ActiveBatch by Redwood vs VisualCron comparison

ActiveBatch by Redwood and SMA Technologies are both solutions in the Workload Automation category. ActiveBatch by Redwood is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.1, while SMA Technologies is ranked #25. ActiveBatch by Redwood holds a 3.2% mindshare in WA, compared to SMA Technologies’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ActiveBatch by Redwood users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of SMA Technologies users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

ActiveBatch by Redwood and VisualCron are two automation tools competing in the automation technology sector. ActiveBatch has the upper hand with its superior feature set and support for complex workflows, whereas VisualCron stands out as a more budget-friendly, user-friendly option.

Features: ActiveBatch supports multiple platforms and technologies, providing end-to-end visibility of workflows. It enables extensive customization and easy integration with business intelligence and data quality jobs. VisualCron simplifies task scheduling and execution without need for advanced programming skills, offering a visual overview of operations, supporting multiple platforms, and facilitating direct connections to external machines.

Room for Improvement: ActiveBatch could improve its usability with better navigation, more learning resources, and enhanced support for cloud environments. Reporting capabilities need improvement. VisualCron's interface is often reported as cluttered, needing refinement for increased intuitiveness and improved technical support responsiveness. Enhanced documentation and community engagement may also benefit users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ActiveBatch supports hybrid and cloud-based environments with reliable, though slightly slow, customer service. VisualCron's deployment is similarly versatile, with efficient and responsive support, though it's suggested their technical support could be quicker.

Pricing and ROI: ActiveBatch is seen as a valuable investment for streamlining processes and boosting ROI. VisualCron is praised for its straightforward and competitive pricing model, making it appealing to those seeking cost-effective solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. VisualCron Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. VisualCron

August 2026

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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

JAMS

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Workload Automation category, the mindshare of JAMS is 3.1%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ActiveBatch by Redwood is 3.2%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VisualCron is 2.1%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Workload Automation Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
JAMS	3.1%
ActiveBatch by Redwood	3.2%
VisualCron	2.1%
Other	91.6%

Workload Automation

Featured Reviews

Latha Viswanathan

Principal Data Base And Infrastructure Engineer at a outsourcing company with 501-1,000 employees

Automation has replaced nightly monitoring and delivers reliable, unified job scheduling

We have really enjoyed working with JAMS in terms of notifications, alerts, and streamlining. There used to be a process with Automate, which is another product from Fortra, but even before that, the other division of the company that we were merging with had a tool that was built in-house called a file handler or file distributor. It was an in-house developed tool, but it was not as streamlined or as efficient as JAMS is. We literally had to have a dedicated nighttime person monitoring. Although we are 24/7, the divisions of the company that we were using JAMS for have been small scale. While we have automated it, we have streamlined it in such a way that notifications go out and alerts go out, but if there is anything, then we get paged and alerted, and if anything needs to happen at midnight, we can wake up. On the other hand, with the tool I mentioned, the file handler and distributor, we used to have a dedicated nighttime person that had to be sitting and monitoring it to see when a file arrived, whether it met the conditions, and then execute the next particular job. By using JAMS, we have gained a lot more efficiencies in terms of all of those to streamline it, and there is no necessary need for having an overnight engineer just keeping an eye on all of this.

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Sai

Ai/Data Analyst at CSD

Automation has streamlined complex data workflows and now saves time on recurring reporting

To improve ActiveBatch by Redwood, the UI could be more modern and intuitive, and another thing that comes to mind is that it can feel overwhelming when workflows become large and complex. Troubleshooting can take extra time when there are multiple dependencies, jobs, and integrations running together. Better visualization of workflow relationships and easier debugging would really help. I would also appreciate seeing more simplified onboarding and documentation for newer users, as there is a learning curve at the beginning. Another improvement area could be smarter analytics or AI-driven recommendations, such as proactively identifying workflow bottlenecks, failed job patterns, or optimization suggestions instead of relying mostly on manual monitoring. From an operational perspective, faster configuration for integrations and cloud-based workflows would make implementation smoother, especially in environments working heavily with APIs and data pipelines. I have covered the main points regarding needed improvements. Overall, the platform is very capable and reliable for automation and workflow scheduling, especially in data-heavy environments. Most of the improvements I want are around making it easier for day-to-day use, such as a more intuitive UI, simpler troubleshooting for complex workflows, better onboarding for newer users, and more intelligent monitoring or optimization insights. The core functionality is strong, and the biggest opportunity is improving the overall user experience and simplifying operational management.

