

"The most valuable features are the portals for extracting data from PDF files, appending data to SAP, automating the SAP, downloading reports, and mapping and creating the reports accordingly to your requirements."

"They recently released the newest version that has a good program flow, quality, and blueprints that are all good improvements to the automation. They also have good integration with SAP."

"The solution is very manageable."

"The solution seems to offer high stability. We haven't seen any bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze."

"BotFarm has been working perfectly fine with our business model. Its scalability is the most valuable feature. We can easily scale out bots on a need basis. Portability is another valuable feature. We work with different payment systems like Visa and MasterCard and have bots for them. Because of BotFarm, we are able to reuse these bots."

More BotFarm pros

"It has improved our organization with more automation within the business departments and less administration and development in the IT department. Usually, as the IT department, we are the bottleneck for many requirements within the business. With this tool, the business departments are able to perform many task themselves."

"It helped us reduce manual steps."

"What I like about VisualCron is that like its name, it's a very visual tool. In my previous company, there were a lot of scripts for all kinds of services, and through VisualCron, you get to group all flows and get a nice visual overview. VisualCron also has an alerting feature, so you receive alerts from it. VisualCron makes everything clearer and easier to maintain. Every other solution that I was looking for almost always needed a programmer, but with VisualCron, you can do what you need to do without programming skills, so this is another valuable feature of the tool."

"The ability to clone jobs to shorten the time it takes to implement a process has been invaluable, but its flexibility also gives us the ability to create a job that can handle a multifaceted process with a complex workflow."

"What I found most beneficial from VisualCron is that you can directly connect it with different databases, user accounts, and credentials. You can run queries from one machine to another using the credentials, unlike PowerShell, that's run by the machine itself. With VisualCron, you can directly ask other machines and run requests through user credentials. Suppose you have an AWS or Azure environment. In that case, you can maintain the connection between on-premises and cloud-based machines, which is the type of setup in the organization I'm working for. You can directly call some of the services via VisualCron on your local on-premises machine, and I found that an excellent feature of the tool."

"I love VisualCron because we previously spent a lot of time writing Power switches to connect to SQL Server. VisualCron makes it easier to execute services or connect to FileZilla by only adding the credentials to the master credentials stored in the solution."

"'ve only had a few cases where I've had to request support in the past 12 years of use, but the support response time and resolution were was extremely quick."

"The tool has reduced our operational costs by 40%."

More VisualCron pros

Cons

"The workflow for variables could be better. The input and output of task-level variables could be made a little clearer in terms of passing those around from one task to another upon success, etc. Things like that could be a little easier potentially."

"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 product also has a limited use case in some respects."

"The vendor is currently working on a solution that allows us to automatically create a process that is based on a document that we receive via email."

"The OCR for Hebrew text needs to be improved."

"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."

"They do not encrypt passwords, so this is an issue with HIPAA compliance."

"The technical support could be better. We suffer from language barriers, as we are in Argentina."

More Fortra's Automate cons

"The pricing of this product could be better."

"When somebody is just learning this product it can be difficult for them to understand, so improvements to the user interface would be helpful."

"Its UI could be made better. It should also be more flexible. Currently, it is more rigid, and a little more flexibility is required. Their technical support should also be better. We are not very happy with their technical support. Its price is also quite high as of now. They should improve its price. Its setup should also be made easier. It is quite complex to set it up. Even though we were able to set it up a little fast because we had done something similar earlier, but it has a very complex setup. It is extremely resource-hungry. If they can make it a little light on resources, that would also be useful."

"One aspect that can be improved is the accessibility of reusable components for developers. It relates to role-based access and accessibility."

"The user experience could be made a little better with this solution. I find it difficult to find qualified people to be able to use the solution."

"The discovery suite that they just acquired could be included."

"The tool must execute remedial actions to resolve problems before they cause significant incidents."

"We have connectivity and integration with pretty much every single tech stack across the table that we have in the world, and there are a few areas that they don't do that well yet. I'd be looking for some improvement there, in terms of their integration with certain products."

More BotFarm cons

"There are some conditions in the mail trigger, but you can only use them as an "AND" condition, not as an "OR" condition. This is an improvement that could be useful. For example, some people put "invoice" in the subject and others put "invoice" in the body. If I want to make a trigger for everybody whose sending invoices, I have to make two jobs for this now."

"VisualCron seems to operate like an efficient machine when it comes to improvements and enhancements and new features. I always appreciate the quick response I get when bringing up an issue or coming up with suggestions. I've mentioned before that it would be great to see a move away from SQLCE and XML configuration files."

"The only problem I face when I use the tool is that it doesn't contain much documentation or it doesn't have many video tutorials on its features."

"Our suggestion to make it better and more manageable in terms of GDPR: Implement it in a very partnership way."

"VisualCron is software, and you will experience performance degradation when you scale up. VisualCron takes too much memory or CPU power. We have to increase the hardware resources of a specific server or system."

"VisualCron's command console is a little bit difficult to understand and needs to improve."

