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ActiveBatch by Redwood vs Azure 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

ActiveBatch by Redwood
Ranking in Process Automation
9th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Managed File Transfer (MFT) (10th), Workload Automation (9th)
Azure Automation
Ranking in Process Automation
27th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of ActiveBatch by Redwood is 0.7%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Automation is 1.1%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Shubham Bharti - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
CL
Automation enhances task efficiency and supports innovation
I currently work with SAP, but I haven't stopped working with that vendor at all. My involvement is cross-technology, so I'm exposed to S/4HANA and other technologies, which are very different from a couple of years ago. Currently, I am working for a consultancy that is agnostic to technology, so tactically and strategically we provide implementation or knowledge on various technologies including Microsoft, Business Central, Project Operations, SAP, and Board, which are different and linked to various business areas. Mostly I am working with Microsoft solutions now. In the last recent year, Microsoft is the technology with which we have the most exposure on current implementations, including both Business Central and Project Operations. I have been working with Microsoft Business Operation for approximately a year and a half. I am working with different products on Azure, as it is the platform we use to implement various types of solutions, including automation, IPA, and artificial intelligence. Other colleagues work with Azure File Storage, Blob Storage, and App Services, as these are more related to cloud work. I am working with Azure Automation, which is a process automation tool. While we have used the alerts and scheduling functions in Azure Automation very often, I am not able to judge or review their effectiveness. Integrating Azure Automation with other Azure services is very easy because there are pre-integration tools available that can be easily integrated with different technologies. The main benefits Azure Automation provides include being useful for recurrent tasks, which help reduce manual intervention and allow people to focus on more added value tasks, enhanced by artificial intelligence for more complex duties. I rate Azure Automation an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Easy to configure and simple to develop new features."
"One of the most valuable features of this solution is the versatility of the prebuilt jobs."
"For developers, it is easy to orchestrate the workflows and the integration has been very easy."
"ActiveBatch's Self-Service Portal allows our business units to run and monitor their own workloads. They can simply run and review the logs, but they can't modify them. It increases their productivity because they are able to take care of things on their own. It saves us time from having to rerun the scripts, because the business units can just go ahead and log in and and rerun it themselves."
"ActiveBatch has reduced work by providing automated workflows across several different applications."
"It is very useful in sending confidential files through FPP servers."
"What ActiveBatch allows you to do is develop a more efficient process. It gave me visibility into all my jobs so I could choose which jobs to run in parallel. This is much easier than when I have to try to do it through cron for Windows XP, where you really can't do things in parallel and know what is going on."
"Since I started using this product, I have been able to easily track everything as it mainly monitors, alerts, and looks after all the services - even across platform scheduling - which has helped me immensely."
"The most valuable feature of Azure Automation is the scripting."
 

Cons

"They have some crucial design flaws within the console that still need to be worked out because it is not working exactly how we hoped to see it, e.g., just some minor things where when you hit the save button, then all of a sudden all your job's library items collapse. Then, in order to continue on with your testing, you have to open those back up. I have taken that to them, and they are like, "Yep. We know about it. We know we have some enhancements that need to be taken care of. We have more developers now." They are working towards taking the minor things that annoy us, resolving them, and getting them fixed."
"I have faced struggles to understand, set up the tool, and implement it in my early days as a new user."
"Whenever there is an overload, we are seeing crashes happening."
"They could provide an easier installation guide or technical support to the organizations during the installation process."
"The user interface can be improved so that it is more appealing and accessible to new users."
"It does have a little bit of a learning curve because it is fairly complex. You have to learn how it does things. I don't know if it's any worse than any other tool would be, just because of the nature of what it does... the learning curve is the hardest part."
"The documentation is very limited, and it can be improved."
"ActiveBatch UI could use a little more help, and video tutorials would be greatly appreciated for user guides."
"The solution’s user interface could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price was fairly in line with other automation tools. I don't think it's exorbitantly expensive, relatively speaking."
"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."
"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."
"It allows for lower operational overhead."
"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."
"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."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Insurance Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
7%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
8%
Insurance Company
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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 ActiveBatch, the process is automated and it runs tasks on a scheduled basis.
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 users should take advantage of the demos and trial versions so they get an idea o...
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 advanced features in the user interface are a bit confusing even after referrin...
What do you like most about Azure Automation?
The most valuable feature of Azure Automation is the scripting.
What needs improvement with Azure Automation?
Based on feedback, Azure Automation needs to stay up-to-date with real technology game changers and include new features that meet market demands. It is essential for Azure Automation to capture ne...
What is your primary use case for Azure Automation?
My clients mainly use Azure Automation for back-office processes and operations, as the application of this product is wide-ranging. It depends on their in-house capabilities and the opportunities ...
 

Also Known As

ActiveBatch
No data available
 

Overview

 

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
1. Adobe 2. BMW 3. Coca-Cola 4. General Electric 5. Johnson & Johnson 6. NBCUniversal 7. Pfizer 8. Samsung 9. Siemens 10. Toyota 11. Verizon 12. 3M 13. Accenture 14. Airbus 15. Allianz 16. American Express 17. AT&T 18. Bank of America 19. Boeing 20. Cisco 21. Dell 22. ExxonMobil 23. Ford 24. General Motors 25. IBM 26. Intel 27. JPMorgan Chase 28. Microsoft (self-use) 29. Nestle 30. Procter & Gamble 31. Shell 32. Walmart
Find out what your peers are saying about ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. Azure Automation and other solutions. Updated: August 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.