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Sourav-Dutta

Technical Lead - Database Administrator at SMART ENERGY SYSTEMS LLC

It's user-friendly, and I didn't need long to understand the process

We use VisualCron for all our automation needs, like connecting to FileZilla, calling APIs, generating PGP keys, creating encryption files with the PGP key login to Azure, etc. It can automatically log in to SQL Server and execute SQL script jobs in bulk. We had 2,000-3,000 users at my previous…

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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

"JAMS is easier to use and cheaper than our previous solution. The installation is more straightforward, and JAMS has a graphical user interface, so it's more accessible."

"The fact that we no longer need to use Excel spreadsheets is huge. Before JAMS, every group was keeping track of their own batch jobs. Nobody really knew what the other jobs were. So, if jobs failed, other groups wouldn't necessarily know. With JAMS, everything is done through a single scheduler. You can choose who to notify."

"We also use the solution’s Interactive Agents. If we need to push something to our dealer portal, we can just drop a file in a folder and it goes. Running interactive tasks helps me users focus on business processes since I don’t have to take care of running the jobs manually."

"The ability to sequence jobs is excellent; it means we don't have to schedule them individually, and if one fails, it doesn't unwind the entire workflow."

"This feature helps my team day-to-day by running hundreds and hundreds of jobs on JAMS in a timely fashion, which is extremely important and sensitive, providing a lot of reporting to the entire firm and beyond."

"The code-driven automation for more complex scheduling requirements frees up time because it's really easy to use... It's almost like a stand-alone software that we can't live without."

"Previously, we manually managed file transfers by writing our scripts. The automated MFT feature is great for me and the company. It helps us know where the files are going and enables us to track errors if anything fails. It also makes the connection seamless for third-party vendors."

"The most valuable feature for us is that it's DR-ready. With respect to disaster recovery, it has the built-in capability for failover to our DR site. If all of the required ports are open, it can be done seamlessly."

More JAMS pros

"Easy to configure and simple to develop new features."

"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 best feature that ActiveBatch by Redwood offers is the user interface."

"I find this to be the easiest product that I have ever used, especially compared to Robot Schedule and CA AutoSys as well as an in-house scheduling software that I had designed and developed at one time."

"This is a very good tool and I'm really missing it in my new company because I don't have a robust enterprise-wide scheduling tool and a really good tool for automating end-to-end."

"Approximately ~20 hours of manual effort have been reduced to ~5 hours with the help of ActiveBatch."

"The product offers a centralized platform for managing activities across many environments, applications, etc."

"One of the most valuable features of this solution is the versatility of the prebuilt jobs."

More ActiveBatch by Redwood pros

"VisualCron makes everything clearer and easier to maintain."

"We don't have to do any coding. We just plug and play and it works."

"It has improved our organization with more automation within the business departments and less administration and development in the IT department. Usually, as the IT department, we are the bottleneck for many requirements within the business. With this tool, the business departments are able to perform many task themselves."

"VisualCronv is currently handling so many different critical processes for our company, it's become a key factor in our livelihood and success."

"The tool has reduced our operational costs by 40%."

"What I like about VisualCron is that like its name, it's a very visual tool. In my previous company, there were a lot of scripts for all kinds of services, and through VisualCron, you get to group all flows and get a nice visual overview. VisualCron also has an alerting feature, so you receive alerts from it. VisualCron makes everything clearer and easier to maintain. Every other solution that I was looking for almost always needed a programmer, but with VisualCron, you can do what you need to do without programming skills, so this is another valuable feature of the tool."

"The most valuable feature of VisualCron is its ability to schedule interactive jobs so that you can have interdependencies within the job and interdependencies of a job on another job, and so on."

"VisualCron is a handy tool that we (the IT department) provide for the business departments to obtain easy access when automating and scheduling."

More VisualCron pros

Cons

"The product does not allow the users to cut and paste the job names from the screen."

"The UI could be better. There were some things that were not quite intuitive, such as the search tool. When we tried to search for jobs, we had to clear the entire search and then go in and enter the new search query. That's something that wasn't intuitive for a new user."

"Sometimes the UI is not the most responsive I've ever used. But because it does its job, I don't complain."

"The cost has definitely gone up tremendously. That is where I do know, as much as the feature sets are there, and if the newly acquired company is going to be doing a pushback, they might just say, 'Do we still need to pay this much? Or at that point, should we look into an alternative?'"

"It is important to receive notifications if a charged job fails and SQL is halted. JAMS does not provide halted notifications by default, which is a critical feature that needs to be added."

