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Blue Prism vs IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) comparison

SS&C Blue Prism and IBM are both solutions in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category. SS&C Blue Prism is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0, while IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.8. SS&C Blue Prism holds a 10.5% mindshare in RPA, compared to IBM’s 2.5% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of SS&C Blue Prism users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of IBM users who would recommend it.
Sponsored
Automate
Read 26 Automate reviews
  • 1,578 Views
  • 764 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
Blue Prism
Read 88 Blue Prism reviews
  • 13,309 Views
  • 7,692 Comparison Views
88% willing to recommend
IBM Robotic Process Automat...
Read 23 IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) reviews
  • 2,164 Views
  • 1,642 Comparison Views
87% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

Blue Prism and IBM Robotic Process Automation compete in the field of robotic process automation. Blue Prism appears to have the upper hand in process customization and management, while IBM RPA is noted for its cost-effectiveness and ease of use.

Features: Blue Prism is renowned for robust exception handling, comprehensive control room functionalities, and its ability to manage complex business processes with ease. Its Visual Basic Objects feature enhances process customization. IBM RPA stands out with its less complex pricing structure, user-friendly interface, and effective bundling options, making it cost-effective overall.

Room for Improvement: Blue Prism users suggest enhancements in AI capabilities, better attended automation, improved cloud service integration, and addressing cognitive learning issues. IBM RPA could focus on quicker customer support responses and better third-party system integration to increase its flexibility and usability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Blue Prism offers versatile deployment, including on-premises, public cloud, and hybrid solutions but receives mixed reviews on customer support responsiveness. IBM RPA matches this deployment flexibility. However, customer service is also critiqued for promptness, despite its focus on user-centric designs and integration ease.

Pricing and ROI: Blue Prism tends to be more expensive, with costs involving both licensing and necessary infrastructure. It is often seen as straightforward but high-priced. In contrast, IBM RPA offers annual licensing with a focus on Virtual Processor Cores, resulting in better flexibility and lower costs. Both platforms deliver significant ROI, but Blue Prism's high initial investment is a key consideration for buyers.

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To learn more, read our detailed Blue Prism vs. IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Report (Updated: March 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Blue Prism vs. IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
March 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

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
Blue Prism
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Robotic Process Automat...
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Automate is 1.5%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Blue Prism is 10.5%, down from 12.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is 2.5%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
 

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.
Read full review
Mohamed Salah Baccouche - PeerSpot reviewer
Way more efficient for debugging than other tools but the UI is complicated
The UI is more complicated than other tools. In Power Automate, it doesn't even feel like you are working because the tool does the job for you. But in the solution, there are studio, process, and object interfaces and you have to decode your own objects. The free objects that are predefined are not good compared to other tools. There is still a lot of work to do on the solution's intelligent automation part.
Read full review
Karinne Carnevalli De Almeida - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly interface and good stability
I would recommend using IBM RPA. I would advise you to learn about your main processes to automate inside your company. So you can apply it in big and small processes depending on the investment for your company. That is an advantage or not. Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. It has some difficulty in the tool, but it's a very stable and useful tool for automating processes.
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

"We have found the pricing to be very reasonable."
"A great feature that you seldom see in these kind of systems is the ability to use a database as trigger to launch a task. This is something I asked for a few years ago and that was added."
"Fortra's Automate performs the job effectively and has the capability to alert us of any issues."
"The most valuable features of Fortra's Automate include its FTP functionality and file manipulation capabilities."
"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."
"The best feature of Automate is its ease of use, which is a major selling point."
"The pricing is excellent. I would give them perfect marks in that regard."
"The most valuable feature is the drag-and-drop interface, which is very Windows-like."
More Automate pros
"The most valuable features are the exception handling and embedded control room."
"You can easily see where all your problems lie, in a visual way. It's always nice to have a visual representation of things... Seeing things at one glance makes a lot of difference, instead of having to read through the fine print and see where the issues are."
"We find many of Blue Prism's features valuable. One recent one we're using is Decipher IDP. We're also looking at a couple of other tools and working on proofs of concept. Decipher IDP helps us create templates to extract data from images and PDF files, which is especially useful for processing invoices accurately and feeding that information into our systems."
"We have integrated the product with our centralized infra-monitoring tool, which gives us real-time insights into BOT health and also the health of the underlying resources."
"The credential manager and logs are most valuable. We are using Blue Prism for complex processes because it is easier to troubleshoot in Blue Prism, and the logs are very accurate. It provides the ability to create smaller tasks, which makes it easier to troubleshoot."
"We found the unassisted bots very useful because they can program a variety of different processes. This is a valuable feature of Blue Prism, especially when compared to other tools on the market."
"All of the processes that we've automated have been completed successfully, and the bots are able to process them as expected."
"I find Blue Prism's debugging functionality to be quite useful."
More Blue Prism pros
"It's integrated with all the other products within the Salesforce ecosystem."
"The solution's ease of use is its most valuable aspect."
"I like the integration with Watson and the possibility to have an intelligent reading of all the customers' documents."
"It is a good tool for automation."
"The feature I found most valuable is the TCO."
"I think simplicity is key. One of the things that we've noticed is how our developers have been able to quickly adopt the platform; but not only the developers or the techy people, also the business."
"We can connect with different database types, and they have included a different package for a terminal connection to, for example, AS400. When it comes to UI development, it's not using the drivers or anything. It's not a selector-based development like UiPath."
"The solution is very user-friendly."
More IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) pros
 

