Fortra's Automate vs Microsoft Power Automate comparison

Fortra and Microsoft are both solutions in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category. Fortra is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.7, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. Fortra holds a 1.4% mindshare in RPA, compared to Microsoft’s 21.2% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Fortra users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Fortra's Automate

Read 23 Fortra's Automate reviews

1,760 Views
850 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Microsoft Power Automate

Read 125 Microsoft Power Automate reviews

26,351 Views
16,181 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Fortra's Automate

Microsoft Power Automate

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

Fortra's Automate and Microsoft Power Automate are strong contenders in the automation software market. Fortra's Automate seems to have an edge due to its affordable licensing model and strong customer support, while Power Automate excels in AI capabilities and integration with Microsoft products.

Features: Fortra's Automate offers a client-server architecture, multi-machine execution, and a drag-and-drop interface for simplified automation. It integrates with SAP and PowerShell and is appreciated for its low-code functionality. Power Automate provides seamless integration with Microsoft products, rich templates, and strong AI features, making it intuitive for users with limited technical skills.

Room for Improvement: Fortra's Automate can enhance its user interface, documentation, image recognition, and expand third-party integrations. Power Automate users wish for more advanced AI features, improved OCR functionalities, and additional non-Microsoft connectors. Both products could improve in handling errors and delivering intuitive messages.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortra's Automate, primarily on-premises with hybrid options, is praised for its responsive support from European and Argentine teams. Microsoft Power Automate, highly compatible with cloud environments, benefits from integration within the Microsoft ecosystem. However, Microsoft's extensive knowledge base may require simplification for easier support access.

Pricing and ROI: Fortra's Automate's competitive one-time licensing appeals for long-term cost-effectiveness, offering quick ROI through reduced manual labor. Microsoft Power Automate often benefits from Office 365 suite integration, leading to lower initial costs. It offers flexible pricing but may confuse users with its licensing complexity. Both solutions demonstrate substantial ROI through improved efficiency and automation.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortra's Automate vs. Microsoft Power Automate Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortra's Automate vs. Microsoft Power Automate

January 2025

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Helped 831,158 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

Fortra's Automate

Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Power Automate

Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

2nd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

125

Ranking in other categories

Process Mining (2nd)

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 Microsoft Power Automate is 21.2%, down from 21.8% 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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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

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

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

"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."

"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."

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

"The ability to connect to websites and pull data is the solution's most valuable feature."

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

More Fortra's Automate pros

"It is very easy to learn and use. It is quite useful for any sort of back-office work. Any kind of work with low and medium complexity is very doable in ProcessRobot. For higher complexity, some refinement is required, but it is doable."

"Different trigger events were most valuable. You could schedule a process on a recurring basis, at a certain time of day or week, or when something happens, which is huge."

"Power Automate is a better and more cost-effective solution compared to Automation tools."

"It is a stable solution."

"You can create a flow, and it can be shared across different environments."

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

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

"I find WinAutomation's linear approach to the code and function calling valuable."

More Microsoft Power Automate pros

Cons

"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."

"We really need a free development environment for customers. Building and testing automation on production isn't ideal."

"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."

"It would be an improvement if Automate had better stability tools, whether by recommending a certain amount of memory because it can be a memory hog at times."

"The solution has a very weak knowledge base."

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

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

More Fortra's Automate cons

"We are looking to see more features implemented there are already available in UiPath or Automation Anywhere."

"They can build more templates and more connectivity with other platforms. They can provide a more user-friendly way to connect with other platforms. They have their own in-built plugins for certain third-party vendors, but there are still a lot of third-party vendors that are not there."

"Microsoft Power Automate is limited if we want to create a complex flow because we have to split the log into two flows."

"The BPM component needs improvement."

"The OCR functionality needs to be improved."

"It should be faster and more user-friendly."

"It would be great if you could integrate outside of Microsoft environments."

"What needs improvement in WinAutomation by Softomotive is its stability. Stability is quite important to me. Another area for improvement in the solution is robot scheduling because it's not 100% accurate, in particular, it's 90% accurate. The monitoring of the robot could also be improved because it's not very straightforward, and you have to look in a few places or at least two places which means that monitoring is not a one-glance process."

More Microsoft Power Automate cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"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

"Microsoft is providing an automatic license with a cost of $20 million per month, which is reasonable."

"There should be increased transparency about which features attend the pricing."

"At the moment, from our experience with the two, Power Automate is a lot more expensive solution than Automation Anywhere, but it is also a far more reliable solution. With the price increases and with the current pandemic situation going on worldwide, a lot of the prices have fluctuated, but the packages and the all-encompassing features you get with the Microsoft package far outweigh the benefits from the Automation Anywhere side. Each package on the Automation Anywhere side is cheaper, but we need to continuously purchase subsequent packages to continue with our automation to the extent that we require. So, the Power Automate solution is a bit more pricey, but it does offer us a far better range of capabilities."

"I don't deal with the financial side. I know that we pay for a per-user license. It is probably less than $20 a user, but I am not sure about the exact figures."

"Power Automate is comparatively less costly than UiPath."

"I believe one of the advantages of this device is its low cost."

"Its license is a part of our enterprise agreement. It is a three-year contract, but we pay yearly. So, it is a yearly license. There are no additional costs."

"Microsoft Power Automate is expensive. The full license is quite expensive."

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

15%

Healthcare Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

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 for repetitive tasks, such as downloading web-based reports using the browser a...

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 wanted to do without an addon.

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 ,Power Automation they do support this.

See all answers

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 ‌is‌ ‌no‌ ‌coding‌ ‌experience‌ ‌necessary,‌ ‌and‌ ‌appreciate‌ ‌the‌ ‌automated‌...

See all answers

How is Automation Anywhere compared to Microsoft Power Automate?

‌Neither‌ ‌solution‌ ‌requires‌ ‌any‌ ‌coding‌ ‌experience,‌ ‌and‌ ‌both‌ ‌are‌ ‌easy‌ ‌to‌ ‌use‌ ‌and‌ ‌have‌ ‌great‌ ‌drag-and‌ ‌drop‌ ‌functionality.‌ ‌The‌ ‌training‌ ‌and‌ ‌resources‌ ‌for‌ ‌A...

See all answers

Comparisons

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

UiPath vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 34% of the time

Blue Prism vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 19% of the time

Automation Anywhere vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 17% of the time

Python RPA vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 3% of the time

VisualCron vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Power Automate Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortra's Automate

January 2025

Download Fortra's Automate product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power Automate

January 2025

Download Microsoft Power Automate product report

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate

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

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Fortra

Microsoft

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.

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.

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

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

Fortra's Automate vs. Microsoft Power Automate

January 2025

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