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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
7.2
Number of Reviews
26
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
126
Ranking in other categories
Process Mining (2nd)
Python RPA
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
21st
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
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.
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

"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."
"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."
"Overall, the whole product is really nice and provides significant benefits."
"Fortra's Automate performs the job effectively and has the capability to alert us of any issues."
"I like the interface; it makes managing automation easy. We can set different schedules and templates for each task."
"Fortra's Automate has effectively replaced the workload of an entire employee, saving us significant time and money."
"It is a very useful solution. You don't need to create an infrastructure in your environment just for triggers or executions. You don't need to invest in the infrastructure. With Power Automate, we can call or trigger custom web services and routines. We are also using the flow for gathering data from Microsoft Dynamics."
"It is quick, so I'm quite happy with it. It is also easy to use."
"The solution is easy to understand and to develop connectors."
"It comes as a part of the Microsoft suite, which makes it an easy sell."
"The email routing, consolidation of the reports, and management features are strong."
"Power Automate has allowed us to simplify the business process and improve operational efficiency."
"The integrations that are built into Power Automate for those different Microsoft functions are good."
"Microsoft Power Automate is an easy-to-understand solution."
"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

"There is a lack of good development for artificial intelligence, such as machine learning."
"Error messages should be better. For error status, there should be better documentation because a lot of times, error messages that you get are quite vague. For example, you get a message saying that the workflow has run into an unknown status, which is vague. It just tells you that it failed, but you don't know how or why it failed. It makes debugging difficult."
"The OCR for Hebrew text needs to be improved."
"I would like the updates to be easier to deploy. Integration with Amazon S3 is somewhat lacking."
"The solution has a very weak knowledge base."
"I find that most important features are strong, however, there is a lack of good development for artificial intelligence, such as machine learning."
"They do not encrypt passwords, so this is an issue with HIPAA compliance."
"Fortra's Automate is not as reliable as I would like it to be."
"I would like to have chatbot assistance available, where you can open it and receive help on the spot."
"I was working on it for around three days and then took a break of about two days. When I went back to it, all of the Excel, and all the Excel functions, just disappeared. Completely vanished. When I looked up the help, it said that sometimes that happens when you're not connected to the internet."
"The solution lacks maturity."
"AI-enabled voice recognition features could be included in the product."
"I need to have more integration capabilities from this solution."
"It should be more stable, and their technical support should be faster. It should also have more integration with tools from other vendors, such as SAP and Oracle, and technology partners, such as Salesforce."
"They can improve the description of errors and provide more details. Sometimes, when I receive an error, I can't understand what is wrong. It would be useful to have a desktop version to modify or edit workflows. Its scalability can also be better."
"Execution of workflows could be improved."
"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

"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 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."
"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."
"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."
"Compared to other products, the pricing model for this solution is much more convenient, flexible, and adaptable to the Portuguese reality."
"I like the way this solution is priced because you can buy a license, or you can buy the software outright."
"The licensing price should be more cost-effective."
"The platform is averagely priced. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"The licensing cost for us at this time is between $8 and $20 per user, per month."
"My company switched to a monthly payment for the WinAutomation by Softomotive license. I don't have the exact figure, but it roughly amounts to 500 Euros a year which isn't bad."
"The solution is free with Microsoft 365."
"It costs us nothing because we use it on the built-in cost that is a part of our existing license for 365. To use it more extensively, there are different pricing models. Its licensing is complex. It is complex to evaluate the cost in advance. As a result, people don't use it because they don't know what overall cost they are going to incur. There are too many criteria to figure out how much it is going to cost you to use the product to its full extent. Its licensing model should be improved, and the pricing should be more visible and transparent."
"I am not aware of the recent pricing model, but during the time that I was using this solution is was reasonable."
"The price of the solution is reasonable. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"The tool is not expensive."
"I am using an open-source solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
14%
Healthcare Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
5%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

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
 

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.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.