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IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vs SAP Intelligent RPA comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

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

Automation Anywhere
Sponsored
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
662
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (2nd), Process Mining (1st), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (1st), Agentic Automation (1st), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (2nd), AI Legal & Compliance (1st), AI Finance & Accounting (1st), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (1st)
IBM Robotic Process Automat...
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP Intelligent RPA
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
13th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Automation Anywhere is 5.4%, down from 9.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is 2.0%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Intelligent RPA is 1.6%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Automation Anywhere5.4%
IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)2.0%
SAP Intelligent RPA1.6%
Other91.0%
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Consultant at Accenture
Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions
Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.
MA
Business Solutions Manager at valleysoft
Has improved analytics and reporting but needs better integration and support
To improve IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for the next release, there should be more integration with external systems, and more integration with IBM's data and AI platforms is needed. There is an AI part in IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for Machine Learning, but IBM has another platform specifically for data and AI, which is integrated right now. More features are hoped for in the future.
SS
RPA Technical Solution Lead at Infomentum
Helps automate processes but needs to offer different licensing models to users
Right now, I am not working on process mining at the minute. Before I switched to the company, I worked extremely closely with the process mining tool from UiPath, SAP BTP, and the process mining that they had created. I am working with MuleSoft Automation and Anypoint. We are not doing any sort of process mining at the minute, but in my company, because MuleSoft is one of the only RPA tools that we are looking at, we have another application called Appian that we are trying to explore now. Appian has process mining capability, which is why we thought we would look at it along with AI capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Simply tagging variables used in the bot, can provide automated real-time dashboards that are presentable to management showing them a complete view of how the bots are performing."
"The most valuable feature is the object cloning."
"Automation Anywhere can easily be adopted and learnt."
"The integration of Automation Anywhere into our clients' workflows, APIs, business applications, and documents was seamless, but it was a bit of a struggle until we realized that it has a built-in integration platform."
"The tool is a huge time saver. If I want to do something manually, it will take half an hour, but the bot can do the task within minute or seconds. In a day, month, or year, this will be a huge amount of time for me. A reduction to a fraction of seconds will be a big impact."
"It is also easy to design and implement, even for business users who don't have technical skills. A little bit of training is required, about five to seven days, and then they can start. The learning curve is low."
"It is very self-explanatory, making it easy for non-technical users to develop."
"We've saved a lot of time. How much time we save depends on the process. It's likely at least 50%. Sometimes, it's up to 70%."
"Deployment is done in a small amount of time."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"It is easy to use. We have enabled our resources who don't have a background in automation to be certified and trained, then implement this product within a very short period of time, as it is very user-friendly."
"Put IBM on top of your list because we have done the analysis."
"It's user-friendly; even non-technical people can program bots using drag-and-drop functionalities."
"It's not inclusive, in terms of automation, you can just do it standalone, in its own silo. It's not going to force your existing system or teams, your admin teams, to create new IDs for you or even force them to create new services or APIs for you or expose something from there. They can just keep the way they are doing it right now, but you still automate it."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"It's integrated with all the other products within the Salesforce ecosystem."
"Contextor is a good solution for a Citrix environment. It's the first with this tool. Other tools provide the same functionality, but not with the Citrix environment."
"Most of the details are already in the help portal and SAP notes are available. It is well documented as part of the product support."
"The standout features of SAP Intelligent RPA are its flexibility and integration capabilities."
"It is remarkably easy to configure and code, and it doesn't require an extensive technical background or coding expertise."
"The initial setup of SAP Contextor is easy."
"Contextor is a good solution for a Citrix environment."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"Scalability is fine. It is pretty nice."
 

