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ActiveBatch by Redwood vs Azure Automation comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

ActiveBatch by Redwood
Ranking in Process Automation
13th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Managed File Transfer (MFT) (10th), Workload Automation (9th)
Azure Automation
Ranking in Process Automation
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of ActiveBatch by Redwood is 1.3%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Automation is 1.1%, down from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ActiveBatch by Redwood1.3%
Azure Automation1.1%
Other97.6%
Process Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Sai  - PeerSpot reviewer
Ai/Data Analyst at CSD
Automation has streamlined complex data workflows and now saves time on recurring reporting
To improve ActiveBatch by Redwood, the UI could be more modern and intuitive, and another thing that comes to mind is that it can feel overwhelming when workflows become large and complex. Troubleshooting can take extra time when there are multiple dependencies, jobs, and integrations running together. Better visualization of workflow relationships and easier debugging would really help. I would also appreciate seeing more simplified onboarding and documentation for newer users, as there is a learning curve at the beginning. Another improvement area could be smarter analytics or AI-driven recommendations, such as proactively identifying workflow bottlenecks, failed job patterns, or optimization suggestions instead of relying mostly on manual monitoring. From an operational perspective, faster configuration for integrations and cloud-based workflows would make implementation smoother, especially in environments working heavily with APIs and data pipelines. I have covered the main points regarding needed improvements. Overall, the platform is very capable and reliable for automation and workflow scheduling, especially in data-heavy environments. Most of the improvements I want are around making it easier for day-to-day use, such as a more intuitive UI, simpler troubleshooting for complex workflows, better onboarding for newer users, and more intelligent monitoring or optimization insights. The core functionality is strong, and the biggest opportunity is improving the overall user experience and simplifying operational management.
reviewer1017936 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Database / Data Management Expert at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Automation has reduced manual work and supports efficient customer-focused development
Any solution has room for improvement, and this one is no exception.In future updates, I believe more AI functionality could be added to Azure Automation, as AI is becoming increasingly prevalent across all solutions. Sometimes when integrating with third-party tools, we cannot find the proper API and must perform manual work, which requires additional development on our end. We encounter these issues occasionally.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"ActiveBatch's Self-Service Portal allows our business units to run and monitor their own workloads. They can simply run and review the logs, but they can't modify them. It increases their productivity because they are able to take care of things on their own. It saves us time from having to rerun the scripts, because the business units can just go ahead and log in and and rerun it themselves."
"For developers, it is easy to orchestrate the workflows and the integration has been very easy."
"ActiveBatch helped us automate and schedule routine tasks such as data backups, file transfers, database updates, and report generation, which frees IT staff to focus on other studies."
"The automation feature is a very valuable feature as the associates do not have to worry about performing repetitive tasks (i.e. endpoint security scans on a daily basis) that would take several hours to complete on a daily basis."
"Since we are no longer waiting for an operator to see that a job is finished, we have changed our daily cycle from running in eight hours down to about five. We had a third shift-operator retire and that position was never refilled."
"ActiveBatch by Redwood has positively impacted our organization because we are able to process files very effectively."
"Easy to configure and simple to develop new features."
"ActiveBatch by Redwood has positively impacted my organization by improving efficiency through reducing manual intervention and minimizing downtime, which made operations significantly smoother."
"The best features of Azure Automation help us automate tasks for the customer and eliminate a significant amount of manual work."
"The most valuable feature of Azure Automation is the scripting."
"The most valuable part of Azure Automation is that it is a platform providing features that can be custom-used, with very wide functionalities, and the user-friendly nature and available technology can be simply applied to different technologies."
"Azure Automation brings many benefits to my company and my customers' companies because many jobs can be converted automatically through an AI agent to complete tasks."
 