"There could be a better simulation for banning the termination. You have to simulate every one of the processes in order to have an idea for better planning. This kind of simulation is broken and needs improvement."

"JAMS could be improved with a web client that is accessible and as fast as a normal website, eliminating the need to RDP to the servers to access the JAMS client."

"The error messages from JAMS often need clarification, hindering our ability to resolve issues swiftly."

More JAMS cons

"We haven't explored the cloud aspect of the solution because it's very costly."

"Setting up the software was hard."

"I can't get the cleaning up of logs to work consistently."

"The only thing is that it does have a little bit of a learning curve because it is fairly complex."

"Regarding improvements, I think the setup of ActiveBatch by Redwood is a bit complex, and if they could simplify this process, then it would be better."

"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."

"Except for the GUI, everything looks good."

"An area for improvement in ActiveBatch Workload Automation is its interface or GUI. It could be a little better. There isn't any additional feature I'd like to see in the tool, except for the GUI, everything looks good."

More ActiveBatch by Redwood cons

"Our suggestion to make it better and more manageable in terms of GDPR: Implement it in a very partnership way."

"I want to improve the UI in VisualCron, as it's not as user-friendly, particularly when setting up the task scheduler. If you're familiar with the tool, then no problem, but if not, you'll have a problem typing text because sometimes, the cursor points to other places, so there's an issue with text box alignment in VisualCron. That was painful for me when I was just a VisualCron novice, but when you become used to it, there won't be a problem."

"The only problem I face when I use the tool is that it doesn't contain much documentation or it doesn't have many video tutorials on its features."

"An area for improvement in VisualCron is its cluttered interface."

"The documentation is a bit weak."

"I want to improve the UI in VisualCron, as it's not as user-friendly, particularly when setting up the task scheduler."

"I would like for VisualCron to expand audit log to show who changed job variables that are initialized per job run."

"VisualCron seems to operate like an efficient machine when it comes to improvements and enhancements and new features. I always appreciate the quick response I get when bringing up an issue or coming up with suggestions. I've mentioned before that it would be great to see a move away from SQLCE and XML configuration files."

More VisualCron cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing of JAMS has not been an issue for us, as it has allowed us to save time."

"There are no additional costs other than the license for Fortra's JAMS which is affordable."

"Fortra's JAMS pricing structure has deteriorated significantly since its acquisition by Fortra."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"Our licensing is pretty cheap because we have a state solution. So, we pay only $1,000 a year."

"All licensing models are a little overpriced, but JAMS offers a good value, especially given their support response times and ability to handle unforeseen issues like the SFTP transfers. I hope to find more use cases to get a better bang for our buck."

"For what it does, the product is priced very well."

"The product is reasonably priced, and we don't have any add-ons."

More JAMS pricing and cost advice

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"We are fine with a rather cheap setup. Licensing with VisualCron is fair. You have a simple one-year licence in different sizes. There isn't a licensing jungle with hundreds of options and opt-ins."

"The price is a bit high."

"The pricing is extremely fair, and because of that I recommend purchasing multiple instances to split out the processing load across multiple application servers."

"VisualCron is correctly priced because it wasn't very cheap, and it wasn't overly expensive, so the price for it was set correctly. When my previous company bought VisualCron, it was €800 per server per year. On a scale of one to five, I would rate the pricing for VisualCron a five because it was just right. The tool was affordable, and it has one of the most competitive pricing in the market."

"ROI is 95 percent."

"ROI is one month."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Construction Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

11%

Construction Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

Performing Arts

Computer Software Company

25%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	14
Large Enterprise	23

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	52

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JAMS?

I was not really involved in the pricing, setup cost, and licensing at that level. I am more involved in the technica...

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What needs improvement with JAMS?

To improve JAMS, it should resolve the issues with the JD Edwards application and the need for the SSH client connect...

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What is your primary use case for JAMS?

My main use case for JAMS is to install, set up, and configure for customers working with JD Edwards application. A s...

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

I was not directly involved in the pricing, setup cost, and licensing decisions for ActiveBatch by Redwood, so my exp...

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What needs improvement with ActiveBatch Workload Automation?

ActiveBatch by Redwood could be improved with a more modern and intuitive user interface, faster performance for very...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ActiveBatch Workload Automation?

My main use case for ActiveBatch by Redwood is enterprise workload automation, job scheduling, and orchestrating busi...