Cons

"It may sound a little funny or weird, but one thing that we are thinking is we have to go to various websites and pick up relevant data from various websites using the bot. That is something we have seen that none of the bots have been able to really do it because the back-end of those websites do not allow bots to scrap through all these websites and get the relevant data in one place. We would like to see how the bot companies would crack this idea. But, that's why I said, this look weird because of the legal reasons why this cannot be done. This is something that I am looking forward to."
"We need more commands for PDF integration to make it more flexible."
"I believe Automation Anywhere can be improved by leading in the direction of seamless integration with the LLM models that are readily available today in the market."
"Automation Anywhere is a tool. It is not able to go ahead and extract the hand-written documents."
"They have incorporated many latest technologies, such as AI, and there is always scope to improve the processes and have more stability."
"The control room itself is easy to use. One area that could potentially be improved is adding additional widget capability within the main dashboard in the control room itself."
"It would be great if they provide installation documents that are easier to understand, place more focus on capturing the fields, and most importantly, concentrate more on the OCR capability."
"It has been challenging integrating Automation Anywhere with other solutions, due to all of the controls, as we are a bank."
"IBM should provide specific solutions for specific problems, like templates for invoicing processes, or general templates for creating efficient processes."
"We would like more focus on understanding AI and how it can be used to manage exception handling."
"I would like it to do pretty much everything out-of-the-box without any need for any customization. However, that is not the case right now. We absolutely have to do some amount of customization with the solution in order to use it out-of-the-box as-is."
"We would like a decreased need for customer support."
"The product must be promoted more."
"The users should be allowed to create folders in Control Center."
"We are looking to see how it can connect with various interfaces seamlessly, through APIs."
"There are certain limitations in the solution for screen reading."
"The support is expensive."
"I would like to see a better capacity for unstructured data, for example, PDF, or text within images."
"One way SAP Intelligent RPA could improve is by integrating built-in DI services for document processing."
"For potential features or improvements, one aspect I would suggest enhancing is the flexibility of the extraction process."
"I found that the SAP scripting of a program is easier than SAP Contextor."
"There should be more of an error, like a proper error feature, in future releases. Sometimes, we don't understand why that automation is not learning what, like, where it is stuck, or what is the reason like, or what is the criteria we are missing to add. So a proper error message would be helpful."
"The tool's licensing has been kind of a challenge...At the moment, the tool does not offer different licensing models to users."
"The initial setup is of medium complexity. It is neither too hard nor too simple. You need some background in SAP and an understanding of it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They sell it by license, but if they could charge by case or by interaction, that might be better. Right now, it's expensive when you want to scale or use them for simple processes."
"Its usage is expensive for us because my user base is mostly in Manila and KL. The unit cost of labor is cheaper there than in the U.S. or Australia, which puts a bit more stress on how to get a positive ROI while continuing to use it."
"In the Indian market, I feel that for mid-size companies, such as ourselves, that having multiple bots costs a lot. If Automation Anywhere wants to expand in the Indian market, they will need to look at their pricing."
"I think the solution's pricing is reasonable."
"It is not too expensive, but there are many tools available in the market that can provide the same functionality at a cheaper price."
"Automation Anywhere is somewhat expensive. The prices are slightly higher, but if you need something, you must pay for it."
"I believe it is $10,000 for Bot Creator."
"The price for Automation Anywhere is reasonable."
"The product has a yearly licensing fee."
"IBM RPA is cheaper than other tools."
"The license is paid annually."
"IBM licensing is annual and based on Virtual Processor Cores (VPC). This provides flexibility as part of the containerization environment."
"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."
"I rate the pricing ten out of ten. So, the pricing is very good for me."
"The product is reasonably priced compared to other tools."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The initial cost might seem higher, but over time, with continued use over five or ten years, the cost tends to decrease, making it a more economical choice."
"This is not a tool or software with a license as others are. The SaaS model is based on the usage of the tool."
"The pricing is not that expensive. It is manageable."
"It all comes with a bundle right now. Having advanced features, it is competitively priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
11%
Construction Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business157
Midsize Enterprise82
Large Enterprise558
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.
What needs improvement with IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
To improve IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for the next release, there should be more integration with external ...
What is your primary use case for IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
My customers' main use cases for IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are especially in the banking industry, particu...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
I recommend starting with the Academy to check the features and compare them with other competitors to choose the bes...
What needs improvement with SAP Contextor?
The tool's licensing has been kind of a challenge. If the tool can bring up a usage-based licensing model, it would b...
What is your primary use case for SAP Contextor?
The inputs of SAP Intelligent RPA used to come from the process mining output. Whenever we connect process mining to ...
What advice do you have for others considering SAP Contextor?
Speaking about bot creation and management features, I rate the tool as four out of five compared to the other market...
 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
IBM RPA
SAP Contextor, Contextor
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
The Hanover Insurance Group
BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Kabel Deutschland, Orange, Carrefour
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vs. SAP Intelligent RPA and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.