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Appian RPA vs Fortra's Automate comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 15, 2026

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

Appian RPA
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
13th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Process Automation (21st)
Fortra's Automate
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
4th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Appian RPA is 1.0%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Automate is 3.0%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortra's Automate3.0%
Appian RPA1.0%
Other96.0%
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
 

Featured Reviews

Kunal Sharda - PeerSpot reviewer
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
Partnering with comprehensive automation for increased efficiency
The best feature of Appian RPA is that it is highly integrated into the Appian platform itself. It is very easy to configure that in the end-to-end Appian automation solution. The second notable feature is that Appian RPA gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of how you want to design the robotic tasks. It has a very detailed orchestration console which provides details about the entire runtime and the logs of Appian RPA where you can find in detail what the robot did on the virtual machine. Appian provides dashboards where users or admins can log in and see how the robots are performing various robotic tasks. It is very detailed and gives substantial insight into how Appian RPA is functioning or is operational. It also lets you drill down into specific details at each task level.
Jane Rachma Kiniti - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Project Manager at Labo des histoires
Automate has streamlined workflows and increased efficiency with powerful automation
The best features of the solution are the flexible automation features, it is rich with beautiful connectors, and it is easy to use with little to no coding knowledge required to get started, so anybody can use the tool. The intuitive interface of Automate has an intuitive design, which makes it easy to learn and use even without a strong technical background, and it has a drag-and-drop interface, which makes everything so easy and straightforward. The error handling capabilities in complex automation tasks are powerful, as it handles all types of tasks, whether complex or simple. I've never faced any problems even when dealing with complex tasks, so everything is super smooth and highly reliable, even when dealing with big tasks, as it has never slowed down. Automate's compatibility with existing IT infrastructure has impacted our business operations positively by providing smooth integration with other software that we use, such as Gmail, Jira, and Microsoft 365 apps, which gives us a unified platform instead of having to keep switching from one software to another, saving a lot of time and streamlining the whole workflows. The automated analytics have helped improve our business processes since it has increased our efficiency by automating our everyday tasks, freeing up time for us to focus more on strategic activities such as analyzing data and developing new business strategies. It is also cost-saving. By minimizing manual labor, it decreases human errors that can lead to costly mistakes. By automating the tasks, it helps to save costs, and it also improves our accuracy by reducing these errors to ensure that tasks are done almost perfectly.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best feature of Appian RPA is that it is highly integrated into the Appian platform itself and is very easy to configure in the end-to-end Appian automation solution."
"Appian RPA is super easy to use, offering low code, no code capabilities."
"I find the pricing of Appian RPA reasonable because it is user-based, and we can experiment with it."
"This product is quite easy to install, learn, and use, with our new employees being able to start using it in projects for clients after only two weeks of internal training."
"Fortra's Automate has a user-friendly interface that is quite easy to understand for new use cases."
"The most valuable feature is the drag-and-drop interface, which is very Windows-like."
"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."
"We use it for specific cases, mainly secure file transfers, which are vital for us. And it works for us."
"The ability to connect to websites and pull data is the solution's most valuable feature."
"We have done the setup in the last eight months, my team of approximately ten to twelve team members were doing manual jobs, and Fortra's Automate is doing that with three or four bots we have set up, doing this job without any errors and really reducing my manual work and the human errors which were done by my team so I don't need to re-verify data or invest time in this."
"The licensing of the product is very good; you only need to license it once and then you have it forever, which makes the product quite affordable."
 

Cons

"There are many competitive products in the market right now, for example, UiPath and Automation Anywhere. These competitive products are now coming up with features which Appian RPA currently does not have."
"In my opinion, Appian RPA can be improved."
"There are not any areas that need improvement off the top of my head."
"We aren't completely satisfied with the stability; the system can slow down and the program occasionally crashes and closes."
"Sometimes when we communicate with the ERP system and there is an issue, we are not always aware of the specifics of Automate and the source of the problem."
"I would like the updates to be easier to deploy. Integration with Amazon S3 is somewhat lacking."
"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."
"Currently, there are many instances where I see empty logs, indicating that, while tasks are scheduled, commands are not executing successfully."
"There is a lack of good development for artificial intelligence, such as machine learning."
"There are many things that need to be improved. The security needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"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."
"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."
"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."
"Once you buy the software, you just pay for the support for backend help."
"From a distributor's perspective, one of the biggest selling points of Automate is its price point."
"I like the way this solution is priced because you can buy a license, or you can buy the software outright."
"Compared to other products, the pricing model for this solution is much more convenient, flexible, and adaptable to the Portuguese reality."
"It comes with a package that costs approximately $20,000 USD per year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Insurance Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Performing Arts
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Appian RPA?
I didn't handle payments or costs. We recommended infrastructure stacks to our clients, who implemented them, and we provided ongoing consulting services.
What needs improvement with Appian RPA?
In my opinion, Appian RPA can be improved. We are planning to conduct a proof of concept on volume because we are still not entirely certain about how well the record type feature performs on Appia...
What is your primary use case for Appian RPA?
We have been working with Appian RPA along with the entire workflow case management suite. Recently, Appian released their AI, which achieved general availability in August 2025. This is a document...
What is your primary use case for HelpSystems AutoMate?
My use case for Fortra's Automate involves repetitive tasks and streamlining file transfer across multiple systems and multiple team members as it serves as a centralized file-sharing platform.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra Automate?
My assessment of the pricing for Fortra's Automate is that it is moderately priced—not expensive, yet not inexpensive either.
What needs improvement with Fortra Automate?
The areas that have room for improvement in Fortra's Automate include the reporting and analytics functionality, where the analytics could be more detailed. Currently, it is difficult to get deep i...
 

Also Known As

Jidoka RPA
HelpSystems Automate, Automate
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

empark, talan, liverpool, ayesa, aeromexico, teknei
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Appian RPA vs. Fortra's Automate and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.