Control-M vs vCenter Orchestrator comparison

BMC and VMware are both solutions in the Process Automation category. BMC is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.8, while VMware is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.1. BMC holds a 4.5% mindshare in PA, compared to VMware’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of BMC users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Control-M

Read 120 Control-M reviews

3,904 Views
1,545 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

vCenter Orchestrator

Read 50 vCenter Orchestrator reviews

177 Views
138 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Control-M

vCenter Orchestrator

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

vCenter Orchestrator and Control-M both compete in the automation software category. Control-M seems to have the upper hand in comprehensive workload automation and integration with third-party systems.

Features: vCenter Orchestrator offers virtualization and workflow automation capabilities, making it suitable for virtual machine management and operations like vMotion. It provides centralized management and integrates well within VMware environments. Control-M provides cross-platform scheduling, managed file transfers, real-time monitoring, and API integrations. It also includes a self-service portal for operational efficiency.

Room for Improvement: vCenter Orchestrator could improve its multi-provider support and cross-platform integration. Enhancements to its scripting environment and GUI simplification are also suggested. Control-M could benefit from better cloud support, more intuitive reporting tools, and integration with additional modules. Both products have potential improvements in affordability and user-centric functionality.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: vCenter Orchestrator is typically deployed on-premises, and while users report good technical support from VMware, there is a need for more responsive service. Control-M offers diverse deployment options, including cloud environments, providing flexibility. BMC’s support for Control-M is efficient, although some licensing management issues have been reported.

Pricing and ROI: vCenter Orchestrator is considered expensive and its pricing model is complex. It delivers high ROI for large-scale virtualization but may not be cost-effective for smaller clients. Control-M is also expensive but offers optimal ROI for large environments due to its comprehensive automation features. Both solutions provide value, though clarity in licensing and affordability could enhance their market appeal.

To learn more, read our detailed Control-M vs. vCenter Orchestrator Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Control-M vs. vCenter Orchestrator

March 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 842,296 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

Control-M

Ranking in Process Automation

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

120

Ranking in other categories

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

vCenter Orchestrator

Ranking in Process Automation

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of Control-M is 4.5%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Orchestrator is 0.2%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Process Automation

Featured Reviews

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

David Villota

EMEA Hosting Engineer at Yanfeng Automotive

Provides automatic monitoring capabilities that save time for users

In my company's IT environment, we use the tool to deploy production environments for products, including live manufacturing systems. The product improves my company's IT automation processes since we can use fewer resources currently. In my company, we need to spend less time considering that vCenter Orchestrator monitors everything. In general, we don't have to be present in our company to do active monitoring. Automatic monitoring is available for everything with vCenter Orchestrator, so we have proactive alerts in our company. The most valuable feature of the product in streamlining our company's workflow stems from the fact that we need to spend fewer resources and less time in general. Our company can spend time on more effective tasks like working with the plans to improve processes and so on, instead of taking care of the systems. The benefits of the product's integration capabilities were useful for HPE. My company has HPE infrastructure, and we are keen to integrate everything into the host, VMware ESXi. It is really important to have an easy integration method that allows for everything to be installed easily in a matter of minutes. I was not involved in the product's setup process. My colleague took care of the product's setup process. From what I know, I can say that the product's setup phase was straightforward. Some custom setups were to be done manually in the tool, but everything was well documented. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. One of the benefits of the product is that it is a low-cost and stable solution that offers a lot of resources. I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

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

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"The most valuable features of Control-M are automation and orchestration. It allows a different schedule, and we can manage thousands of jobs. It ensures we can complete them on time accurately. This automation reduces our manual intervention, significantly reducing error."

"Ability to handle files remotely through the advanced file transfer feature."

"My organization has been able to script scheduled jobs in Control-M to potentially replace legacy products that are at end of life or end of service. The previous backup applications that were being used for specific files, folders, or applications were no longer being supported, therefore being able to use Control-M to replace that has been very valuable."

"Most of our tasks also deal with databases, and Control-M's purpose-built module for the databases comes in very handy when handling database components."

"The scheduling and management were really good. Monitoring was also better. It had a good visual presentation. It showed me charts and all such things. It was really good on that side."

"Promotions between environments, as well as local, mass update, versioning, and self-service."

"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."

More Control-M pros

"The implementation phase for vCenter Orchestrator was easy."

"Because of the central management, the scripting engine and workflow engine are integrated with VMware without any burden to integrate different products."

"User-friendly and easy to deploy."

"The most valuable features are the graphical UI for designing the workflows and the interfaces that come out of the box."

"The solution is pretty stable and reliable."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is availability."

"The storage motion is a good feature. It is a very good tool."

"The platform integration is straightforward, especially with recent updates, making connecting with various systems and streamlining workflows easier."

