ActiveBatch by Redwood vs Automic Automation vs Control-M comparison

ActiveBatch by Redwood and Broadcom are both solutions in the Workload Automation category. ActiveBatch by Redwood is ranked #9 with an average rating of 9.4, while Broadcom is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6. ActiveBatch by Redwood holds a 2.6% mindshare in WA, compared to Broadcom’s 7.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ActiveBatch by Redwood users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

ActiveBatch by Redwood

Read 35 ActiveBatch by Redwood reviews

2,095 Views
1,613 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Automic Automation

Read 103 Automic Automation reviews

5,360 Views
4,556 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Control-M

Read 123 Control-M reviews

21,830 Views
16,591 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

ActiveBatch by Redwood

Automic Automation

Control-M

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ActiveBatch by Redwood, Automic Automation, and Control-M based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about BMC, Broadcom, Redwood Software and others in Workload Automation.

To learn more, read our detailed Workload Automation Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Workload Automation

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 860,745 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Workload Automation category, the mindshare of ActiveBatch by Redwood is 2.6%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Automic Automation is 7.5%, up from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Control-M is 20.7%, down from 26.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Workload Automation

Featured Reviews

Shubham Bharti

Senior Analyst at Capgemini

Flexible, easy to use, and offers good automation

Occasionally, I find myself contemplating if there is room for improvement in the user interface (UI), and envisioning that with certain enhancements. The UI could potentially offer a more refined and user-friendly experience, fostering smoother interactions and facilitating easier navigation for users engaging with the application. New users might encounter a minor setback due to the absence of readily accessible training videos, which could have otherwise proven to be an invaluable resource in aiding their initial familiarization with the platform, potentially hindering their seamless onboarding process and delaying their ability to harness the software's full range of capabilities to its utmost potential.

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Peter Grundler

Senior Consultant at Tricise

Helps to move away from manual tasks and offers wide platform support and web-based interface

Customers want to move away from manual monitoring and checking processes. Automating these processes helps in time-saving and reduces human error. When you automate business processes, it reduces mistakes. It eliminates the risk of manual errors such as typos. There is a 20% to 30% reduction in human error. It fulfills all the needs when it comes to visibility and control across various operating platforms. It is the perfect product for managing processes that span multiple operating platforms. Automic Automation has the widest platform support compared to other products, such as Control-M, Tivoli from IBM, or Stonebranch. It definitely helps with compliance processes. We have had a lot of customers for two years with a focus on compliance, and it works. They were successful. Due to the fact that our customers can automate a lot of things, it reduces operating costs. It is hard to give a number because the savings are different for each customer. If a customer never had any automation, there could be about 80% savings after implementing Automic Automation, whereas for a customer who already has automated tasks, the difference will be less by adding Automic Automation. They might see 5% to 10% more savings. Automic Automation helps improve our ability to meet SLAs. In the recent versions, SLA management has been integrated, which previously was an external component. Because a lot of customers used it and asked Broadcom to implement SLA management into the workload engine, Broadcom included it. We see more and more customers running their SLA management via the Automic Automation product.

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Ujjwal Sachdeva

Data scientist at Advarisk

Efficient automation and boosted workflow but needs better integration methods

Control-M is a bit faster compared to other solutions. The job and coding are easier. Also, my DevOps and Ops teams work collaboratively with it, enhancing its efficiency. The workflow is much easier compared to the ACS services we were using. Automation is more advanced, deployment is fast, and version control has been simplified.

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

"The REST API adapters and native integrations for integrating and orchestrating the software stack are very flexible."

"It can connect to a number of third-party/legacy systems."

"One of the most valuable features is the job templates. If we need to create an FTP job, we just drag over the FTP template and fill out the requirements using the variables that ActiveBatch uses. And that makes it reusable. We can create a job once but use it for many different clients."

"ActiveBatch helped us automate and schedule routine tasks such as data backups, file transfers, database updates, and report generation, which frees IT staff to focus on other studies."

