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Aspera Managed File Transfer vs Control-M comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 13, 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

Aspera Managed File Transfer
Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Control-M
Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
192
Ranking in other categories
Process Automation (2nd), Workload Automation (1st), AI IT Support (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category, the mindshare of Aspera Managed File Transfer is 3.0%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Control-M is 6.7%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed File Transfer (MFT) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Control-M6.7%
Aspera Managed File Transfer3.0%
Other90.3%
Managed File Transfer (MFT)
 

Featured Reviews

BK
Deputy General Manager Information Technology at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Data transfer improvements with an easy setup and responsive support
There are other products of Aspera which come as add-ons, however, we haven't purchased those, like report generation, since that was not our requirement. The features we needed were included in the basic edition, and that works for us. If there is any failure in the data transfer and it can automatically detect and reinitiate it, that would be great.
RP
Batch Admin at NBC Universal
Brings data together from multiple platforms and optimizes cross-environment orchestration
The features of Control-M that I like the most include the ability to easily integrate or bring in different platforms into Control-M. For instance, AWS, mainframe, TWS, and something that's running on Autosys can all be brought into Control-M, converted to how Control-M runs it, and then the batch can be executed. This centralizes various applications in Control-M, which doesn't just have to handle batch processes, but also other tasks like reporting on required data. I find this functionality very useful and the setup is impressive, with more advancements yet to come. With Control-M, my company has achieved several measurable improvements since I started. The metrics indicate that the number of failures has dropped, and we have addressed the issue of excessive false alerts that I encountered when I joined. Previously, we received an overwhelming number of alerts daily, but now we manage to maintain that at a normalized level, perhaps around five to fifteen alerts, depending on running core batches and their setup.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The main feature of Aspera Managed File Transfer is that it's an incredibly fast protocol, you can use all the bandwidth available. If I need to send large amounts of data this is the fastest protocol on the market. I have been using it for some minor projects and it is very powerful."
"Good user interface and ability to set up multiple file transfer jobs."
"We were able to effectively nullify the China firewall since the China firewall was disrupting our data transfer."
"We were able to effectively nullify the China firewall since the China firewall was disrupting our data transfer."
"Aspera Managed File Transfer is an optimal solution for customers who want to transfer large files to remote sites with lower bandwidth and in less time."
"Control-M has enabled new capabilities and business processes that were not possible before, and with advancements in integration, various data sources can be tied together to meet user and application team needs."
"The best feature of Control-M is its orchestration capabilities for any orchestration that's required."
"Control-M has helped us resolve issues 70% to 80% faster. It provides us with alerts instead of having someone go to that particular server and check the logs to determine where the issue is. We can simply click on the alert information, then everything is in front of us. This provides us with time savings, human effort savings, and process savings."
"The batch team is now able to run an average of 1,500 jobs per day with incidents automatically created and routed to the correct team if a job fails or has an error."
"Self Service, BIM features are most valuable. As no need to login to EM client and check the job status."
"The GUI interface is exceptional, beating any of the competitors’ products I have used."
"I’ve tried and POCed many other workload automationbatch scheduling tools out there; none of them come close to functionality and ease-of-use as Control-M."
"The support that is received when a case is raised is really quick and very helpful when compared to others."
 

Cons

"Deployment is complex and it was difficult to get support."
"If there is any failure in the data transfer and it can automatically detect and reinitiate it, that would be great."
"Aspera Managed File Transfer should be packaged into another solution. Explaining to customers you need to have multiple solutions from multiple vendors for their use cases can get complicated for them to understand."
"The solution's pricing is high and should be reduced."
"If you want to do a file transfer between two countries, and one is not China, then you have other more affordable options."
"The unifying features between Control-M for different platforms needs improvement. The scheduling options on the Control-M mainframe jobs are different than they are on our Linux server. There are a few differences here and there."
"There are areas for improvement, especially with the transition from the thick client to the web GUI. While Control-M's main game-changer is its GUI, the current web interface is less user-friendly than the thick client."
"One thing we have criticized is the MFTE capabilities, particularly regarding high availability. BMC hasn't provided a setup with multiple fallbacks for error situations."
"It has a slight issue with daylight savings time while advancing the clock in the Spring."
"The next major release needs to focus on the lightweight web client."
"An issue we have run into in our lower environments is that Control-M can log you out frequently."
"Currently, the history module captures only seven days of job execution data, and if we had at least 30 days available, that would be beneficial for investigating any issues."
"For improvements, there is some slowness in terms of logging, as Control-M can be a heavy tool that could benefit from reducing file size."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was close to $10,000 to $20,000."
"Aspera Managed File Transfer is not an inexpensive solution. I am not aware of many competitors to determine how affordable the price is overall."
"It is an expensive solution."
"There are human costs in addition to the standard pricing and licensing of this solution."
"We have a license till 2024. We are good and satisfied with it."
"They are expensive. If we were a small company, it would be complicated because we have to have strong sales and operations to be able to afford a tool of this level. Being a large company, the cost-benefit is covered, but it is not within the level of cheap solutions."
"For the tooling that you get, the licensing is acceptable. It has competitive pricing, especially with all the value that you get out of it. There are additional costs with some of the additional modules, but they are all electives. Out of the box, you get the standard Control-M experience and the standard license. They're not forcing some of the modules on you. If you decide that you do need them, you can always purchase those separately."
"The annual licensing within BMC Control-M is on a per task basis. Three- and five-year contracts are also offered. The customer usually buys a bundle of tasks, e.g., 5,000 tasks, then my team configures Control-M for their usage."
"BMC's price is based on the number of jobs."
"The pricing is moderate, not too low or too high compared to other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Insurance Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
26%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
6%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise151
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Aspera Managed File Transfer?
There are other products of Aspera which come as add-ons, however, we haven't purchased those, like report generation, since that was not our requirement. The features we needed were included in th...
What is your primary use case for Aspera Managed File Transfer?
We have an office in China, and we wanted to transfer data from China to the UK. We have an office in the UK as well.
What advice do you have for others considering Aspera Managed File Transfer?
For our requirements, IBM Aspera fit very well into the budget. It's subjective. I'd rate it nine out of ten. If you want to do a file transfer between two countries, and one is not China, then you...
How does Control-M compare with AutoSys Workload Automation?
Control-M acts as a single, centralized interface for monitoring and managing all batch processes, which is helpful because nothing gets left unattended since it is all visible in one place, and th...
What do you like most about Control-M?
First of all, the shift from manual to automation has been valuable. We have a tool that can automate.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Control-M?
From what I know about pricing, I would probably put Control-M in the expensive category, but you do pay for what you get; you are paying for a premium product.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Control M, BMC Control-M Managed File Transfer, BMC Australia CTM
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Gwinnett County Public Schools, Evonik, Voith, BITMARCK, Oracle
The Bank of East Asia, LINE Bank Taiwan, Coop, Air Europa, Carrefour, Itau Unibanco, Snam, Embraer, ANZ Bank, EDP, Dominio's, Tampa General Hospital, W&W Informatik GmbH, Veterans General, Up Sí Vale, Sky Italia, REWE digital GmbH, Raymond James, Railinc, Navistar, Management Science Associates, Colruyt, CARFAX, Banpara, Aspiag Service, Amadeus, AG Insurance, ING Bank Slaski
Find out what your peers are saying about Aspera Managed File Transfer vs. Control-M and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.