Control-M vs vCenter Orchestrator comparison

BMC and VMware are both solutions in the Process Automation category. BMC is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.7, while VMware is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.1. BMC holds a 4.5% mindshare in PA, compared to VMware’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of BMC users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Control-M

Read 120 Control-M reviews

3,737 Views
1,531 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

vCenter Orchestrator

Read 50 vCenter Orchestrator reviews

165 Views
127 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Control-M

vCenter Orchestrator

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

vCenter Orchestrator and Control-M both compete in the automation software category. Control-M seems to have the upper hand in comprehensive workload automation and integration with third-party systems.

Features: vCenter Orchestrator offers virtualization and workflow automation capabilities, making it suitable for virtual machine management and operations like vMotion. It provides centralized management and integrates well within VMware environments. Control-M provides cross-platform scheduling, managed file transfers, real-time monitoring, and API integrations. It also includes a self-service portal for operational efficiency.

Room for Improvement: vCenter Orchestrator could improve its multi-provider support and cross-platform integration. Enhancements to its scripting environment and GUI simplification are also suggested. Control-M could benefit from better cloud support, more intuitive reporting tools, and integration with additional modules. Both products have potential improvements in affordability and user-centric functionality.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: vCenter Orchestrator is typically deployed on-premises, and while users report good technical support from VMware, there is a need for more responsive service. Control-M offers diverse deployment options, including cloud environments, providing flexibility. BMC’s support for Control-M is efficient, although some licensing management issues have been reported.

Pricing and ROI: vCenter Orchestrator is considered expensive and its pricing model is complex. It delivers high ROI for large-scale virtualization but may not be cost-effective for smaller clients. Control-M is also expensive but offers optimal ROI for large environments due to its comprehensive automation features. Both solutions provide value, though clarity in licensing and affordability could enhance their market appeal.

To learn more, read our detailed Control-M vs. vCenter Orchestrator Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Control-M vs. vCenter Orchestrator

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

Control-M

Ranking in Process Automation

3rd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

120

Ranking in other categories

Managed File Transfer (MFT) (4th), Workload Automation (1st)

vCenter Orchestrator

Ranking in Process Automation

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of Control-M is 4.5%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Orchestrator is 0.2%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Process Automation

Featured Reviews

Pedro Fuentes

System Engineer at Community Loans of America, Inc.

Cost-effective, excellent support, and centralized access and control

They have a department that handles requests for enhancements. I talked to Control-M guys back in October or November when they had a gathering here in Atlanta. We talked about not being able to go back in history in Helix Control-M for more than two weeks. We submitted a request for enhancement. They told us that they are working on it, and they are thinking of expanding that to 30 days. We would like to see it expand to 90 days, but they are working on it. In Control-M, we were able to go back 180 days, but that was on-prem. The storage of that data was on our own servers. We know that storage is money, and we do not expect them to store that much of the data, but at least 30 to 60 days seem proper.

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David Villota

EMEA Hosting Engineer at Yanfeng Automotive

Provides automatic monitoring capabilities that save time for users

In my company's IT environment, we use the tool to deploy production environments for products, including live manufacturing systems. The product improves my company's IT automation processes since we can use fewer resources currently. In my company, we need to spend less time considering that vCenter Orchestrator monitors everything. In general, we don't have to be present in our company to do active monitoring. Automatic monitoring is available for everything with vCenter Orchestrator, so we have proactive alerts in our company. The most valuable feature of the product in streamlining our company's workflow stems from the fact that we need to spend fewer resources and less time in general. Our company can spend time on more effective tasks like working with the plans to improve processes and so on, instead of taking care of the systems. The benefits of the product's integration capabilities were useful for HPE. My company has HPE infrastructure, and we are keen to integrate everything into the host, VMware ESXi. It is really important to have an easy integration method that allows for everything to be installed easily in a matter of minutes. I was not involved in the product's setup process. My colleague took care of the product's setup process. From what I know, I can say that the product's setup phase was straightforward. Some custom setups were to be done manually in the tool, but everything was well documented. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. One of the benefits of the product is that it is a low-cost and stable solution that offers a lot of resources. I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

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

"It is simple to create, integrate, and automate data pipelines and to ingest data from different platforms. It integrates well between platforms."

