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Microsoft Power Automate vs Python RPA comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

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
Sponsored
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
23
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)
Python RPA
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
23rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Anabel Marco - PeerSpot reviewer
Can automate several processes with only one bot and is easy to implement, administer, and use
We have tried other RPA solutions like UiPath or Automation Anywhere. They are fantastic products but complex, and it's hard to understand everything. It would be best if you had a skilled developer or several. Automate is easy to implement, administer, and use. It's appropriate for us because our cases are simple and easy to automate. We don't need complicated tools with many features; We prefer to get a significant ROI quickly. We can automate several processes with only one bot, so it's much cheaper than other products where you need to buy additional licenses. We need a good value for our automation. The other solutions might be more robust, but Automate is perfect for us because we're not a large enterprise.
Nilesh Pundkar - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Arno Krause - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps streamline operations, the error handling capability is fairly good, and integrations are easy
Keyword-driven automation has been beneficial in streamlining operations. The error handling capability of Python RPA is fairly good in managing exceptions. I rate it a seven out of ten. We've integrated it with Jenkins and with our release pipeline. It was fairly easy. We had no issues with integration that we couldn’t deal with. The dashboard is simple. We export it to Excel or Power BI and make it look pretty. For our initial use, the dashboard is okay.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We have found the pricing to be very reasonable."
"I like the interface; it makes managing automation easy. We can set different schedules and templates for each task."
"The product effectively handles all the tasks we require."
"I actually quite liked the no-coding functionality."
"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."
"It gives us a central place to schedule tasks and run them distributed."
"The licensing of the product is very good. You only need to license it once and then you have it forever."
"Fortra's Automate performs the job effectively and has the capability to alert us of any issues."
"It has a gamut of things. Power Automate is easy to configure. It is more for a citizen developer. It is low code/no code. It is one of the easiest tools when it comes to configuration. By default, we have a lot of Microsoft products on our laptops or desktops. So, it is very easy to configure the remaining products."
"The whole platform seamlessly integrates well."
"The tool is very good at implementing automation within processes. It's saved us from doing a lot of manual processes."
"The product is very reliable and very easy to use."
"The connectors are a very good feature."
"The templates on offer are very good."
"We have talked to Microsoft. We're a large company and we're talking to Microsoft on a regular basis. We have a partner we talk to when it comes to Automate. We are absolutely satisfied with technical support."
"The solution helps automate manual tasks and interacts with multiple applications."
"It's possible to use the solution with other tools. It's very agile."
"Keyword-driven automation has been beneficial in streamlining operations."
"Instead of writing multiple lines of code, we can do it in a single statement."
 

Cons

"The product also has a limited use case in some respects."
"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."
"Some companies have asked for voice integration. This is likely part of the roadmap."
"They do not encrypt passwords, so this is an issue with HIPAA compliance."
"We really need a free development environment for customers. Building and testing automation on production isn't ideal."
"I would like to see some better web automation, a wizard like the one in the product WinAutomation would be very nice."
"The OCR for Hebrew text needs to be improved."
"The technical support could be better. We suffer from language barriers, as we are in Argentina."
"The tool should improve its price."
"Any task that is automated needs to be very simple. This tool does not seem to handle complicated tasks very well."
"Sometimes it can be difficult to share flows for multiple users to edit."
"I would like to see better data integration with different sources."
"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."
"The technical support has room for improvement."
"There should be more transparency when it comes to which features accompany the pricing, as there appear to be hidden features of which I am not aware."
"The initial setup is complex and has room for improvement."
"When we call an API and there is an error, it doesn't tell you what the error is."
"It can be expensive to deploy a lot of models in the cloud, especially if there are large amounts of data."
"Support could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Once you buy the software, you just pay for the support for backend help."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"I'm only involved in running the product and maintaining the systems, so I can't speak to the cost."
"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."
"The licensing cost for us at this time is between $8 and $20 per user, per month."
"There is a per-user licensing model for individual users."
"This is a cost-effective product and now that it has been acquired by Microsoft, we don't expect the cost to increase with the next release."
"Microsoft Power Automate is part of our Office 365 package, there are no additional licensing costs."
"Microsoft Power Automate is expensive. The full license is quite expensive."
"There is flexibility in pricing."
"Initially, we had a Microsoft account for Office 365. Later, we discovered that our license included access to Power Automate at no additional cost. There was a small fee for additional features, but it was negligible compared to the benefits. There are not any additional fees required to use the solution."
"There is zero licensing cost. It comes with our Microsoft Office subscription."
"I am using an open-source solution."
"The tool is not expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
15%
Healthcare Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
5%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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.
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...
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...
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...
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 ‌...
How is Automation Anywhere compared to Microsoft Power Automate?
‌Neither‌ ‌solution‌ ‌requires‌ ‌any‌ ‌coding‌ ‌experience,‌ ‌and‌ ‌both‌ ‌are‌ ‌easy‌ ‌to‌ ‌use‌ ‌and‌ ‌have‌ ‌great...
What do you like most about Python RPA?
Keyword-driven automation has been beneficial in streamlining operations.
What needs improvement with Python RPA?
I've worked with file detection for secure transactions. I use a machine learning model to predict events related to ...
 

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate
Power Automate, Microsoft Flow, MS Power Automate, WinAutomation by Softomotive, ProcessRobot by Softomotive, Minit
No data available
 

Learn More

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Overview

 

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
Home Credit, Silimed, Hilton, Al Hilal Bank, Baskin and Robbins
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Power Automate vs. Python RPA and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
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