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Fortra's Automate vs Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 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
6.7
Organizations achieve significant ROI in three months using Fortra's Automate through labor savings, productivity boosts, and efficiency enhancements.
Sentiment score
7.0
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform boosts efficiency, saving time and resources, despite initial costs, by automating server provisioning.
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
The work that previously took two months now takes 10 to 15 minutes.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.5
Fortra's Automate support is responsive and knowledgeable, though improvements in user interface and navigation are suggested.
Sentiment score
7.2
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform offers extensive online resources and community support, though response times and support scope need improvement.
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
The Ansible sales and technical support services need significant improvement.
Cognitive Business Operation at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
I have not escalated any questions to the Red Hat support team regarding Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, as their modules are professional and complete.
DevOps Engineer at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform has a large community with many written blogs and resources available, making it easy to maintain.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Fortra's Automate is scalable, flexible, cost-effective for SMBs, with high availability, failover support, but limited to Windows.
Sentiment score
7.2
Red Hat Ansible excels in scalability, handling diverse environments with modular features, though performance tweaks may be needed.
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
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is easily maintainable and highly scalable.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
Ansible can face scalability issues, such as limitations when trying to scale up infrastructure.
Associate Software Test Solution Architect at AFour Technologies
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Fortra's Automate is reliable, resource-heavy, stable, and support-assisted, with infrequent issues, particularly on large files or tasks.
Sentiment score
8.0
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is highly stable, reliable, and suitable for large-scale deployments, meeting enterprise needs effectively.
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
The stability of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is excellent, deserving a 10 out of 10 rating.
Cognitive Business Operation at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Fortra's Automate struggles with an outdated interface, limited integrations, high pricing, and lacks robust features and community support.
Red Hat Ansible requires enhancements in modules, speed, scalability, UI, documentation, integration, credentials, dashboards, and community involvement.
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
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is very easy to use with Jinja templating capabilities that make it really straightforward.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
The dashboarding capabilities should be improved by bringing CMP (Cloud Management Platform) into Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
Cognitive Business Operation at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform could improve by creating modules for upcoming AI and ML tech stacks.
DevOps Engineer at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
 

Setup Cost

Fortra's Automate offers budget-friendly pricing per bot, cheaper than competitors, with options for single or unlimited use.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform offers free and paid pricing options, valued for its open-source model and automation advantages.
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
The pricing is high, and since I'm not using all functionalities, it would be better if the price depended on the functionalities used.
IT Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The cost of combining Red Hat Developer Hub and Ansible is extremely high, which presents a significant challenge with the Red Hat product.
Cognitive Business Operation at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
There is no pricing and no licensing required, as Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is always free to use.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
 

Valuable Features

Fortra's Automate provides an intuitive, flexible platform with low-code automation and seamless integration, boosting productivity across various industries.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform offers agentless architecture, user-friendly syntax, and scalability, ensuring efficient task automation and management.
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
The agentless architecture of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, using the SSH key, makes it passwordless and allows us to push configurations with one click, creating a major advantage.
DevOps Engineer at a consultancy with 201-500 employees
For 200 to 300 servers, the maintenance took about one to two months. New patches would arrive and we would have to repeat the process. Now, it is a one-night work or a 10 to 15 minutes task.
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
The automation capabilities streamline deployment processes, providing reliability and reducing manual intervention and errors.
Associate Software Test Solution Architect at AFour Technologies
 

Categories and Ranking

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)
Red Hat Ansible Automation ...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
72
Ranking in other categories
Release Automation (3rd), Configuration Management (1st), Network Automation (1st), AWS Pro Service Providers (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Fortra's Automate and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Fortra's Automate is designed for Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and holds a mindshare of 2.7%, up 1.3% compared to last year.
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, on the other hand, focuses on Configuration Management, holds 13.5% mindshare, down 18.4% since last year.
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)
Configuration Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform13.5%
Microsoft Configuration Manager10.4%
Microsoft Intune8.2%
Other67.9%
Configuration Management
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Manas Kashyap - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior DevOps engineer at Elevenxcapital
Automation has transformed server patching and has reduced months of work to minutes
The best features that Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform offers is that it does not require any additional resources inside the servers. Python is the only requirement, and since Python is already present inside the servers, we can run it from our location and it automatically deploys things and does the work for us. The minimal requirements and easy deployment have definitely impacted my daily work and my team's efficiency. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is one of the best features that we depend on. We have evaluated other options, but Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform was the best choice because it has saved us a tremendous amount of time. We do not need to manually intervene in the servers or install third-party software to maintain these things. It is very easy to write playbooks for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. Ansible Galaxy contains many playbooks that are readily available and ready to be used. It is highly configurable with Jinja templating, making it easy to maintain. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform has positively impacted my organization. Previously, we needed to go into the servers and maintain them manually, which used to take a lot of time. For 200 to 300 servers, the maintenance took about one to two months. New patches would arrive and we would have to repeat the process. Now, it is a one-night work or a 10 to 15 minutes task. We write a playbook, maintain an inventory, and roll out the updates and it starts working for us. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform uses conditional clauses and has rollback options, functioning like a standard coding language that is simple to use. There is definitely a reduction in errors with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform because we have playbooks written with all the necessary clauses and rollback options. Manual work automatically creates more errors, whereas in automation, we have written sets that we do not forget every time we run it. We have protected written sets that we execute consistently.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
Performing Arts
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise48
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is the difference between Red Hat Satellite and Ansible?
Red Hat Satellite has proven to be a worthwhile investment for me. Both its patch management and license management have been outstanding. If you have a large environment, patching systems is much ...
How does Ansible compare to Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM)?
Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager takes knowledge and research to properly configure. The length of time that the set up will take depends on the kind of technical architecture that your org...
What do you like most about Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform?
The most valuable features of the solution are automation and patching.
 

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate
Ansible, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Subscription on AWS
 

Overview

 

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
HootSuite Media, Inc., Cloud Physics, Narrative, BinckBank
Find out what your peers are saying about UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Microsoft and others in Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.