"Speeds up processes and automated tasks."

"Control-M has enabled true enterprise batch automation, which combined with the other BMC Control products on our mainframe platform, allows us to run a 24/7 site with the lights out."

"We are now able to deliver data to our data warehouses and dashboards promptly."

"It integrates seamlessly with other tools within our ecosystem."

"BIM is helpful because we do not miss any SLAs, as we get to know the issue well in advance. It is the topmost service that has helped us provide better solutions for the business."

"It has a very good GUI. We can search for a job very easily. The web interface, user account creation, and access control are very good. From an access control point of view, we can provide access to as many users as we want. A second group of users can be given a certain number of features, according to the requirements. The web interface is very easy for end users to login and use. A lot of features have been added, e.g., adding jobs. They can add jobs to their stuff, whatever they want, then get it validated by the scheduling team and work it into production."

"I find Control-M for SAP and Control-M for Informatica good. You can connect to the Linux or Windows servers, and you can run multiple jobs."

More Control-M pros

"The most valuable feature is affinity rules."

"What I like best about vCenter Orchestrator is that it makes life easier through automation. People can request to automate all processes with vCenter Orchestrator, such as adding storage, creating VMs, removing VMs, and extending VMs."

"We have excellent technical support. They have always been helpful when we have needed them."

"I am impressed with the tool's easiness to work with VMware solutions."

"The most valuable feature for us is the performance stability of vCenter Orchestrator, especially in complex situations, making it excellent for managing virtual machines."

"Snapshots and similar features were managed well."

"The solution is stable."

"It's 100% stable, it's always stable. We haven't had any bugs. The solution works very well and we haven't had any problems."

More vCenter Orchestrator pros

Cons

"A smartphone interface would be welcome."

"Consider adding a mobile application for remote management."

"Regarding product design and R&D, the DevOps pipeline could be improved with better capabilities and automation. API security and authentication is another area that could use improvement; users must have static credential passwords, which is a security concern."

"There can be some complexities with the UI part, especially with the advanced features."

"Its operations and infrastructure can be improved."

"I do not have any specific suggestions for additional features that should be included in the next release."

"They can give more predefined plug-ins so that we don't have to create them."

"In general, it is a very good product, and we are very happy with it. It meets all of our expectations."

More Control-M cons

"I liked the previous client better than the current web client of vCenter Orchestrator, though my colleagues like the client now. The technical support for vCenter Orchestrator needs improvement."

"The only point for improvement is the price, which has increased by 135%, making it very expensive."

"vCenter Orchestrator's debugging capacity could be improved."

"I would like to see better performance."

"The custom workflows are very difficult and confusing."

"A feature to review and setup tasks should be added."

"I did not do the initial setup. However, it was complex at the beginning."

"Storage has room for improvement. It's a big problem for our solution. The interface also needs improvement, it should be simplified."

More vCenter Orchestrator cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license model is based on the number of jobs we run on the SaaS application or the number of executions, unlike the on-premise model options. If we have a handful of jobs, it's always good to consider Control-M, but if it's a large number of jobs, Control-M might not be a great option."

"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."

"This is an area where it is a little difficult to work with BMC. They want to do licenses by job, which is what we have. For example, the simplest is to license by job, but they can also license by nodes. While the licensing is simple to use, it might not be the correct licensing model for the customer. It is okay because we want to license by job, which is something measurable. At the end of the day, licensing by job is the most important."

"There are two different types of licenses available. The first is based on the number of jobs that we run per day, and the other is based on the number of agents that we install. My current project has a contract for five years."

"The pricing and licensing could be better. However, when I compare Control-M pricing with JAMS, Control-M is still better priced than JAMS enterprise."

"We are paying way more for Control-M than we've paid for any of our other scheduling tools."

