ActiveBatch by Redwood vs BizTalk Server comparison

ActiveBatch by Redwood and Microsoft are both solutions in the Process Automation category. ActiveBatch by Redwood is ranked #9 with an average rating of 9.4, while Microsoft is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.1. ActiveBatch by Redwood holds a 0.7% mindshare in PA, compared to Microsoft’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ActiveBatch by Redwood users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

ActiveBatch by Redwood

Read 35 ActiveBatch by Redwood reviews

2,093 Views
523 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

BizTalk Server

Read 15 BizTalk Server reviews

1,180 Views
519 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

ActiveBatch by Redwood

BizTalk Server

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

BizTalk Server and ActiveBatch by Redwood are workflow automation solutions that compete in the business orchestration space. ActiveBatch holds a slight edge due to its comprehensive scheduling and automation capabilities, favored by those needing robust task handling across environments.

Features: BizTalk Server's integration features include supporting a broad range of protocols, seamless system communications, and advanced messaging capabilities. ActiveBatch stands out with its powerful workload scheduling, ability to manage complex workflows, and single-pane visibility for task automation across various platforms.

Room for Improvement: BizTalk Server could benefit from simplifying its deployment process and reducing entry costs. Enhancing user-friendliness is another potential area. ActiveBatch needs more intuitive customization options and improved interface updates. Enhanced built-in tutorials and guides for new users would also be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: BizTalk Server’s deployment can be intricate due to its complex integrations, although it has detailed documentation. ActiveBatch offers a more streamlined deployment with strong customer support focused on simplifying automation, distinguishing it through ease of use and support.

Pricing and ROI: BizTalk Server generally incurs higher initial setup costs due to its extensive integration capabilities but offers significant ROI in integration-heavy environments. ActiveBatch provides competitive pricing and clear ROI by optimizing resources and automation efficiencies, making it a cost-effective choice for comprehensive automation needs.

To learn more, read our detailed ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. BizTalk Server Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. BizTalk Server

July 2025

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Helped 865,384 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:

Categories and Ranking

ActiveBatch by Redwood

Ranking in Process Automation

9th

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Managed File Transfer (MFT) (10th), Workload Automation (9th)

BizTalk Server

Ranking in Process Automation

14th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business-to-Business Middleware (8th)

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 BizTalk Server is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Process 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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Vignesh Kumar Sekar

Senior Analyst at Sword Group

Enables message routing and provides a secure way to communicate between two systems

The AS2 communication protocol is one of the most advanced processes. It enables a handshake with the source and target systems using certificates. It is the most secure way of communicating between two systems. It is an advantage. We can do a lot of message routing. If we want to handle large data, we can put the data into different patterns to process it. We can do it through sequential convoy or parallel convoy orchestration. BizTalk comes with SQL Server. We can load temporary data in the database and use the batch process from BizTalk. It is an added advantage. Creating agreements is a manual job, but it's quite easy in BizTalk. Even a fresh college graduate can configure AS2 certificates and partner profiles and communicate with other systems. It is easy.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There are hundreds of pre-built steps."

"As far as centralization goes it's nice because we can see all these processes that are tied to this larger process. The commissions, FTP processing, the reporting, the file moves to the business users — all that is right there. It's very easy to read. It's easy to tie it together, visually, and see where each of these steps fits into the bigger picture."

"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"

"For developers, it is easy to orchestrate the workflows and the integration has been very easy."

"By implementing a sophisticated scheduling mechanism, the system allows for the precise triggering of jobs at user-selected frequencies, enabling a seamless and automated execution of tasks according to specified time intervals."

"The nice thing about ActiveBatch is once we have created a specific job that can be easily be replicated to another job, then minimal changes will have to be made. This makes things nice. Reduction of coding is substantial in a lot of cases. The replication of one job to another is just doing a few minor tweaks and rolling it into production. This decreases our development costs substantially."

"We are able to integrate it into multiple third-party tools like email, backup, tracking systems, SharePoint, Slack alerts, etc."

"ActiveBatch provides summary reports and logs for further analysis and improvements in monitoring servers, which is very handy."

More ActiveBatch by Redwood pros

"The most valuable feature of BizTalk Server is that it will turn XML into flexible transactions."

"BIzTalk's integration with Visual Studio is the most valuable feature of this product."

"The BizTalk Server business rule engine was very useful for us and has helped us for the last 12 years."

"The AS2 communication protocol is one of the most advanced processes."

"BizTalk Server offers workflow functionality that I find very effective for process automation."

"We can handle a large number of messages without any issues, ensuring that everything runs smoothly."

