Appian RPA vs Microsoft Power Automate comparison

Appian and Microsoft are both solutions in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category. Appian is ranked #15 with an average rating of 9.0, while Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.8. Appian holds a 0.5% mindshare in RPA, compared to Microsoft’s 20.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Appian users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Appian RPA and Microsoft Power Automate based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Microsoft and others in Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

To learn more, read our detailed Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

June 2025

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Helped 856,873 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

Automate

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Automate is 1.7%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Appian RPA is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Power Automate is 20.0%, down from 21.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Featured Reviews

Anabel Marco

Account Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Automates processes efficiently with cost-effective scaling and robust customer support

Web scraping is quite good since it offers a lot of possibilities. Another important feature for me is its compatibility with MBI, the Power that is ISEQUADO Centers. I appreciate the ability to scale and increase the number of bots or studios without additional expense. Automate's non-reliance on additional orchestrators makes it quite cost-effective.

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MikahSellers

Partner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees

Efficient automation with substantial ROI and innovative UI enhancements

We were automating customer experience workflows for the contact center, including systems like CRM, service desk solutions, CCaaS solutions, and pulling data from ERPs It allowed us to reduce the level of effort to complete contact processes from one hundred fifty seconds to ninety seconds,…

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MohammedIdais

Senior Operations and Group Information Technology Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Facilitate informed decision-making through data analytics and efficient process automation

The most valuable feature for me is the process mining capability. It helps show the optimal way to utilize a process by discovering, validating, and improving the process automation. For example, when building a process from start to end, I may not be sure if it is efficient or optimized. This feature provides validation and improvement of the process using process mining. Additionally, it has amazing integration capabilities with multiple systems, directly working with the database.

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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

"The pricing is excellent. I would give them perfect marks in that regard."

"Fortra's Automate performs the job effectively and has the capability to alert us of any issues."

"Web scraping is quite good since it offers a lot of possibilities."

"I actually quite liked the no-coding functionality."

"Compared to other vendors, it's the scheduling tool because a lot of vendors want to charge you extra for their enterprise-level license to have a scheduling tool built in to give you the ability to set up regular schedules to run and do certain data checks."

"We have found the pricing to be very reasonable."

"I would rate the technical support as a nine out of ten because it is quite fast and courteous."

"Automate increases efficiency and eliminates errors during documentation and invoicing processes."

More Automate pros

"Appian RPA is super easy to use, offering low code, no code capabilities."

"Microsoft Power Automate offers over 200 connectors that enhance the user experience."

"I have found the scheduling and email notifications features to very good compared to other RPA tools I have used."

"We have a good overview of our processes now thanks to Power Automate."

"It makes work easier."

"Its integration with SharePoint and Outlook is the most valuable. I found it very easy to use. I could do everything that I wanted very quickly, and I didn't have any complications at all. I never had a problem in using Microsoft Power Automate."

"The initial setup isn't too difficult."

"It has a gamut of things. Power Automate is easy to configure. It is more for a citizen developer. It is low code/no code. It is one of the easiest tools when it comes to configuration. By default, we have a lot of Microsoft products on our laptops or desktops. So, it is very easy to configure the remaining products."

"The sequencer programming mode's ease of use is its most valuable aspect. The ease of calling out the functions in a sequence, basically from the functional side, is great."

More Microsoft Power Automate pros

Cons

"Some companies have asked for voice integration. This is likely part of the roadmap."

"There is a lack of good development for artificial intelligence, such as machine learning."

"The documentation is not that great."

"The product also has a limited use case in some respects."

"The workflow for variables could be better. The input and output of task-level variables could be made a little clearer in terms of passing those around from one task to another upon success, etc. Things like that could be a little easier potentially."

"It would be an improvement if Automate had better stability tools, whether by recommending a certain amount of memory because it can be a memory hog at times."

"The interface could be more user-friendly and easier to navigate."

"They do not encrypt passwords, so this is an issue with HIPAA compliance."

More Automate cons

"There are not any areas that need improvement off the top of my head."