"The most valuable feature is its stability. We've only had very minor issues and generally they have happened because someone has applied a patch on a Windows operating system and it has caused some grief. We've actually been able to resolve those issues quite quickly with ActiveBatch. In all the time that I've had use of ActiveBatch, it hasn't failed completely once. Uptime is almost 100 percent."

"It has helped with scheduling complex jobs with simple scripts."

"One of the valuable features is the ability to trigger workflows, one after another, based on success, without having to worry about overlapping workflows. The ability to integrate our BI, analytics, and our data quality jobs is also valuable"

"The Jobs Library has been a tremendous asset. For the most, that's what we use. There are some outliers, but we pretty much integrate those Jobs Library steps throughout the process, whether it's REST calls, FTP processes, or file copies and moves... That has helped us to build end-to-end workflows."

More ActiveBatch by Redwood pros

"Automic Automation allows us to serve the service without interruptions."

"We are able to control and change our processes when necessary."

"It's super easy—drag and drop to manage complex workloads."

"The most valuable feature is that it can be installed on any type of application on every kind of operating system and the agent can use it on these applications and systems."

"It improves the visibility of what is going on on the system. If I have a problem, it is easy to identify, understand dependencies, and identifying the root causes than just running through scripts and searching through applications or servers."

"Automic Automation's most valuable features are perspective analytics and coding."

"It's very hard to transfer the feeling when you have a platform that came to handle infrastructure issues, but at the end of the day, they are making real changes and impacting our business level, which is amazing, because it's very uncommon. That's it, basicalSly."

"What I like the most about Automic is its user interface."

More Automic Automation pros

"The solution is innovative. Specifically for the overseas and time differences, you can feel the efficiency of Batch Impact Manager on jobs, batch processing, and impact management. It works the best on these kinds of issues. It saves us time and money, which is important. We save a lot using Control-M."

"There is a batch monitoring tool called Batch Impact Manager, which proactively warns when processing is behind and SLAs are in jeopardy of being missed."

"We use Control-M for maintenance on our Oracle and SQL Server databases. It automates maintenance on packages, including standard procedures on the databases themselves, snapshots, checking integrity, verifying the RDBMS of the databases, etc. It ensures they aren't clogged and that they are running smoothly and that there aren't any jobs stuck, eating up the performance of the server or any of the CPU cores."

"The File Watcher utility, cyclic jobs, and email alert notification are valuable."

"The integration with ServiceNow is good. When a job ends and there are problems with it, we automatically open an incident in this platform, and the number of the incident is forwarded to Control-M. This means that we have a record of it with the log of the job."

"The File Transfer component is quite valuable. The integration with products such as Informatica and SAP are very valuable to us as well. Rather than having to build our own interface into those products, we can use the ones that come out of the box. The integration with databases is valuable as well. We use database jobs quite a bit."

"It has multiple features. You can plan your execution in Control-M. It provides one single window where you can define workflows regardless of geographic boundaries and platforms. A batch process can be executed from this single window. It provides insights into your processes. Your business people will know what process they are running and what is the state of the process. Instead of knowing that they're not going to meet the SLA the next morning, the business people immediately know the changes in their process. Control-M is very easy. I can tell a non-technical person that this is how it works, and he would be able to easily understand it. Business people can understand the methodology of Control-M and the intuitive features that it has. It has a fantastic graphical user interface and is easy to understand. You just have to drag and drop but in a very intuitive way. Monitoring features are also good. It has different color coding schemes, which can help you to understand the status of your workflow. An operator who is not that technical and is just monitoring the status of the application can see by color-coding the status of a process. If anything goes wrong or a process is stuck, it gives you a hint. You can just right-click and see the logs and the output. Even if the system is not right there in the data center and is located somewhere else, you can monitor it right from there and see the workflows."

"We used Control-M's Python Client and cloud data service integrations with AWS and, as a feature, it was very customizable. It gave us a lot of flexibility for customizing whatever data maneuver we wanted to do within a pipeline."

More Control-M pros

Cons

"Setting up the software was hard."

"One thing I've noticed is that navigation can be difficult unless you are familiar with the structure that we have in place. If someone else had to look at our ActiveBatch console and find a job, they might not know where to find it."