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Comparisons

Control-M vs JAMS

Compared 12% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs JAMS

Compared 9% of the time

Stonebranch vs JAMS

Compared 8% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs JAMS

Compared 6% of the time

Nintex Process Platform vs JAMS

Compared 3% of the time

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Control-M vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 11% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 5% of the time

Stonebranch vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 5% of the time

Camunda vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 5% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs ActiveBatch by Redwood

Compared 2% of the time

More ActiveBatch by Redwood Competitors

UiPath Platform vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

Control-M vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

Stonebranch vs VisualCron

Compared 6% of the time

CData Arc vs VisualCron

Compared 4% of the time

More VisualCron Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

JAMS

August 2026

Download JAMS product report

Buyer's Guide

ActiveBatch by Redwood

August 2026

Download ActiveBatch by Redwood product report

Buyer's Guide

VisualCron

July 2026

Download VisualCron product report

Also Known As

No data available

ActiveBatch

No data available

Interactive Demo

JAMS Software

Demo not available

ActiveBatch by Redwood

Demo not available

SMA Technologies

Overview

JAMS is an automation orchestration and job scheduling solution that runs, monitors, and manages critical IT processes from a single console, from simple batch jobs to complex, cross-platform workflows. JAMS automates jobs across Windows, Linux, UNIX, IBM i, z/OS, and OpenVMS, with native integrations for the databases, BI tools, and ERP systems already running your business, including SQL Server and SAP. Jobs run on any schedule or trigger off other events, and dependency management keeps multi-step workflows in the right order.

Every job is centrally monitored, with notifications on success or failure and an audit trail of every execution. Built-in conversion tools migrate existing jobs from Windows Task Scheduler, SQL Agent, or Cron without rebuilding them, and JAMS replaces homegrown, single-platform scripts with one centrally managed system.

JAMS includes two AI capabilities at no additional cost. JAX is an AI agent built into the JAMS Web Client. Ask it a question in plain language, and it finds a job, troubleshoots a failure, or looks up how to do something, grounded in JAMS documentation, not general AI guesswork. It acts only when asked, and every change waits for your approval. JAMS MCP brings JAMS into the AI coding tools teams already use, including Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, and Claude Desktop.

Both run inside the customer's network with the signed-in user's permissions and no elevated AI account, and every action, AI-driven or not, lands in the same audit trail as everything else in JAMS.

For teams managing thousands of jobs across SQL Server, ADF, Airflow, SAP, JDE, and Banner, this cuts tribal knowledge and middle-of-the-night troubleshooting. Knowledge that once lived in one person's head becomes something any team member can ask about directly.

The AI lives in the product, not in the support queue. Support is staffed by humans JAMS will never outsource, based in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. New tickets go to long-tenured engineers, and every JAMS customer has the CEO's cell phone number.

JAMS' mission is to reduce the operational burden of critical automation, so teams spend more time on the work automation was meant to free them for.

JAMS Software

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

VisualCron offers task automation through a visual interface, eliminating the need for programming skills. With capabilities like alerting and variable usage, users benefit from integration with databases, timely task execution, and cross-platform operations.

VisualCron empowers users by simplifying complex workflows. It allows seamless task automation through features like interactive scheduling and role-based operations. Users appreciate its integration capabilities, replacing multiple tools with a comprehensive automation solution. The support system ensures quick assistance, making it a reliable choice for workflow visualization and task execution. However, areas like error handling and interface design require enhancements for improved user experience.

What are the key features of VisualCron?

Visual Interface: Users automate tasks without needing programming skills.
Integration: Connects with databases and multiple systems to streamline operations.
Alerting: Notifies users about tasks and system statuses.
Task Scheduling: Allows interactive management of automated tasks.
Credentials Management: Enables cross-platform operations securely.

What benefits can users expect when evaluating VisualCron?

Increased Efficiency: Reduces the time spent on manual processes.
Cost Reduction: Eliminates the need for multiple tools by consolidating functionalities.
Enhanced Support: Offers robust post-sales support for quicker assistance.
Streamlined Workflows: Simplifies complex task automation.

Organizations leverage VisualCron in industries like finance and logistics to automate tasks such as encryption and secure file transfers. It's also integral in managing data operations, facilitating communications between systems, and executing SQL jobs, enhancing operational efficiency across sectors.

SMA Technologies

Sample Customers

Teradata, Arconic, General Dynamics, Yum!, CVS Health, Comcast, Ghiradelli, & Boston’s Children’s Hospital

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

7 Eleven, ABB Sécheron SA, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Amazon Europe Core, Apple, Assa Abloy, Aston Martin, Banco Santander, BMW (Australia)

Buyer's Guide

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. VisualCron

August 2026

Free Report: ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. VisualCron

Find out what your peers are saying about ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. VisualCron and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.

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