Cons

"The intelligent automation feature could be improved. It's interesting because it's simple, but the automation quality isn't always good. It's easy to use, but sometimes you need to make a slight improvement to the automation, and that's not so easy."
"The interface could be more user-friendly and easier to navigate."
"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."
"It's possible that they could use a stronger community for seeking guidance and help."
"The solution has a very weak knowledge base."
"We really need a free development environment for customers. Building and testing automation on production isn't ideal."
"The OCR for Hebrew text needs to be improved."
"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."
More Automate cons
"Though Blue Prism has now come up with features like decipher and computer vision, it is still not able to address most of the issues, making it an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The tool needs to work on its security aspect since there is a lot of regulatory compliance for enterprises like the GDPR. The product needs to improve the data login policy as well. They also need to come up with a mechanism where every change and upgrade happens within the element of the target application. Our partner struggles to keep up with the cybersecurity guidelines of my company."
"I would like to see wider integration with other products."
"Blue Prism can improve a lot. The interaction with Google Chrome can be massively improved. I know in the next version there are slight improvements. We don't know how much, but we are comparing them. At this moment, Google Chrome is a massive issue within the toolset, due to the way Google Chrome receives updates regularly but Blue Prism is unable to cope. The spy method of Google Chrome is not as user-friendly as Internet Explorer is. However, Internet Explorer is being discontinued from their support, therefore it's not the best browser to be using. This has caused us major issues in the last six months."
"We didn't find it much useful for unstructured data. It is not easy to do the automation with Blue Prism if you have unstructured data. It should have better automation processes or connectors for unstructured data such as PDFs or pictures. It has a connector for different applications, such as SAP, but we use a few other applications for which it doesn't have a connector. It should have a more comprehensive dashboard that we can use to see the processes that are running and control the parameters."
"A feature that I would like to see in the next release is the ability to easily call on the robots to fulfill part of the process, and be run by the users in the business, where the robot can simply be activated rather than running mass processes from a control room."
"Blue Prism features two layers of documentation. If we could make it in one layer, then it would be easy to develop, and it would take less time for developers to complete the task."
"Developing is more time consuming than with other products."
More Blue Prism cons
"One of the things I would definitely like to see is more of the machine-learning and cognitive capabilities. For example, now that we're starting to automate more and more tasks, there are some things that still require us to go back and modify the robots when we need to. But if we had more of the machine-learning integrated into it, I believe it would be easier to maintain, so that we wouldn't have to go back and adjust every time."
"IBM Robotic Process Automation should be more stable."
"This RPA should be under the umbrella of BPM. This is what the future should be."
"Needs better integration with artificial intelligence or with machine-learning."
"The scalability of the solution can be challenging."
"The users should be allowed to create folders in Control Center."
"We're based in Thailand, but the documentation is not in Thai, which makes it difficult for us. If they could translate all of their documentation into our language, we'd be very grateful."
"IBM’s support should improve response time."
More IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Once you buy the software, you just pay for the support for backend help."
"The cost is a bit high for a small business like ours, but we manage with Fortra's Automate."
"I'm only involved in running the product and maintaining the systems, so I can't speak to the cost."
"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."
"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."
More Automate pricing and cost advice
"There is a one-time purchase fee for this solution."
"This is a very expensive product and this is the reason that they're losing their market share."
"The billing is on a yearly basis. They send us the bill every year. My business unit is billed by the technology team, so I don't know exactly how much they pay. In my business unit, we have our first-year license costs, and then we have our ongoing costs. Our bots cost projected per license is $8,600. Our projected support cost for every year is about $38,000. Our operation agent costs anywhere between $50,000 to $55,000, so the saving is there, but it is still kind of expensive for us, but I'm looking at it from the technology kind of billing us for it. This is the cost that we have for our technology team, which is different from the licensing of Blue Prism."
