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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
34th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Managed File Transfer (MFT) (18th), Workload Automation (19th)
Azure Automation
Ranking in Process Automation
26th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of ActiveBatch by Redwood is 0.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Azure Automation is 1.1%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Azure Automation1.1%
ActiveBatch by Redwood0.8%
Other98.1%
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.
Gökhan YENİGÜN - PeerSpot reviewer
Has improved workflow automation and reduced manual tasks while offering room for simpler deployment
Azure Automation brings many benefits to my company and my customers' companies because many jobs can be converted automatically through an AI agent to complete tasks. PowerShell and Python scripting capabilities assist us significantly in developing tailored automation at 90% efficiency. I have utilized Azure Automation runbooks. We don't create new runbooks because some runbook templates simplify our business processes and tasks effectively.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use the main job-scheduling feature. It's the only thing we use in the tool. That's the reason we are using the tool: to reduce costs by replacing manual tasks with automated tasks and to perform regular, repetitive tasks in a more reliable way."
"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."
"I found ActiveBatch Workload Automation to be a very good scheduling tool. What I like best about it is that it has very less downtime when managing many complex scheduling workflows, so I'm very impressed with ActiveBatch Workload Automation."
"We leverage the solution's native integrations regularly. We have to get files from a remote server outside the organization, and even send things outside the organization. We use a lot of its file manipulation and SFTP functionality for contacting remote servers."
"Error Handling is one of the best standout features of ActiveBatch."
"It is very useful in sending confidential files through FPP servers."
"For developers, it is easy to orchestrate the workflows and the integration has been very easy."
"It has helped with scheduling complex jobs with simple scripts."
"Azure Automation brings many benefits to my company and my customers' companies because many jobs can be converted automatically through an AI agent to complete tasks."
"The most valuable feature of Azure Automation is the scripting."
 

Cons

"There are some issues with this version and finding the jobs that it ran. If you're looking at 1,000 different jobs, it shows based on the execution time, not necessarily the run time. So, if there was a constraint waiting, you may be looking for it in the wrong time frame. Plus, with thousands of jobs showing up and the way it pages output jobs, sometimes you end up with multiple pages on the screen, then you have to go through to find the specific job you're looking for. On the opposite side, you can limit the daily activity screen to show only jobs that failed or jobs currently running, which will shrink that back down. However, we have operators who are looking at the whole nightly cycle to make sure everything is there and make sure nothing got blocked or was waiting. Sometimes, they have a hard time finding every item within the list."
"The monitoring dashboard could have been more user-friendly so that in the monitoring dashboard itself we can see the total number of jobs created in the system and how many were currently active/scheduled/chained."
"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."
"The interface is not that user-friendly and is a little tough to navigate."
"The user interface can be improved so that it is more appealing and accessible to new users."
"ActiveBatch is a little complex."
"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."
"They could provide an easier installation guide or technical support to the organizations during the installation process."
"The solution’s user interface could be improved."
"Deployment with Azure Automation can be challenging at times, though sometimes it is very easy."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Currently, we are paying approximately $7,000 yearly, which includes support."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"If you compare ActiveBatch licensing to Control-M, you're looking at $50,000 as opposed to millions."
"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."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
7%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise46
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.