ActiveBatch by Redwood vs GoAnywhere MFT comparison

ActiveBatch by Redwood and Fortra are both solutions in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category. ActiveBatch by Redwood is ranked #18, while Fortra is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6. ActiveBatch by Redwood holds a 2.2% mindshare in MFT, compared to Fortra’s 10.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ActiveBatch by Redwood users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Fortra users who would recommend it.

ActiveBatch by Redwood

Read 35 ActiveBatch by Redwood reviews

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661 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

GoAnywhere MFT

Read 70 GoAnywhere MFT reviews

3,098 Views
2,881 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

ActiveBatch by Redwood

GoAnywhere MFT

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 8, 2025

ActiveBatch by Redwood and GoAnywhere MFT both compete in the enterprise automation market. ActiveBatch appears to have an edge in platform integration and workflow customization, while GoAnywhere MFT excels in secure file transfers and encryption.

Features: ActiveBatch offers robust automation features, including integration across diverse platforms, numerous built-in steps to enhance efficiency, and extensive customization options for complex workflows. It provides comprehensive visibility of workflows through a single pane of glass, reducing manual efforts and optimizing processes. GoAnywhere MFT focuses on secure file transfers, utilizing extensive encryption features, comprehensive workflow automation, and built-in file monitoring systems to improve data exchange efficiency and security.

Room for Improvement: ActiveBatch users face a steep learning curve due to its complexity, with struggles in onboarding and navigation. Suggested enhancements include better help resources and cloud platform integration. GoAnywhere MFT could improve its UI design and documentation for novice users, and enhance Cloud Connectors to improve cloud service integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both ActiveBatch and GoAnywhere MFT are primarily deployed on-premises but support various environments including cloud options. ActiveBatch receives mixed reviews for its technical team, while GoAnywhere is praised for prompt and efficient service. Both platforms could improve user experience by streamlining support processes for consistent responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: ActiveBatch offers flexible licensing and a valuable agentless model, leading to significant ROI through operational efficiencies. GoAnywhere MFT is reasonably priced, with users finding value in its robust security features and ease of use. Its flexible licensing structure is appealing to organizations mindful of data transfer costs. Both solutions provide long-term savings and value, although pricing remains a key consideration for future feature expansion.

To learn more, read our detailed ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. GoAnywhere MFT Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. GoAnywhere MFT

September 2025

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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 Managed File Transfer (MFT)

18th

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Process Automation (34th), Workload Automation (19th)

GoAnywhere MFT

Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category, the mindshare of ActiveBatch by Redwood is 2.2%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GoAnywhere MFT is 10.8%, up from 6.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Managed File Transfer (MFT) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
GoAnywhere MFT	10.8%
ActiveBatch by Redwood	2.2%
Other	87.0%

Managed File Transfer (MFT)

Featured Reviews

Shubham Bharti

Senior Analyst at Capgemini

Flexible, easy to use, and offers good automation

Occasionally, I find myself contemplating if there is room for improvement in the user interface (UI), and envisioning that with certain enhancements. The UI could potentially offer a more refined and user-friendly experience, fostering smoother interactions and facilitating easier navigation for users engaging with the application. New users might encounter a minor setback due to the absence of readily accessible training videos, which could have otherwise proven to be an invaluable resource in aiding their initial familiarization with the platform, potentially hindering their seamless onboarding process and delaying their ability to harness the software's full range of capabilities to its utmost potential.

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Rohan Suryawanshi

Senior Software Engineer at Opcito Technologies

Automation simplifies file transfer and builds confidence in security

I appreciate the features of GoAnywhere MFT such as advanced workflows to automate all the transfer and reduce manual effort. The logs and reporting are very helpful for checking all the compliances. The encryption is quite good. The main feature which is very useful is connectors to connect it with cloud services such as AWS, Azure, GCP. The automation in GoAnywhere MFT really helps us because it reduced the manual work significantly. We can transfer hundreds of files with zero manual interventions. The audit trails also help during the compliance audits. It has given stakeholders more confidence in the security of file transfer. It also helped developers to securely transfer the files. Overall, the impact was very good and positive in our business and personal improvements.

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 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."

"By implementing a sophisticated scheduling mechanism, the system allows for the precise triggering of jobs at user-selected frequencies, enabling a seamless and automated execution of tasks according to specified time intervals."

"Using this tool, if there are any huge failures, we immediately get an email notification, and the proper team will be informed, at which time they can act accordingly."

"It has helped with scheduling complex jobs with simple scripts."

"We leverage the solution's native integrations regularly. We have to get files from a remote server outside the organization, and even send things outside the organization. We use a lot of its file manipulation and SFTP functionality for contacting remote servers."

"What ActiveBatch allows you to do is develop a more efficient process. It gave me visibility into all my jobs so I could choose which jobs to run in parallel. This is much easier than when I have to try to do it through cron for Windows XP, where you really can't do things in parallel and know what is going on."