"The user interface can be improved so that it is more appealing and accessible to new users."

"The product should be improved by providing a customization option."

"There is this back and forth, where ActiveBatch says, "Your Oracle people should be dealing with this," and Oracle people say, "No, we don't know anything about ActiveBatch." Then, it all falls back on me as to what happens. Nobody is taking responsibility. This is the biggest failing for ActiveBatch."

"A nice thing to have would be the ability to comfortably pass variables from one job to another. That was one of the things that I found difficult."

"The reporting needs improvement. There is a real need for the ability to generate audit reports on the fly. It needs to be a lot easier than what I can do right now. This is a major item for me."

"We have faced a couple of issues where we were supposed to log a defect with ActiveBatch. That said, the Active batch Vendor Support is very responsive and reliable."

More ActiveBatch by Redwood cons

"The user interface has room for improvement."

"With every new version, things that would previously work, Automic breaks them. So, we have to report the new bugs. Therefore, every time when we patch the system, there is usually a new bug or a feature that was working, then it stops working."

"My biggest complaint is that there is no list price. We work with Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, etc., and all of them have list pricing. Automic, right up until today, has never had list pricing. This makes things difficult, because we need to plan budgets for the next year and can't."

"It is a bit of a problem, because they like to do email ping-pong via their web page. Sometimes, it would be much easier if someone would call you on the phone."

"It has a very complicated interface, which could be made to be more user-friendly."

"Choosing Automic Automation essentially locks us into their ecosystem, making it nearly impossible to switch to a different product."

"We would like to have some features with the AWI with the founding technique, which cannot currently be delivered."

"The search is sometimes a little bit slow."

More Automic Automation cons

"I'm not sure how the solution fits together with our business modernization initiatives, as there are things outside of my area, even though Control-M is the scheduling tool of the company. They may use other things, e.g., Big Data."

"An issue we have run into in our lower environments is that Control-M can log you out frequently."

"After we complete FTP jobs, those FTP jobs will be cleared from the Control-M schedule after the noon refresh. So, I struggle to find out where those jobs are saved. Then, we need to request execution of the FTP jobs again. If there could be an option to show the logs, which have been previously completed, that would help us. I can find all other job logs from the server side, but FTP job logs. Maybe I am missing the feature, or if it is not there, it could be added."

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

"The company has been working with BMC on the MFT. There are still some things about MFT which don't work the way that we want with our needs. So, we would like to see that improved."

"But for some issues, BMC will suggest to upgrade to new version which will not be feasible to standards of the organisation. Hence some work around should be shown to run the business until new version was upgraded."

"I've never been very successful when researching ways to utilize Batch Impact Manager. It's a tool to set up dummy jobs in your job flow and it's supposed to come back to you and say, 'Okay, for this job flow, you are 50 percent complete at a certain point in time'...I would like things like Batch Impact Manager to be a little more user-friendly, out-of-the-box."

"The main area that could be improved would be documentation, just like every other software product out there!"

More Control-M cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"ActiveBatch is currently redesigning themselves. In the past, they were a low cost solution for automation. They had a nice tool that was very inexpensive. With their five-year plan, they will be more enhancement-driven, so they're trying to improve their software, customer service, and the way that their customers get information from them. In doing that, they're raising the price of their base system. They changed from one pricing model to another, which has caused some friction between ActiveBatch and us. We're working through that right now with them. That's one of the reasons why we're why we were evaluating other software packages."

"I like ActiveBatch Workload Automation's licensing model because they're not holding you down on an agentless model or agent model, where every server needs to have an agent. That's the main selling point of the solution and I hope they stay that way."

"If you compare ActiveBatch licensing to Control-M, you're looking at $50,000 as opposed to millions."

"Currently, we are paying approximately $7,000 yearly, which includes support."

"The pricing was fair. There are additional costs for the plugins. We have the standard licensing fees for different pieces, then we have the plugins which were add-ons. However, we expected that."

"I don't think we've ever had a problem with the pricing or licensing. Even the maintenance fees are very much in line. They are not excessive. I think for the support that you get, you get a good value for your money. It's the best value on the market."