"The pricing is reasonable. It's not an exorbitant amount. The licensing is pretty reasonable for the number of jobs that we run."

"We have a five-year contract with task-based licensing."

More Control-M pricing and cost advice

"The licensing module is somewhat complex. Calculating the cost is complicated. Many of our clients are unclear about the billing system and the traffic metering."

"The solution is a bit expensive."

"My company needs to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product."

"The product is expensive."

"vCenter Orchestrator is an expensive solution."

"I rate the product price a seven to eight out of ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

"We pay a yearly fee, based on our entries."

"We renew the solution's license every one or two years."

More vCenter Orchestrator pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

23%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Control-M?

It is a little bit expensive.

See all answers

What do you like most about vCenter Orchestrator?

The stability of the product is very good.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vCenter Orchestrator?

We're running a low-profile budget. This is not our main focus on investment technology, so we're trying to reduce costs due to the change from perpetual to subscription licenses.

See all answers

What needs improvement with vCenter Orchestrator?

After the change from perpetual licensing to subscriptions, the cost model changed. We are considering alternatives since we lost the perpetual aspect, and support is changing.

See all answers

Comparisons

AutoSys Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 16% of the time

Automic Automation vs Control-M

Compared 9% of the time

IBM Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 8% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs Control-M

Compared 6% of the time

Stonebranch vs Control-M

Compared 5% of the time

More Control-M Competitors

VMware Aria Automation vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 55% of the time

VMware Aria Operations vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 22% of the time

VMware Cloud Director vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft System Center Orchestrator vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 11% of the time

More vCenter Orchestrator Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Control-M

March 2025

Download Control-M product report

Buyer's Guide

vCenter Orchestrator

March 2025

Download vCenter Orchestrator product report

Also Known As

Control M

No data available

Overview

Control-M is used for enterprise workload automation, orchestrating finance, retail, healthcare, and supply chain processes. It handles batch job scheduling, managed file transfers, cloud integrations, and compliance auditing across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

Organizations leverage Control-M to efficiently monitor and manage business-critical processes like payroll, HR, SAP, Informatica, and database tasks. It enhances visibility, security, and error resolution. Automating and optimizing workflows in data centers, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, Control-M supports diverse technological environments. The platform's robust capabilities make it suitable for effective centralized management of applications and data pipelines, ensuring enhanced collaboration and scalability.

What are Control-M's most important features?

Integration capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with various systems
Automation API: Facilitates automation through APIs
Managed File Transfer: Simplifies secure file transfers
GUI console: Intuitive graphical user interface
Role-based administration: Provides access control
Single-pane view: Centralized monitoring dashboard
Scheduling options: Flexible job scheduling
Workflow orchestration: Coordinates complex workflows
Reporting: Generates insightful reports
Monitoring: Tracks and manages tasks
Forecasting: Predicts future workloads
Self-service portal: Empowers users with self-service tools
Plugins: Extends functionality through additional plugins

What are the benefits or ROI of using Control-M?

Enhanced visibility: Centralized view of all processes
Ease of use: User-friendly interface
Error reduction: Minimizes manual errors
Improved collaboration: Facilitates teamwork
Scalability: Supports growth and scale
Support: Comprehensive customer support

Control-M is implemented in industries like finance to handle payroll and HR tasks, in retail for inventory management and supply chain processes, and in healthcare for compliance auditing and patient data processing. Organizations benefit from streamlined workflows and automated processes across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments, ensuring efficient and secure operations.

BMC

VMware vCenter Orchestrator simplifies the automation of complex IT tasks and integrates with VMware vCloud Suite components to adapt and extend service delivery and operational management, effectively working with existing infrastructure, tools and processes.

VMware

Sample Customers

CARFAX, Tampa General Hospital, Navistar, Amadeus, Raymond James, Railinc

Beiersdorf Shared Services

Buyer's Guide

Control-M vs. vCenter Orchestrator

March 2025

Free Report: Control-M vs. vCenter Orchestrator

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