"I found ActiveBatch Workload Automation to be a very good scheduling tool. What I like best about it is that it has very less downtime when managing many complex scheduling workflows, so I'm very impressed with ActiveBatch Workload Automation."

"Error Handling is one of the best standout features of ActiveBatch."

More ActiveBatch by Redwood pros

"Out of all the products I have used for file transfer MFT, GoAnywhere MFT is the easiest because everything is essentially in one place."

"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT offers robust security as its most valuable feature."

"The whole application of GoAnywhere MFT is excellent."

"Its speed is the most valuable because every integration used to take months with old SOA tools, integration buses, and that type of stuff. Now, we do integrations in a matter of days. Security is another valuable thing because every step in the workflow has an audit trace, which is great. This also brings a lot of confidence in automating business process workflows through this type of solution."

"GoAnywhere MFT meets all these needs, which is why we decided to use it."

"I like the versatility GoAnywhere provides, allowing transfers through HTTPS and different protocols. It can also transfer through a server and a client."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"The encryption feature is very impressive in GoAnywhere MFT, and the encryption provided by the company is much stronger than other file transferring software."

More GoAnywhere MFT pros

Cons

"Any product is going to have some room for improvement, no matter what. I see the company has already ventured into AWS and they're constantly trying to improve the managed file transfer which they have recently improvised. I think they bought a software called JSCAPE and they're trying to improve it, which is good. I am not sure if JSCAPE would be part of the base product but currently, you have to buy a separate license for it, which doesn't make sense. If it was Microsoft, ServiceNow, or integrating with other software vendors, I would understand but JSCAPE is now in-house and I'm not sure if they can justify having a separate license for JSCAPE. I would probably expect them to be packaging JSCAPE into the base product. They did switch over from a perpetual license model to a subscription model, which hurt the company a little bit. Nobody is offering the perpetual model anymore. As long as the transition is fair for both the companies, I think it should be fine and not burn us out."

"ActiveBatch is a little complex."

"The interface is not that user-friendly and is a little tough to navigate."

"Whenever there is an overload, we are seeing crashes happening."

"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."

"The user interface can be improved so that it is more appealing and accessible to new users."

"Between version 10 and version 12 there was a change. In version 10, they had each object in its own folder. But on the back end, they saw it at the root level. So when we moved over to version 12, everything was in the same area mixed together. It was incredibly difficult and we actually had to create our own folders and move those objects—like schedules, jobs, user accounts—and manually put those into folders, whereas the previous version already had it."

"We have faced a couple of issues where we were supposed to log a defect with ActiveBatch. That said, the Active batch Vendor Support is very responsive and reliable."

More ActiveBatch by Redwood cons

"We are a little concerned because the maximum number of open connections allowed is 200, and we are pretty much maxed out... if they expanded the number of open connections allowed, we would be better off."

"The support desk has room for improvement. I keep opening tickets and they keep telling me that they're closed, but they're not resolved."

"GoAnywhere's interface could be a little more intuitive."

"Improvement in support or product relies on being ingenious, supportive, and listening to its customer base."

"The cloud connectivity of GoAnywhere MFT to connect to different applications such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon, or Google Cloud could improve, as it's a little bit patchy right now."

"Sometimes we use GoFast in GoAnywhere MFT because there are many failures or server issues."

"A drawback is that it is not as feature-rich compared to its competitor Sterling, which we used before."

"Everything works fine, but I feel that the user interface can be improved, especially the layout. They can make the dashboards more customizable."

More GoAnywhere MFT cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Currently, we are paying approximately $7,000 yearly, which includes support."

"It allows for lower operational overhead."

"If you compare ActiveBatch licensing to Control-M, you're looking at $50,000 as opposed to millions."

"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."

"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."

"The price was fairly in line with other automation tools. I don't think it's exorbitantly expensive, relatively speaking."

"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."

"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."

"The cost was definitely within reason and it has definitely been worth the cost, based on how much we can automate. It has exceeded my expectations."

"I find it to be very fair. It is very good."

"The cost is fine. It is probably the best software that I've had for the money that we spend for it. I am not aware of any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees. I don't pay for it. IT pays for it."

"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT is an inexpensive solution."

"The cost of GoAnywhere versus the value it brings to our data transfer operations is reasonable... The cost is relatively expensive but, back to the car analogy, that's to be expected with a Ferrari."

"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT carries a higher price tag than other MFT solutions."

"GoAnywhere's price is justified by its features and the time it saves me."

"Pricing is based on a one-time license."

More GoAnywhere MFT pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	46

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	41
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	36

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ActiveBatch Workload Automation?

Managing the workload and monitoring the tasks were very difficult with manual interventions. Now, by using ActiveBatch, the process is automated and it runs tasks on a scheduled basis.

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What needs improvement with ActiveBatch Workload Automation?