Cons

"There is this back and forth, where ActiveBatch says, "Your Oracle people should be dealing with this," and Oracle people say, "No, we don't know anything about ActiveBatch." Then, it all falls back on me as to what happens. Nobody is taking responsibility. This is the biggest failing for ActiveBatch."
"They should offer pricing that is more affordable."
"Some improvements can be made to the user interface."
"I believe ActiveBatch by Redwood could be improved because the UI could be modernized."
"The interface is not that user-friendly and is a little tough to navigate."
"Providing some detailed training materials could be very helpful for new users who have very limited technical information about the tool."
"They have some crucial design flaws within the console that still need to be worked out because it is not working exactly how we hoped to see it, e.g., just some minor things where when you hit the save button, then all of a sudden all your job's library items collapse. Then, in order to continue on with your testing, you have to open those back up. I have taken that to them, and they are like, "Yep. We know about it. We know we have some enhancements that need to be taken care of. We have more developers now." They are working towards taking the minor things that annoy us, resolving them, and getting them fixed."
"As more organizations are moving towards a cloud-based infrastructure, ActiveBatch could incorporate more capabilities that support popular cloud platforms, such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud."
"Sometimes when integrating with third-party tools, we cannot find the proper API and must perform manual work, which requires additional development on our end."
"Technical support could be improved."
"Deployment with Azure Automation can be challenging at times, though sometimes it is very easy."
"The solution’s user interface could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price was fairly in line with other automation tools. I don't think it's exorbitantly expensive, relatively speaking."
"It allows for lower operational overhead."
"I like ActiveBatch Workload Automation's licensing model because they're not holding you down on an agentless model or agent model, where every server needs to have an agent. That's the main selling point of the solution and I hope they stay that way."
"I don't think we've ever had a problem with the pricing or licensing. Even the maintenance fees are very much in line. They are not excessive. I think for the support that you get, you get a good value for your money. It's the best value on the market."
"ActiveBatch is currently redesigning themselves. In the past, they were a low cost solution for automation. They had a nice tool that was very inexpensive. With their five-year plan, they will be more enhancement-driven, so they're trying to improve their software, customer service, and the way that their customers get information from them. In doing that, they're raising the price of their base system. They changed from one pricing model to another, which has caused some friction between ActiveBatch and us. We're working through that right now with them. That's one of the reasons why we're why we were evaluating other software packages."
"If you compare ActiveBatch licensing to Control-M, you're looking at $50,000 as opposed to millions."
"Currently, we are paying approximately $7,000 yearly, which includes support."
"The pricing was fair. There are additional costs for the plugins. We have the standard licensing fees for different pieces, then we have the plugins which were add-ons. However, we expected that."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Media Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise52
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ActiveBatch Workload Automation?
I was not directly involved in the pricing, setup cost, and licensing decisions for ActiveBatch by Redwood, so my experience is from the user and workflow side rather than procurement. However, bas...
What needs improvement with ActiveBatch Workload Automation?
ActiveBatch by Redwood could be improved with a more modern and intuitive user interface, faster performance for very large workflows, and expanded built-in integrations with newer cloud and DevOps...
What is your primary use case for ActiveBatch Workload Automation?
My main use case for ActiveBatch by Redwood is enterprise workload automation, job scheduling, and orchestrating business processes across applications, servers, and cloud environments. For example...
What needs improvement with Azure Automation?
Any solution has room for improvement, and this one is no exception.In future updates, I believe more AI functionality could be added to Azure Automation, as AI is becoming increasingly prevalent a...
What is your primary use case for Azure Automation?
Azure Automation is typically used for development for the customer. I develop based on requirements rather than for myself.
What advice do you have for others considering Azure Automation?
I cannot identify the weak points of Azure Automation, as I am a director rather than a developer.I do not use Runbooks with Azure Automation. With only one year of experience and a small requireme...
 

Also Known As

ActiveBatch
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Informatica, D&H, ACES, PrimeSource, Sub-Zero Group, SThree, Lamar Advertising, Subway, Xcel Energy, Ignite Technologies, Whataburger, Jyske Bank, Omaha Children's Hospital
1. Adobe 2. BMW 3. Coca-Cola 4. General Electric 5. Johnson & Johnson 6. NBCUniversal 7. Pfizer 8. Samsung 9. Siemens 10. Toyota 11. Verizon 12. 3M 13. Accenture 14. Airbus 15. Allianz 16. American Express 17. AT&T 18. Bank of America 19. Boeing 20. Cisco 21. Dell 22. ExxonMobil 23. Ford 24. General Motors 25. IBM 26. Intel 27. JPMorgan Chase 28. Microsoft (self-use) 29. Nestle 30. Procter & Gamble 31. Shell 32. Walmart
Find out what your peers are saying about ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. Azure Automation and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.