"I want to improve the UI in VisualCron, as it's not as user-friendly, particularly when setting up the task scheduler. If you're familiar with the tool, then no problem, but if not, you'll have a problem typing text because sometimes, the cursor points to other places, so there's an issue with text box alignment in VisualCron. That was painful for me when I was just a VisualCron novice, but when you become used to it, there won't be a problem."

"An area for improvement in VisualCron is its cluttered interface. It isn't always easy to find all functionalities, so what VisualCron needs is a user interface expert who can improve the interface. There's a learning curve in terms of finding what you need from the interface of VisualCron. The technical support for VisualCron also needs improvement in terms of response time. Currently, there's no live support or hotline you can call to get quick answers, so this is what I'd like to see in the next version of VisualCron. A less cluttered and more streamlined interface, where you don't need to hunt for some of the features, is also what I'd like to see in the next VisualCron update."

More VisualCron cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Once you buy the software, you just pay for the support for backend help."

"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."

"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 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."

"Compared to other products, the pricing model for this solution is much more convenient, flexible, and adaptable to the Portuguese reality."

"From a distributor's perspective, one of the biggest selling points of Automate is its price point."

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

"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."

More Fortra's Automate pricing and cost advice

"The license of this solution is on an annual basis. The price is fair. However, what we did initially was a POC, but now we are looking at moving from a POC to expanding it out further. I would appreciate some kind of discount."

"Automation Anywhere is more reasonable than Blue Prism and UiPath in terms of cost."

"Our licensing costs are approximately $3,000 USD annually."

"There is a license for this solution and it is on an annual basis. I am satisfied with the price."

"We pay approximately $15,000 USD per year."

"The pricing is fair."

"Pricing for this solution can be better."

"The licensing is on a monthly basis."

More BotFarm pricing and cost advice

"We are fine with a rather cheap setup. Licensing with VisualCron is fair. You have a simple one-year licence in different sizes. There isn't a licensing jungle with hundreds of options and opt-ins."

"The pricing is extremely fair, and because of that I recommend purchasing multiple instances to split out the processing load across multiple application servers."

"ROI is 95 percent."

"ROI is one month."

"VisualCron is correctly priced because it wasn't very cheap, and it wasn't overly expensive, so the price for it was set correctly. When my previous company bought VisualCron, it was €800 per server per year. On a scale of one to five, I would rate the pricing for VisualCron a five because it was just right. The tool was affordable, and it has one of the most competitive pricing in the market."

"The price is a bit high."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

15%

Healthcare Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

26%

Real Estate/Law Firm

University

Computer Software Company

27%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Insurance Company

Healthcare 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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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 want...

See all answers

What do you like most about BotFarm?

The product has increased efficiency and reduced the time spent on tasks.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BotFarm?

The product is slightly expensive. In comparison to competitor tools like UiPath, BotFarm's cost is greater. Our orga...

See all answers

What needs improvement with BotFarm?

The solution can improve the accuracy of hand-written data reading. In some situations, the data needs to be hand-wri...

See all answers

What do you like most about VisualCron?

The tool has reduced our operational costs by 40%.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VisualCron?

The price is a bit high. However, it is okay.

See all answers

What needs improvement with VisualCron?

The documentation is a bit weak. The tool must provide a better set of documentation.

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Power Automate vs Fortra's Automate

Compared 48% of the time

UiPath vs Fortra's Automate

Compared 36% of the time

Automation Anywhere vs Fortra's Automate

Compared 7% of the time

Blue Prism vs Fortra's Automate

Compared 4% of the time

MOVEit vs Fortra's Automate

Compared 4% of the time

More Fortra's Automate Competitors

Automation Anywhere vs BotFarm

Compared 100% of the time

More BotFarm Competitors

Microsoft Power Automate vs VisualCron

Compared 45% of the time

Control-M vs VisualCron

Compared 19% of the time

Stonebranch vs VisualCron

Compared 8% of the time

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

OpCon vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

More VisualCron Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortra's Automate

January 2025

Download Fortra's Automate product report

Buyer's Guide

BotFarm

January 2025

Download BotFarm product report

Buyer's Guide

VisualCron

December 2024

Download VisualCron product report

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate

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Fortra

Automation Anywhere

NetCart AB

Overview

Fortra's Automate is predominantly used in HR and operational departments for automating reports, file manipulation, and data processing. Key uses include automating repetitive tasks, integrating PDFs and emails, running scripts, processing large data sets, transforming file formats, synchronizing databases, managing job schedules, and transferring files.

Users commend Fortra's Automate for its ease of implementation and user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, which requires minimal technical skills for efficient bot deployment. The software is appreciated for its effective scheduling tools, reliable integration capabilities, and a wide range of functions such as file interaction, secure file transfers, and extensive automation without the need for coding. Businesses achieve significant time savings and simplified processes, bolstered by continuous updates and robust customer support.

What are the key features?

Scheduling Tools: Enables precise control and timing for automation tasks
Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly connects with various systems and software
File Interaction: Comprehensive functions for file manipulation and transfer
Secure Transfers: Ensures data safety during file transfers
User-Friendly: Minimal technical skills needed for deployment and use

What benefits should you look for in reviews?