"They work on a big partnership kind of program with our organization, and they also give us a lot of discounts. Its price is pretty much comparable to the other solutions like UiPath and Automation Anywhere."
"Blue Prism is quite costly."
"I give the price of the solution a seven out of ten."
"Its price should be lower."
"We really don't bear the costs. The cost is borne by the customer. It runs into about $100,000 per year per customer for Blue Prism. We normally budget around $30,000 for the first year for the hardware, setup, and people cost."
More Blue Prism pricing and cost advice
"IBM licensing is annual and based on Virtual Processor Cores (VPC). This provides flexibility as part of the containerization environment."
"IBM RPA is cheaper than other tools."
"The license is paid annually."
"The pricing is reasonable for this solution."
"The product has a yearly licensing fee."
"There is a free trial for one month, so you can use it to run your payloads or proof of concept. After that, you can pay for the license on a monthly or annual basis."
"The product is reasonably priced compared to other tools."
"I rate the pricing ten out of ten. So, the pricing is very good for me."
More IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
5%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
16%
Educational Organization
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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.
See all answers
What is your primary use case for HelpSystems AutoMate?
I am a consultant and I am making a lot of processes in human resources, payroll, certifications, trainings, web scra...
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra Automate?
The pricing is quite good compared to its competitors. Competitors are often more expensive than Automate. I would ra...
See all answers
Should I choose Blue Prism or Microsoft Power Automate?
Hello Netanya, it depends on your needs and your expertise. In my humble opinion you can start a big RPA project imp...
See all answers
I am evaluating Blue Prism and UiPath for RPA for my company. Which one do you recommend?
I'm very familiar with UiPath and the RPA industry: was hired by Daniel Dines in 2015 when there were 35 employees an...
See all answers
What do you like most about Blue Prism?
It is a stable solution.
See all answers
What do you like most about IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
Integrating the tool with SAP, EBS, or other ERPs is easy.
See all answers
What needs improvement with IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
The product must be promoted more. There are no promotions.
See all answers
What is your primary use case for IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
We're working with different clients from the manufacturing environment. We have implemented end-to-end solutions. We...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Microsoft Power Automate vs Automate Logo
Microsoft Power Automate vs Automate
Compared 43% of the time
UiPath vs Automate Logo
UiPath vs Automate
Compared 38% of the time
Automation Anywhere vs Automate Logo
Automation Anywhere vs Automate
Compared 9% of the time
VisualCron vs Automate Logo
VisualCron vs Automate
Compared 5% of the time
More Automate Competitors
Microsoft Power Automate vs Blue Prism Logo
Microsoft Power Automate vs Blue Prism
Compared 36% of the time
UiPath vs Blue Prism Logo
UiPath vs Blue Prism
Compared 33% of the time
Automation Anywhere vs Blue Prism Logo
Automation Anywhere vs Blue Prism
Compared 12% of the time
Pega Robotic Process Automation vs Blue Prism Logo
Pega Robotic Process Automation vs Blue Prism
Compared 4% of the time
NICE Robotic Automation vs Blue Prism Logo
NICE Robotic Automation vs Blue Prism
Compared 1% of the time
More Blue Prism Competitors
Microsoft Power Automate vs IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Logo
Microsoft Power Automate vs IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Compared 68% of the time
Automation Anywhere vs IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Logo
Automation Anywhere vs IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Compared 12% of the time
UiPath vs IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Logo
UiPath vs IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Compared 11% of the time
Nintex RPA vs IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Logo
Nintex RPA vs IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Compared 3% of the time
More IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Automate
March 2025
Automate reportDownload Automate product report
Buyer's Guide
Blue Prism
March 2025
Blue Prism reportDownload Blue Prism product report
Buyer's Guide
IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
March 2025
IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) reportDownload IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) product report
 

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate
No data available
IBM RPA
 

Overview

Automate offers a user-friendly solution with a drag-and-drop interface for efficient task automation and integration with major platforms like SAP and Azure, making it ideal for quick deployment with minimal coding and training.