More vCenter Orchestrator pros

Cons

"When it comes to supporting cloud services, Control-M is a bit slow. We are not advancing with the technology because we don't have the modules that can interact or use the new application services provided by the cloud technologies."

"Sometimes, with technical support, they will take feedback, but you don't know where that feedback goes or if it proceeds along in the thought process."

"Reporting in Control-M could use improvement."

"Some of the features are not available. We were about to deploy the REST API, but we had some challenges. We had to use a third-party application. So, it should be improved in terms of integrating REST API jobs. That was something that was lacking. The customer was not that happy in terms of getting the desired output. So, we had to use a third-party application called Hangfire. We would like to have more videos on REST API integration, and we would like to have easy integration with the Control-M application through the REST API."

"The reporting tool still needs a lot of improvement. It was supposed to get better with the upgrade, and it really didn't get better. It needs help, because it's such a useful thing to have. It needs to be more powerful and easier to use."

"I would like to see more auditing capabilities. Right now, it has the basics and I've been trying to set those up to work with what our auditors are looking for."

"The infrastructure updates could use improvement. Some of the previous updates that we have run to get to version nineteen were troublesome. So, a more seamless upgrade path for the infrastructure components would be useful. I don't know if they have replaced that in version 20 or if version 20 has an easier path, but I would like to see the upgrade from one version to the next version be a little smoother."

"They can give more predefined plug-ins so that we don't have to create them."

More Control-M cons

"The cost of the solution is high."

"As we work towards more stability on the solution, sometimes we'll try something and it breaks and it's easier to restart the service. That's the only drawback. We've experienced this with other applications as well."

"I would like to see, from within the Web Console, being able to define the project and custom templates per user; almost like how CloudSpec has approached the solution."

"The response time of vCenter Orchestrator's support could be improved."

"The scalability option provided by the solution is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"A feature to review and setup tasks should be added."

"After the change from perpetual licensing to subscriptions, the cost model changed."

"I did not do the initial setup. However, it was complex at the beginning."

More vCenter Orchestrator cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are two different types of licenses available. The first is based on the number of jobs that we run per day, and the other is based on the number of agents that we install. My current project has a contract for five years."

"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."

"The annual licensing within BMC Control-M is on a per task basis. Three- and five-year contracts are also offered. The customer usually buys a bundle of tasks, e.g., 5,000 tasks, then my team configures Control-M for their usage."

"As we increase the number of tasks or jobs on the system, there are concerns about cost."

"The cost is basically $100 a job, give or take."

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

"It works on task-based licensing."

"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."

More Control-M pricing and cost advice

"The price is reasonable, and one of the reasons that this product was selected."

"We pay a yearly fee, based on our entries."

"vCenter Orchestrator could be more affordable."

"My company needs to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."

"The concept of hyper-convergence is smart. I don't know if it can be applied with less cost to be more affordable for small or medium-sized companies. The cost is a very important factor for it. We are currently depending on SAN storage. However, the hyper-converged solutions are depending on the storage within the hosts, such as vSAN in the VMware. It is a smart solution."

"The solution is a bit expensive."

"The licensing module is somewhat complex. Calculating the cost is complicated. Many of our clients are unclear about the billing system and the traffic metering."

"We renew the solution's license every one or two years."

More vCenter Orchestrator 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

842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

24%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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

What do you like most about vCenter Orchestrator?

The stability of the product is very good.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vCenter Orchestrator?

We're running a low-profile budget. This is not our main focus on investment technology, so we're trying to reduce costs due to the change from perpetual to subscription licenses.

See all answers

What needs improvement with vCenter Orchestrator?

After the change from perpetual licensing to subscriptions, the cost model changed. We are considering alternatives since we lost the perpetual aspect, and support is changing.

See all answers

Comparisons

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 8% 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

VMware Aria Automation vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 55% of the time

VMware Aria Operations vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 24% of the time

VMware Cloud Director vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft System Center Orchestrator vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 8% of the time

More vCenter Orchestrator Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Control-M

March 2025

Download Control-M product report

Buyer's Guide

vCenter Orchestrator

March 2025

Download vCenter Orchestrator product report

Also Known As

Control M

No data available

Overview

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

VMware vCenter Orchestrator simplifies the automation of complex IT tasks and integrates with VMware vCloud Suite components to adapt and extend service delivery and operational management, effectively working with existing infrastructure, tools and processes.

VMware

Sample Customers

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

Beiersdorf Shared Services

Buyer's Guide

Control-M vs. vCenter Orchestrator

March 2025

Free Report: Control-M vs. vCenter Orchestrator

Find out what your peers are saying about Control-M vs. vCenter Orchestrator and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Control-M vs. vCenter Orchestrator 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.