"The price was fairly in line with other automation tools. I don't think it's exorbitantly expensive, relatively speaking."

"It allows for lower operational overhead."

"The solution seems expensive to me, but it does the job well."

"I only know that AWA is cheaper than Control-M, but I'm not aware of the numbers."

"Pricing is a big issue for some of them because Broadcom changed the way of calculating the price. People have been their customers for the last five or ten years, but Broadcom decided to change the way of licensing by moving to the number of jobs runs and then they say that clients have to pay three million because they run one million jobs per day. The clients are quite surprised to see that the contract is not the same as before, and then they are afraid of paying more."

"You do not need any humans to start jobs, so you can save a lot of money."

"I'm not sure about licensing costs, but I know the base price is about $3,000, and you can get some kind of discount per node."

"Automic Automation is costly."

"We cannot use all the functions because they are too expensive."

"We have increased efficiency with this application."

More Automic Automation pricing and cost advice

"Pricing can be steep, but you get what you pay for."

"we are more looking for a better cost/license/performance model because BMC, while we could say it's the best, is also the most expensive. That is what we are probably most annoyed with. We are paying something like €1,000,000 over three years for having 4,000 jobs running. That's expensive."

"The cost is basically $100 a job, give or take."

"It is a little bit expensive."

"This is now from my previous years as support for banks and big companies. If it's not enterprise scale, I find that it's too expensive for smaller companies. You really have to be quite big and need to have a dedicated support staff to run it, then you'll be fine. What we've seen at smaller companies, it's too expensive because they want to automate everything. Now, stuff that can literally run once a day for the rest of their lives is costing them $3 a job a day. It becomes too expensive, eventually. They are not seeing the return on investment because it's not business critical. Nobody is going to die or they're going to lose money if that job didn't run exactly at 11 minutes past 4:00. It's definitely for bigger enterprise companies, especially banks or healthcare providers. We have had an instance where Control-M was unavailable due to external factors for 20 minutes and there was a loss of almost a million euros because the solution involved logistics."

"You're going to spend a lot of money upfront, but the benefits you're going to get out of it are going to quickly pay for it."

"Cost-wise, it is good."

"You must accept that BMC licensing can be very confusing. No one can easily understand how they calculate things, whether it is user-based, job-based, or server-based. The calculation is quite tough. How BMC calculates licensing is not easily available anywhere."

More Control-M pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Manufacturing Company

17%

Computer Software Company

12%

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ActiveBatch Workload Automation?

Managing the workload and monitoring the tasks were very difficult with manual interventions. Now, by using ActiveBat...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ActiveBatch Workload Automation?

I'd advise users to start by knowing what the actual requirement is and thoroughly assess the automation needs. New u...

See all answers

What needs improvement with ActiveBatch Workload Automation?

After upgrades we are facing a few issues and errors triggered, so focusing on this would be appreciated. Some of the...

See all answers

What do you like most about Automic Workload Automation?

It is easy to manage complex workloads and use electronic workflow automation.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Automic Workload Automation?

The pricing was client-wise, but they are changing it to execution-wise pricing. So, we are in negotiation.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Automic Workload Automation?

The support and knowledge of incident management could be enhanced. There have been unresolved issues persisting for ...

See all answers

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 b...

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?

Its cost can be more competitive. One of the main things customers look at is the cost. It's not affordable. The cost...

See all answers

Comparisons

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 13% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 10% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 10% of the time

Stonebranch vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 10% of the time

VisualCron vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 5% of the time

More ActiveBatch by Redwood Competitors

AutoSys Workload Automation vs Automic Automation

Compared 12% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs Automic Automation

Compared 12% of the time

Dollar Universe Workload Automation vs Automic Automation

Compared 7% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Automic Automation

Compared 7% of the time

Stonebranch vs Automic Automation

Compared 2% of the time

More Automic Automation Competitors

AutoSys Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 14% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs Control-M

Compared 8% of the time

IBM Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 6% of the time

Stonebranch vs Control-M

Compared 5% of the time

Rocket Zena vs Control-M

Compared 4% of the time

More Control-M Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ActiveBatch by Redwood

July 2025

Download ActiveBatch by Redwood product report

Buyer's Guide

Automic Automation

July 2025

Download Automic Automation product report

Buyer's Guide

Control-M

July 2025

Download Control-M product report

Also Known As

ActiveBatch

Automic Dollar Universe

Control M

Overview

ActiveBatch by Redwood enhances efficiency with features like job scheduling, integration, and real-time monitoring. It supports diverse platforms, automates tasks, and offers a single-pane view with robust security.

