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IBM Datacap vs Pega Robotic Process Automation 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Datacap
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (6th)
Pega Robotic Process Automa...
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (20th)
 

Featured Reviews

Bhasker ReddyPIdintla - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Delivery Head at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Has improved document scanning accuracy with advanced OCR capabilities
IBM needs to improve on scanning and reading accuracy for unstructured documents. Additionally, an important missing feature is the ability to merge documents and present data across different UI screens. This is especially beneficial for customer onboarding where documents are scanned not all at once but periodically. Incorporating automation could also aid in this area.
reviewer1458102 - PeerSpot reviewer
Regional Director at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Has raised concerns due to outdated framework and high ownership costs
Pega Robotic Process Automation is a temporary solution to a bigger issue, and the cost of implementation especially with Pega really stops customers from proceeding. The total cost of ownership could be improved. From a technical perspective, the product performs adequately. The installation can be quite complex as it's not standalone, and customers need to get the whole Pega platform up and running. The total cost of ownership is not very attractive. RPA as a concept is outdated now, with agentic AI becoming more prominent. We don't see much interest from customers in going down the RPA route; Pega Robotic Process Automation is losing its prominence in the market.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It reduces human error and saves time."
"The administration of the application following an error is most valuable. We are able to know easily when something is stuck in the system."
"The feedback from our clients that this solution has increased their efficiency and their turnaround time on opening any account for end users, thus attracting more customers."
"One valuable feature of IBM Datacap is the OCR capability, along with its ability to read fields from documents."
"The installation of the solution is very simple."
"Very scalable and stable data capture and extraction solution that's very simple to install."
"Both Datacap Studio and Datacap Navigator are great features."
"There's something that's very unique about IBM DataCap. It provides me with a good solution for extracting, reading the QR codes, and scanning them. In this stage, we are working in a UIT phase before implementing this protocol in all our branches. From my initial observation, IBM DataCap is good, it is not working too fast, but in a good manner for us."
"Pega Robotic Process Automation's most valuable feature is that it is robust. Additionally, they have plenty of online documents that are good and Pega Academy is helpful, they are doing a great job. They give training on practical use cases. They take domain use cases, and they are great."
"The most valuable aspect for myself was access to the .net framework. If I couldn't figure something out using the objects that they had provided, I could bring in the .net objects and do so using similar logic that I would in a .net or C sharp coding language. Having that familiarity was helpful."
"I am impressed with the tool's recording feature."
"Its stability has been good."
"​It is a good and matured solution."
"The platform's most valuable feature is the ability to perform most tasks reliably. It efficiently integrates with other systems and automates various tasks."
"Pega is very mature. It's very old. They have grown with time, and they have learned. Other robotic process automation solutions are basically focused on only doing the automation, whereas Pega also gives you a workflow system so that you can create a workflow."
"The initial setup is pretty easy and quite fast."
 

