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Control-M vs Fortra's Automate comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.4
Control-M enhances efficiency, reduces manual tasks, and lowers costs by automating operations and centralizing processes for better performance.
Sentiment score
6.7
Organizations achieve significant ROI in three months using Fortra's Automate through labor savings, productivity boosts, and efficiency enhancements.
The main return on investment with Helix Control-M has been a reduction in downtime and minimization of manual interventions, which has improved our operational efficiency.
Cloud Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
You can run a million batch jobs or tasks at night when all of your highly skilled people are at home sleeping.
Account Executive at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
By implementing automation tools, you can minimize human errors and improve efficiency.
Director of Sales at a tech services company with self employed
Fortra's Automate has effectively replaced the workload of an entire employee, saving us significant time and money.
Chief Technology Officer at DOB Systems LLC
It has reduced our expenditures in terms of purchasing more products and employing more technicians.
System Administrator
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate the ROI as nine.
Project Manager - DevOps Engineer at ACC
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.2
Control-M's 24/7 support is knowledgeable but needs improvements for novices; recent feedback suggests a slight decline.
Sentiment score
7.5
Fortra's Automate support is responsive and knowledgeable, though improvements in user interface and navigation are suggested.
They quickly evolve with changing technology trends, easily adopt new features, and incorporate them into the product.
architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The support is accurate, and BMC is always ready to help with queries and complex incidents.
Solutions Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
The technical support is very polite, helpful, and available 24/7.
Cloud Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
They don't always understand the processes I'm trying to implement.
Senior Data Analyst at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
They handle customers like me to get to the exact issue, detailing where that issue originates from a technical point of view, the resolution, and the summary they provided.
Software Engineer at Cateina Technologies
I would rate the technical support as a nine out of ten because it is quite fast and courteous.
Account Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Control-M excels in scalability, efficiently managing multiple tasks, suitable for diverse enterprises despite minor GUI and cost issues.
Sentiment score
7.2
Fortra's Automate is scalable, flexible, cost-effective for SMBs, with high availability, failover support, but limited to Windows.
Our license doesn't limit our ability to configure Control-M as needed, allowing us to easily create new agents or environments.
Control-M System Administrator at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
I am paying for a top-end tool which rarely experiences issues, with most problems stemming from the applications being managed rather than the tooling itself.
Senior Control-M Consultant at Ktsl
It can absorb more workload wherever needed.
Cloud/Devops Engineer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The scalability of Automate also scores a ten out of ten.
IT Project Manager at Labo des histoires
I can deploy it on multiple infrastructures such as cloud, on-premises, or in a hybrid model.
Software Engineer at Cateina Technologies
It is easy to increase one bot or one studio without needing to buy another orchestrator, which can be quite expensive.
Account Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Control-M is praised for stability and reliability, with occasional compatibility issues quickly resolved through updates and strong support.
Sentiment score
7.2
Fortra's Automate is reliable, resource-heavy, stable, and support-assisted, with infrequent issues, particularly on large files or tasks.
Control-M itself is robust, and it would receive a rating of 10.
Technical architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The downtime is higher compared to AWS.
Data scientist at Advarisk
The testing and development phases need to be more rigorous before releasing patches.
Associate Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The stability of the solution is a ten out of ten.
IT Project Manager at Labo des histoires
For stability on a scale from one to ten, I would give it a solid nine.
Cloud Engineer - ll at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
It has very robust features, and it is not prone to instability.
Account Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Control-M users desire better reporting, integration, cost efficiency, UI design, automation, flexibility, compatibility, and seamless upgrades.
Fortra's Automate struggles with an outdated interface, limited integrations, high pricing, and lacks robust features and community support.
They could provide more documentation and tutorials to make the initial setup easier to understand.
Assistant professor at J.P. College of Engineering
We've experienced main problems with MFTE where having one setup means when an error occurs, the entire service goes down.
Control-M System Administrator at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Documentation should be maintained for all versions since they provided the application.
Sr Manager at Vodafone
This is a significant concern, especially with critical workloads where visibility into errors is essential.
DevOps Engineer at Teksphere Global Services Limited
My major recommendation would be for easier upgrade paths between major versions.
Project Manager - DevOps Engineer at ACC
When new employees join our company, we created automation so they receive AWS credentials and all their AWS access and cloud access.
Cloud Engineer - ll at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

Control-M's robust features are valued, but high pricing and complex licensing are concerns for smaller enterprises.
Fortra's Automate offers budget-friendly pricing per bot, cheaper than competitors, with options for single or unlimited use.
The licensing cost is very high, and they often consider switching to IBM Workload Scheduler or other options.
Associate Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Control-M tends to be more expensive compared to other solutions, but users get great value from it.
Senior System Specialist at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Control-M is among the highest-priced solutions in the market.
Control-M System Administrator at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Competitors are often more expensive than Automate.
Account Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It offered what we wanted at a good, competitive price.
Senior Data Analyst at a financial services firm with 1-10 employees
It does a lot but also costs a lot.
Chief Technology Officer at DOB Systems LLC
 

Valuable Features

Control-M enhances automation with cross-platform support, user-friendly GUI, real-time monitoring, and DevOps integration, improving efficiency and error reduction.
Fortra's Automate provides an intuitive, flexible platform with low-code automation and seamless integration, boosting productivity across various industries.
Automation is more advanced, deployment is fast, and version control has been simplified.
Data scientist at Advarisk
The user interface is comprehensive and lets me view all my jobs on one page, monitor everything, and access the job history.
Cloud Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
If I have a staff that operates Control-M on Windows Server, they will easily pick it up if they need to run it on Unix or mainframes. It's the same interface, saving time and improving efficiency.
IT Guy at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Automate's non-reliance on additional orchestrators makes it quite cost-effective.
Account Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
In my opinion, the best feature Automate offers is the scheduling.
DevOps Engineer at Teksphere Global Services Limited
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.
IT Project Manager at Labo des histoires
 

Categories and Ranking

Control-M
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
183
Ranking in other categories
Process Automation (2nd), Managed File Transfer (MFT) (2nd), Workload Automation (1st), AI IT Support (1st)
Fortra's Automate
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (4th), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Process, Business Automation, and Digital Transformation solutions, they serve different purposes. Control-M is designed for Process Automation and holds a mindshare of 3.7%, down 4.4% compared to last year.
Fortra's Automate, on the other hand, focuses on Robotic Process Automation (RPA), holds 2.7% mindshare, up 1.3% since last year.
Process Automation Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Control-M3.7%
Camunda16.3%
Temporal5.9%
Other74.1%
Process Automation
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortra's Automate2.7%
Microsoft Power Automate13.0%
UiPath Platform12.9%
Other71.4%
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
Performing Arts
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise23
Large Enterprise140
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What is your primary use case for HelpSystems AutoMate?
I use Fortra's Automate for IT operations as an automated repetitive workflow task, handling tasks like file transfer, job scheduling, SAP data pools, and system notifications.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra Automate?
I am somewhat aware of Fortra's Automate's pricing, and I can say it is budget-friendly—not too cheap or too high. The pricing is on point.
What needs improvement with Fortra Automate?
Fortra's Automate is good overall, but the advanced logic is somewhat challenging. Some of the more complex branching and error handling require digging into documentation or trial and error before...
 

Also Known As

Control M, BMC Control-M Managed File Transfer, BMC Australia CTM
HelpSystems Automate, Automate
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
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 Camunda, BMC, Temporal Technologies and others in Process Automation. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.