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ActiveBatch by Redwood vs Fortra's Globalscape WAFS 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 Managed File Transfer (MFT)
15th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Process Automation (26th), Workload Automation (14th)
Fortra's Globalscape WAFS
Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)
20th
Average Rating
4.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category, the mindshare of ActiveBatch by Redwood is 2.3%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Globalscape WAFS is 1.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed File Transfer (MFT) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ActiveBatch by Redwood2.3%
Fortra's Globalscape WAFS1.3%
Other96.4%
Managed File Transfer (MFT)
 

Featured Reviews

AS
Application Administrator Lead at Bluestem
Manages thousands of jobs daily and reduces downtime through secondary node support
The current feedback I receive from my end users regarding ActiveBatch by Redwood highlights issues with the tabs or panes during job modification. When the next user monitors it, they need to close the pane or job and reopen it to see the changes reflected. If the end user makes an update, it will not be visible unless they start from the beginning again. Implementing a refresh button would be helpful for real-time updates when the end user needs to see changes immediately. We currently face issues with the web console of ActiveBatch by Redwood. When users operate through an RDP session, every user has their own ActiveBatch by Redwood application. However, on the web console, users encounter daily activity issues where the job instances do not appear or update correctly, and they cannot view the latest logs. This issue is only present on the web console, as the application itself works without any problems. ActiveBatch by Redwood can be improved by adding more features, as we are not currently handling cloud-based applications like S3 buckets and Azure. Connecting to these cloud platforms would be a helpful enhancement.
it_user2754 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at a construction company with 51-200 employees
We dropped the product because of the corruption issue.
Two main issues. 1) It can be a bandwidth resource hog over a small WAN link. We would routinely saturate a 3Mbps link with WAFS. This can be mitigated with tuning what gets replicated. 2) In some cases, it can look like the files get replicated because the files have the correct date, file size, etc. However, the file itself was actually all nulls. In our replication case, we had more than 10,000 files get corrupted this way (out of 1.2 million). GlobalScape support basically said that there were issues with W2K8 R2 but the problem actually dated back to 2008 on a W2K3 server.We dropped the product because of the corruption issue.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"I found ActiveBatch Workload Automation to be a very good scheduling tool, and 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."
"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."
"It can connect to a number of third-party/legacy systems."
"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."
"It is very useful in sending confidential files through FPP servers."
"Easy to configure and simple to develop new features."
"The user interface is really incredible."
"When it works, WAFS is a good way to keep data synchronized between multiple servers in multiple locations."
 

Cons

"It could be easier to provide dashboards on how many jobs are running at the same time; more monitoring."
"ActiveBatch is a little complex."
"The interface is not that user-friendly and is a little tough to navigate."
"I believe ActiveBatch by Redwood could be improved because the UI could be modernized."
"The reporting needs improvement. There is a real need for the ability to generate audit reports on the fly."
"A cloud option is not provided as a free feature, making it a costly solution for smaller organizations."
"A nice thing to have would be the ability to comfortably pass variables from one job to another."
"They should offer pricing that is more affordable."
"In some cases, it can look like the files get replicated because the files have the correct date, file size, etc. However, the file itself was actually all nulls."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 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 price was fairly in line with other automation tools. I don't think it's exorbitantly expensive, relatively speaking."
"Currently, we are paying approximately $7,000 yearly, which includes support."
"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."
"It allows for lower operational overhead."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
7%
Performing Arts
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise47
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ActiveBatch Workload Automation?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for ActiveBatch by Redwood has been great; we recently renewed our license, and it was a smooth process without any issues.
What needs improvement with ActiveBatch Workload Automation?
I believe ActiveBatch by Redwood could be improved because the UI could be modernized.
What is your primary use case for ActiveBatch Workload Automation?
My main use case for ActiveBatch by Redwood is file processing. I use ActiveBatch by Redwood for file processing for debit card transactions.
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Also Known As

ActiveBatch
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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
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