Cons

"Currently, when you are entering invoices, you have to enter multiple rows. In Captiva the multiple rows will be dynamically added. This would be a beneficial feature for IBM to add."
"We have page requirements where some values must be copied on each page. For example, say I need to scan a bunch of documents, and the name will be a field on every page. We don't have a default functionality in Datacap to copy the field value on the first page to all the pages. That feature would make the documents easy to prepare."
"Its weaknesses are primarily tied to the lack of available resources and expertise in the market to effectively support and provide solutions and services to each customer for seamless implementation. Expertise in this specific product is rare throughout the market. One key reason is the product's limited downloads. Additionally, archiving solutions are often perceived as complex and challenging, dissuading many companies from venturing into this domain. Consequently, partners who specialize in archiving solutions are always seeking straightforward, uncomplicated options that are easy to manage and meet customer expectations."
"Datacap's technology seems a little behind the industry. It's still using the old .NET framework. They should move to .NET Core and start integrating some machine learning. You can do some integration yourself, but you expect a solution to include the latest machine-learning approaches if you're paying reasonable money for it."
"There are times when external features impact services. For example, Windows patching or antivirus updates can affect production-level services."
"When a client's requirement is not available in Datacap, out-of-the-box actions should be simpler to implement and not very complex."
"It can take some time to implement."
"Going forward, IBM needs to ensure that the output is perfect (as it can make the product) while staying true to platform's core."
"The ease-of-use could be improved."
"What I don't like that much in Pega Robotic Process Automation is its monitoring tool because that tool is tightly connected with the platform. If the Pega team can deploy the monitoring tool separately, so that it's a separate solution altogether, then that would be good because currently, if you have to use the monitoring tool, then that means you have to use the Pega Robotic Process Automation platform. The initial setup for Pega Robotic Process Automation also needs improvement because it is complex. The only additional feature I'd like to see in the solution is for the monitoring tool to be a stand-alone rather than being tightly coupled with the Pega platform. Looking at the current features of Pega Robotic Process Automation concerning application automation, it covers most of my needs currently."
"I would like to see an enhanced auditing feature included."
"The solution's configuration and settings could be more comprehensive."
"In this modern world, in this automation space, if Pega could provide more options that are user-friendly and provide a way to quickly develop an automation solution that is drag-and-drop with a minimal coding approach, then it would be great for automation."
"Rule versioning and deployment to enable parallel development could still be improved​"
"Pega Robotic Process Automation using OpenSpan has a very low adoption because it does not provide the flexibility that UiPath or Automation Anywhere offers, which includes more benefits such as the bot manager."
"It's difficult not knowing when alerts will arrive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing needs to stay competitive."
"This solution offers seamless integration with other enterprise products, which is my area of responsibility, focusing on government sector projects. Larger enterprise projects don't pose problems. It might be suitable for small businesses as well."
"It varies, and it depends on the client's requirements and negotiations. Nowadays, Datacap is also included in the IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation."
"This solution is the most expensive in the market."
"It is an expensive solution."
"You save a lot of time and money, but the benefit is you have people who are able to run the systems, check to see if there are any errors at all, and there are a lot less errors than a human system."
"This solution offers seamless integration with other enterprise products, which is my area of responsibility, focusing on government sector projects. Larger enterprise projects don't pose problems. It might be suitable for small businesses as well."
"In Egypt, we have exchange rates that change year to year, and currently, we're facing an increase in the exchange rate between our Egyptian pound and the dollar. Since we have been using IBM DataCap two years ago we had a good price, it was not expensive. However, I cannot say now if it is expensive or not because of the exchange rate. Additionally, I don't have the data of other competitors and I don't know the prices."
"The licensing cost is too high."
"​I was not involved in licensing and pricing, but it is worth the cost​."
"Pega is pretty costly."
"I would rate the product's pricing a nine out of ten."
"Pega is as competitive as the basic players such as UiPath or Automation Anywhere. UiPath is the most expensive, but Pega is at par with Automation Anywhere."
"In terms of Pega Robotic Process Automation pricing, I would rate it a five out of five because the solution has a good price. Pricing is not very high, though I'm unsure of the exact cost, based on my experience, the price for Pega Robotic Process Automation is less than Blue Prism because I worked with a few clients that have both solutions and my clients prefer Pega Robotic Process Automation over Blue Prism particularly because of the licensing costs."
"Pega Robotic Process Automation is an expensive solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
8%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Datacap?
Pricing is in the mid-range but could be more affordable, rated at four point five.
What needs improvement with IBM Datacap?
IBM needs to improve on scanning and reading accuracy for unstructured documents. Additionally, an important missing feature is the ability to merge documents and present data across different UI s...
What is your primary use case for IBM Datacap?
I primarily use IBM Datacap ( /products/ibm-datacap-reviews ) for data capture and scanning documents with OCR. Specifically, it's used for DocuSign ( /products/docusign-reviews ) as well.
What do you like most about Pega Robotic Process Automation?
The solution's automation handling capability has positively impacted the overall automation process in my experience.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pega Robotic Process Automation?
I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive.
What needs improvement with Pega Robotic Process Automation?
Pega Robotic Process Automation is a temporary solution to a bigger issue, and the cost of implementation especially with Pega really stops customers from proceeding. The total cost of ownership co...
 

Also Known As

Datacap
Pega RPA, OpenSpan
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Turkcell, PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, Central Nacional Unimed, Conqord Oil
eBay Enterprise, M&I Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Datacap vs. Pega Robotic Process Automation and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.