Automate provides powerful features for businesses seeking efficient automation, offering compatibility with databases, email integration, and cloud platforms. Its simple interface supports both beginners and experienced users, simplifying tasks like invoice processing, HR automation, and data transformation. Cost-effective pricing and flexible licensing enhance its appeal while integration capabilities and scheduling tools ensure smooth workflow automation.

What are Automate's Key Features?
  • Drag-and-Drop Interface: Simplifies automation with intuitive design.
  • Integration Capabilities: Connects with platforms like SAP and Azure for seamless data flow.
  • Database and FTP Triggers: Enhances automation potential through direct data interaction.
  • Efficient Scheduling: Automates tasks with precise timing and control.
  • Web Scraping: Automates data extraction for quick analysis and reporting.
What Benefits and ROI Should Users Expect?
  • Rapid Deployment: Minimizes coding efforts for quick implementation.
  • Cost-Effectiveness: Offers flexible pricing models to suit budget constraints.
  • Operational Efficiency: Reduces manual workloads and enhances productivity.
  • Comprehensive Integration: Facilitates improved data management across systems.
  • Scalability: Adapts to growing business needs with ease.

In industries such as healthcare, banking, and logistics, Automate is used for tasks like invoice payment automation, data transformation, and task automation. This leads to streamlined processes and reduced manual workload, illustrating its value in enhancing operational efficiency through diversified workflows.

Fortra

Blue Prism is an intelligent, business-developed, no-code automation platform for SaaS deployments as well as for on-premises, public cloud, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments. Unlike other automation technology, Blue Prism combines robotic process automation with expanded artificial intelligence and cognitive capabilities. Blue Prism gives users instant access to the tools you need for building and delegating automations, as well as a digital workforce that is already AI-equipped.

With Blue Prism’s code-free RPA, deployed through use of their Robotic Operating Model, your business can scale efficiently, improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and augment its talent to take on new responsibilities. Blue Prism helps to accelerate operational agility and efficiency by making it easy to automate the most important processes. Allocating everyday tasks to your Digital Workforce gives you immediate increased capacity and allows your teams to focus on their strategic goals. In addition, it delivers a return on investment, increases efficiency gains, and can even introduce new revenue streams.

“Workforce of the Future”

Blue Prism’s all-in-one intelligent automation platform consists of:

  • Design Studio with drag-and-drop process automation building, reusable “objects” across your business, and updates to objects and processes saved throughout the process library.
  • Control Room where you can assign processes to digital workers, scale digital worker and task volume ondemand, and gain real-time transparency of process proficiencies.
  • Digital Workforce of autonomous software robots that can learn and mimic business processes like humans and are equipped with six intelligent automation skills:
    1. Knowledge and Insight - The ability to harvest, understand, and deliver insights from multiple disparate data sources.
    2. Visual Perception - The ability to read, understand, and contextualize visual information.
    3. Learning - The ability to derive contextual meaning and adapt to evolving process patterns.
    4. Planning and Sequencing - The ability to optimize workloads and identify opportunities for better outcomes.
    5. Problem-solving - The ability to autonomously solve system, logic, and business problems.
    6. Collaboration - The ability to seamlessly work with both people and systems.

Reviews from Real Users

Blue Prism stands out for its enterprise-level functionality, which is why many companies choose it over its competitors. PeerSpot users note that the solution is easy to use, stable, and robust scalability-wise. The security is also top-notch. One user pointed out that "One of the most powerful features in Blue Prism is exception handling. It's one of the features that really differentiates it from other platforms." Blue Prism helps businesses with everything from compliance to quality control and error-avoidance.

SS&C Blue Prism

IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that encompasses the use of smart robots in any process requiring efficiency, consistency and speed, with no risk of mistakes. In a nutshell, RPA simulates a human user working.

Today, it is possible to automate processes through the use of digital robots, or bots, which execute pre-programed, repetitive tasks in a safe and mistake free manner. There are literally thousands of opportunities for Robotic Process Automation to make an impact on your organization today, including: automatic invoice emission, system integration, information reconciliation, report generation, intelligent email management to lead generation, and many others.

IBM
 

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
Coca-Cola, Walgreens, American Express, Royal Bank of Canada, Pfizer, Shop Direct, O2, Siemens, Ascension Healthcare, Jaguar Land Rover
The Hanover Insurance Group
Buyer's Guide
Blue Prism vs. IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
March 2025
Free Report: Blue Prism vs. IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Find out what your peers are saying about Blue Prism vs. IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
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