ActiveBatch streamlines automation by offering drag-and-drop functionality, pre-built job steps, and native integrations. Its customizable workflows and alert system aid in managing complex workloads like data processing and server monitoring across hybrid environments. While it effectively reduces manual errors and enhances productivity, areas like navigation and support for cloud platforms need enhancement. New users may face challenges due to its complexity and steep learning curve, and further improvements in reporting, mobile access, and training could provide additional support to users.

What important features does ActiveBatch offer?

Comprehensive Job Scheduling: Manages and automates complex workloads efficiently.
Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly connects with different platforms and applications.
Real-time Monitoring: Offers a single-pane view for quick issue identification.
Customizable Workflows: Tailors processes to specific organizational tasks.
Robust Alert System: Ensures timely notifications for critical events.
Data Protection: Incorporates strong security measures for secure operations.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating ActiveBatch?

Enhanced Efficiency: Automates repetitive tasks, reducing manual intervention.
Improved Productivity: Streamlines processes across hybrid environments.
Error Reduction: Decreases likelihood of manual errors.
Platform Support: Provides integration with diverse systems.

In finance, ActiveBatch is implemented for orchestrating batch processes and data management. The healthcare industry utilizes it for automating patient data updates and server monitoring, while the retail sector benefits from file transfers and inventory management automation.

ActiveBatch by Redwood

Automic Automation is employed for migration assistance, digital business automation, integration with platforms, ITIL process workflows, batch processing, disaster recovery, scheduling ERP batch jobs, and automation within finance and telecom sectors.

Businesses implement Automic Automation across on-premises and cloud infrastructures, supporting SAP, mainframes, host systems, and other environments. Valued for its versatility and out-of-the-box integration capabilities, it enhances automation efficiency and reduces operational costs. The platform is known for its robust object-oriented workflow, zero-downtime upgrades, CI/CD pipeline integration, and multi-client architecture. Enhanced stability, scalability, user-friendliness, and compliance are notable benefits.

What are the key features?

Versatile Scheduler: Manage complex schedules effortlessly.
Object-Oriented Workflow: Robust and flexible workflow management.
Zero-Downtime Upgrades: Continuous operation without interruptions.
CI/CD Integration: Seamless incorporation into development pipelines.
Multi-Client Architecture: Supports diverse and multiple client environments.
Unique Scripting Language: Enhances customizability and automation.
Predictive Analytics: Improved job execution and performance insights.
Intuitive GUI: Simplifies job and workflow management.

What benefits or ROI should be evaluated?

Enhanced Stability: Reliable operations across environments.
Scalability: Easily adapts to growing business needs.
Reduced Operational Costs: Streamlined automation processes lower expenses.
Compliance Assurance: Ensures adherence to regulations and standards.

Automic Automation is widely used in finance and telecom industries, addressing unique challenges and demands. It integrates with Broadcom products and supports SAP environments, ensuring well-rounded automation and operational efficiency. While technical support and vendor assistance could improve, businesses find value in its scheduling, deployment options, and workflow visibility. The industry's capability to manage cloud systems and SaaS deployment helps in mitigating disaster recovery issues and facilitates smoother ITIL process workflows.

Broadcom

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

Sample Customers

Informatica, D&H, ACES, PrimeSource, Sub-Zero Group, SThree, Lamar Advertising, Subway, Xcel Energy, Ignite Technologies, Whataburger, Jyske Bank, Omaha Children's Hospital

ING, Adidas, 84.51, ESB

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

Find out what your peers are saying about BMC, Broadcom, Redwood Software and others in Workload Automation. Updated: June 2025.

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