"Essentially, you can do whatever you like with these systems, and you do not have to take care about the scaling because if one server is overloaded, it just forwards the message to the next server, even if it were designated to a specific server. It weeds out the messages according to the load. If you want to scale it, you just add new servers."

More BizTalk Server pros

Cons

"It could be easier to provide dashboards on how many jobs are running at the same time; more monitoring."

"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."

"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."

"Any product is going to have some room for improvement, no matter what. I see the company has already ventured into AWS and they're constantly trying to improve the managed file transfer which they have recently improvised. I think they bought a software called JSCAPE and they're trying to improve it, which is good. I am not sure if JSCAPE would be part of the base product but currently, you have to buy a separate license for it, which doesn't make sense. If it was Microsoft, ServiceNow, or integrating with other software vendors, I would understand but JSCAPE is now in-house and I'm not sure if they can justify having a separate license for JSCAPE. I would probably expect them to be packaging JSCAPE into the base product. They did switch over from a perpetual license model to a subscription model, which hurt the company a little bit. Nobody is offering the perpetual model anymore. As long as the transition is fair for both the companies, I think it should be fine and not burn us out."

"ActiveBatch UI could use a little more help, and video tutorials would be greatly appreciated for user guides."

"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."

"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."

"Whenever there is an overload, we are seeing crashes happening."

More ActiveBatch by Redwood cons

"It's a complex product because you have many degrees of freedom to connect different parts together. Whether it's sensible or not, is up to you, but the machine does allow it. But because of the vast degrees of freedom, it's complex."

"BizTalk lacks native cloud support. BizTalk doesn't offer in-built support for cloud. We need to use third-party adapters to connect it to cloud services."

"BizTalk Server is an outdated legacy system that does not support messaging."

"I didn't find anything particularly valuable in BizTalk Server. It didn't help me, and we are moving away from BizTalk Server to a new platform."

"The product's deployment can be quicker"

"The deployment could be simplified."

"It's an on-premises system, requiring physical servers for deployment. This is different from Azure; you don't need any servers with Azure. If you have a subscription, you can do whatever you want. There are unit restrictions based on the environment (like non-production vs. production) in BizTalk. You need physical servers and databases. In Azure, those are not required – it's all in the cloud."

"The product could be improved in monitoring, managing, and support functionalities."

More BizTalk Server cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It allows for lower operational overhead."

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

"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."

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

"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."

"The solution is expensive."

"BizTalk Server is not freeware. There's a significant licensing cost involved. Be sure you will actually utilize its features fully."

"BizTalk Server is cheap. I would rate its pricing a two out of five."

"The cost will depend on the client's requirements."

"Based on the knowledge, it is relatively cheaper than Azure Identity Services and cloud services in general."

"It was not cheap, but it was affordable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

10%

Healthcare 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 ActiveBatch, the process is automated and it runs tasks on a scheduled basis.

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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 users should take advantage of the demos and trial versions so they get an idea o...

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 advanced features in the user interface are a bit confusing even after referrin...

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What do you like most about BizTalk Server?

The tool's most valuable feature is its integration with the banks. Its messaging and routing capabilities are good.

See all answers

What needs improvement with BizTalk Server?

BizTalk Server needs improvements, especially because we use it for EDI messaging, and it would be very useful to have enhanced tracking capabilities for message tracking and archiving of messages....

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering BizTalk Server?

BizTalk Server has adapted to the changing needs of business over time with steady development, but there are new requirements, for example, on APIs, application programming interfaces. That functi...

See all answers

Comparisons

Control-M vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 17% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 14% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 10% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 9% of the time

Stonebranch vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 9% of the time

More ActiveBatch by Redwood Competitors

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs BizTalk Server

Compared 16% of the time

SEEBURGER Business Integration Suite vs BizTalk Server

Compared 14% of the time

Camunda vs BizTalk Server

Compared 13% of the time

IBM Sterling B2B Integration Services vs BizTalk Server

Compared 10% of the time

SAP Process Orchestration vs BizTalk Server

Compared 7% of the time

More BizTalk Server Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ActiveBatch by Redwood

August 2025

Download ActiveBatch by Redwood product report

Buyer's Guide

BizTalk Server

August 2025

Download BizTalk Server product report

Also Known As

ActiveBatch

No data available

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

Connects systems both inside and across organizations, exchange data and orchestrate business processes across multiple systems.

Microsoft

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

Centrebet, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, QualCare, Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, DTEK, Allscripts, United BioSource, Hogg Robinson

Buyer's Guide

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. BizTalk Server

July 2025

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