After upgrades we are facing a few issues and errors triggered, so focusing on this would be appreciated. Some of the advanced features in the user interface are a bit confusing even after referrin...

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What is your primary use case for ActiveBatch Workload Automation?

ActiveBatch helped us to streamline our IT workflows and improve overall efficiency. It is the most essential tool in our Infrastructure now. The best part of ActiceBatch is its user-friendly Inter...

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What do you like most about Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?

GoDrive eliminates the need to use the exchange server for file sharing.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?

Regarding GoAnywhere MFT's pricing, I think it is quite affordable since it was subscribed for me by my boss.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?

In the areas where GoAnywhere MFT could improve, I find that for a few tasks, sometimes it becomes more complex because the workflows they have are complex to understand. Their product documentatio...

See all answers

Comparisons

Control-M vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 16% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 14% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 10% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 8% of the time

VisualCron vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 5% of the time

More ActiveBatch by Redwood Competitors

JSCAPE by Redwood vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 15% of the time

IBM Sterling File Gateway vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 12% of the time

MOVEit vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 10% of the time

TIBCO Managed File Transfer vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 5% of the time

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 3% of the time

More GoAnywhere MFT Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ActiveBatch by Redwood

September 2025

Download ActiveBatch by Redwood product report

Buyer's Guide

GoAnywhere MFT

September 2025

Download GoAnywhere MFT product report

Also Known As

ActiveBatch

HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer,

Overview

ActiveBatch by Redwood enhances efficiency with features like job scheduling, integration, and real-time monitoring. It supports diverse platforms, automates tasks, and offers a single-pane view with robust security.

ActiveBatch streamlines automation by offering drag-and-drop functionality, pre-built job steps, and native integrations. Its customizable workflows and alert system aid in managing complex workloads like data processing and server monitoring across hybrid environments. While it effectively reduces manual errors and enhances productivity, areas like navigation and support for cloud platforms need enhancement. New users may face challenges due to its complexity and steep learning curve, and further improvements in reporting, mobile access, and training could provide additional support to users.

What important features does ActiveBatch offer?

Comprehensive Job Scheduling: Manages and automates complex workloads efficiently.
Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly connects with different platforms and applications.
Real-time Monitoring: Offers a single-pane view for quick issue identification.
Customizable Workflows: Tailors processes to specific organizational tasks.
Robust Alert System: Ensures timely notifications for critical events.
Data Protection: Incorporates strong security measures for secure operations.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating ActiveBatch?

Enhanced Efficiency: Automates repetitive tasks, reducing manual intervention.
Improved Productivity: Streamlines processes across hybrid environments.
Error Reduction: Decreases likelihood of manual errors.
Platform Support: Provides integration with diverse systems.

In finance, ActiveBatch is implemented for orchestrating batch processes and data management. The healthcare industry utilizes it for automating patient data updates and server monitoring, while the retail sector benefits from file transfers and inventory management automation.

ActiveBatch by Redwood

GoAnywhere MFT offers user-friendly workflow features, advanced security, and seamless integrations. Its intuitive interface supports streamlined operations and rapid project creation, making it suitable for managing secure file transfers.

GoAnywhere MFT provides sophisticated automation through Advanced Workflows, enabling reduced manual tasks and improved efficiency. With centralized data exchange, file monitoring, and comprehensive security protocols, it supports scalability, encryption, and IP filtering for enhanced protection. Users appreciate its adaptability with systems including IBM and Epic, contributing to improved process management and significant time savings. While beneficial, enhancements in DNS support, user interface intuitiveness, and customer service responsiveness are potential growth areas. License costs are noted as high, with demands for better documentation, cloud service integrations, and improved scalability and load-balancing functionalities.

What are the key features of GoAnywhere MFT?

User-Friendly Workflows: Intuitive interface streamlines operations.
Advanced Security: Includes encryption, IP filters, and monitoring.
Seamless Integrations: Adapts to systems like IBM and Epic.
Automation: Simplifies processes with reduced manual tasks.
Scalability: Grows with business needs.

What are the benefits and ROI of using GoAnywhere MFT?

Improved Efficiency: Reduces workload through automation.
Time Savings: Accelerates project delivery.
Enhanced Security: Protects data with advanced protocols.
Adaptability: Supports multiple platforms and integrations.
Process Management: Simplifies and streamlines data exchange.

GoAnywhere MFT is deployed by organizations for secure file transfers across systems like financial, healthcare, and corporate sectors. It supports SFTP, FTP, and HTTPS for data exchanges and is highly effective in automating processes and managing large file movements efficiently. It integrates well with cloud platforms like Azure and accommodates environments such as Windows, Linux, and IBM iSeries.

Fortra

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

McKesson City of Modesto, California Kwik Trip Northwestern University Charter Communications

Buyer's Guide

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. GoAnywhere MFT

September 2025

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