Ease of Implementation: Fast and simple setup process
Time Savings: Reduces time spent on repetitive tasks
Process Simplification: Streamlines complex workflows
Customer Support: Access to continuous support and updates

In various industries such as healthcare, transportation, and payroll, Fortra's Automate automates workflows like invoice generation, data retrieval, data uploading, and insurance eligibility checks, enhancing efficiency and accuracy for HR and operational tasks.

BotFarm is an enterprise-level robotic process automation (RPA) solution. What is unique about BotFarm is that users can buy RPA processes based on demand and not be confined to a license or a strict capacity structure. BotFarm, a robust product of Automation Anywhere, is the only RPA solution that allows users to buy only the products they need when they need them. BotFarm allows users to launch all the robots they need to get tasks completed sooner and more efficiently than many other products in the marketplace today. This consumption-based business model will result in significant savings and increase an organization's overall profitability.

BotFarm Benefits

Scalable: The flexible nature of the solution makes it very easy to scale when needed.
User-friendly: The UI is simple to use and understand. Users do not have to be tech-savvy to deploy bots.
Improves efficiency: BotFarm will increase process integrity by reducing human error and the need for continuous manual human effort or interaction.
Integration: BotFarm integrates well with many third-party solutions.

BotFarm Features

No code/low code solutions: Users can easily create and deploy bots to perform undesirable, mundane tasks, freeing IT staff to work on more productive, complicated tasks.
IQ Bots: Easily extrapolate data from any document, such as resumes, invoices, and legal documents, to ensure data is correctly correlated and grouped together and that overall data integrity is never compromised.
Fast: Deployed bots can complete tasks significantly faster than any human component, and with less error.
Cost-effective: Users only pay for the bots they actually need, and create as they go. This innovative process will save your organization time and money while increasing overall productivity and profitability. BotFarm has a very good ROI and is a stable, secure, and scalable solution.

Reviews from Real Users

Akshay P., Associate Systems Analyst at NSEiT Limited, relates, “It is very easy, simple. You're working on a notepad, and you don't need to know programming to work on this. The dashboards are quite good, especially on the latest versions.”

A Digital Strategy Manager at an energy/utilities company shares, “The scalability is the solution's most valuable aspect. The reason Bot Farm is used is to have only one license available whenever you have a spike in the transactions. That is a core feature. That is something which we are using to the maximum. It's working well due to the fact that the solution use case is quite structured.”

A Senior RPA Developer at a tech services company tells us, “The solution is great to automate any repetitive tasks, which you might do on a daily basis. For example, the organization may need to be generating invoices or extracting data from PDF files daily. It is very versatile in what you can automate. This has improved my organization by cutting down on repetitive tasks that now can be automated.”

VisualCron automates tasks like file encryption, scheduling SQL jobs, system integration, data workflow management, and application triggering, making it ideal for handling nightly syncs, FTP server file replacements, job scheduling, and invoice processing.

VisualCron provides an efficient automation solution with features like error and status reporting, API connections, PGP key generation, encryption file creation, and bulk SQL script execution. It simplifies task automation through its mail and event triggers, job variables, conditional execution, and logging with error alerts. Users benefit from its integration capabilities, scheduling flexibility, visual interface, and support for databases and credential management without extensive coding.

What are the most important features?

Simplicity: Easy-to-use interface for seamless automation.
Mail and Event Triggers: Automate tasks based on specific events.
Job Variables: Customize tasks using various input variables.
Conditional Execution: Execute tasks based on predefined conditions.
Error Alerts: Logging and error reporting to ensure task reliability.
Integration Capabilities: Easily connect and integrate with systems and APIs.
Scheduling Flexibility: Create complex schedules with ease.
Visual Interface: User-friendly GUI for efficient management.
Database Support: Manage and automate database tasks efficiently.
Credential Management: Securely handle credentials for various tasks.
PowerShell Commands: Execute PowerShell commands directly.

What are the benefits or ROI users should look for in the reviews?

Efficiency: Streamline and automate repetitive tasks to save time.
Cost Savings: Reduce manual labor and associated costs.
Reliability: Ensure consistency and accuracy in task execution.
Integration: Enhance workflows by integrating with different systems.
Flexibility: Adjust quickly to changes and handle complex scheduling needs.
Support: Benefit from extensive post-sales support and configuration options.
Innovation: Foster innovation by eliminating the need for coding.

Industries like finance, healthcare, and logistics implement VisualCron to automate data workflows, secure file transfers, and schedule critical tasks. It is used to streamline invoice processing, manage large-scale data operations, and ensure compliance through encryption and error reporting. VisualCron enhances operational efficiency, scalability, and security in various sectors, making it essential for businesses requiring robust automation capabilities.

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

Cisco, CocaCola Bottlers Japan, Macy's, Whirlpool, Unilever

7 Eleven, ABB Sécheron SA, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Amazon Europe Core, Apple, Assa Abloy, Aston Martin, Banco Santander, BMW (Australia)

Buyer's Guide

BotFarm vs. VisualCron

January 2025

Free Report: BotFarm vs. VisualCron

Find out what your peers are saying about BotFarm vs. VisualCron and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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