"While Microsoft has a way of integrating well with itself and its own internal tools, it could do more to include external options and add them to the mix."

"Microsoft Power Automate's basic activities are not strong."

"We find the solution to be not that user-friendly, and might be using the older version, which really did not have a lot of features, so my review is mostly based on the older version."

"Their OCR capabilities are not as evolved as the other tools."

"There should be more transparency when it comes to which features accompany the pricing, as there appear to be hidden features of which I am not aware."

"We expect Microsoft Power Automate to work like any other RPA software, but at present, it is fairly lax, especially in the RPA space. We have a very limited set of use cases today for Microsoft Power Automate. Microsoft should make it a full-featured RPA product like other solutions that we use, such as Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath. This is predominantly the area that they need to improve on. Microsoft Power Automate is quite complex to use as well, especially if you want to do advanced workflows or advanced automation. The regular simple workflows are quite easy and straightforward, but the moment you want to do something complex, it is almost impossible for one of our employees to work on it."

"From an improvement perspective, Microsoft just needs to make sure that they have a real enterprise RPA tool. PowerApps and Power Automate are still not at the level of UiPath and Automation Anywhere. It could be because Automation Anywhere and UiPath have been in the market for quite some time. It's just about Microsoft increasing their focus in terms of product reviews and development and making them competitive products that one can consider at an enterprise level. Right now, their use cases are limited as compared to what one would consider doing with UiPath and Automation Anywhere."

"The solution's licensing model is very complex and not straightforward."

More Microsoft Power Automate cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is a bit high for a small business like ours, but we manage with Fortra's Automate."

"Compared to other products, the pricing model for this solution is much more convenient, flexible, and adaptable to the Portuguese reality."

"From a distributor's perspective, one of the biggest selling points of Automate is its price point."

"I believe the price falls within a reasonable range, which significantly influenced our decision regarding the product. This aspect is crucial for any technological solution, especially in our country where enterprises might be hesitant to invest heavily in something untested or uncertain about its practicality and potential returns."

"I'm only involved in running the product and maintaining the systems, so I can't speak to the cost."

"From a distributor's side, one of the biggest selling points is its price point. Without going into any numbers, compared to UiPath, Automation Anywhere, and Blue Prism, we're significantly cheaper. The main difference is that other competitors usually charge you per process. However, in Automate's case, it's priced per bot. So, a bot can run multiple processes at the same time, but you are only priced for a single bot."

"It has gone up in price. The price of Fortra's Automate has increased since we first started using it. It does a lot but also costs a lot. It was a lot more affordable before Fortra owned the software."

"It comes with a package that costs approximately $20,000 USD per year."

More Automate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

"The license cost could be better."

"The solution is $150 per month for the unattended add-on, and the normal Power Automate comes with an E3 license."

"This solution can save money when used for simple tasks specifically using only Microsoft products."

"There are many different ways to license it."

"I believe one of the advantages of this device is its low cost."

"It costs us nothing because we use it on the built-in cost that is a part of our existing license for 365. To use it more extensively, there are different pricing models. Its licensing is complex. It is complex to evaluate the cost in advance. As a result, people don't use it because they don't know what overall cost they are going to incur. There are too many criteria to figure out how much it is going to cost you to use the product to its full extent. Its licensing model should be improved, and the pricing should be more visible and transparent."

"I am not aware of the recent pricing model, but during the time that I was using this solution is was reasonable."

"Licensing is on an annual basis."

More Microsoft Power Automate pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Financial Services Firm

22%

Insurance Company

18%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HelpSystems AutoMate?

We use it for specific cases, mainly secure file transfers, which are vital for us. And it works for us.

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What is your primary use case for HelpSystems AutoMate?

I am a consultant and I am making a lot of processes in human resources, payroll, certifications, trainings, web scra...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra Automate?

The pricing is quite good compared to its competitors. Competitors are often more expensive than Automate. I would ra...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Appian RPA?

I didn't handle payments or costs. We recommended infrastructure stacks to our clients, who implemented them, and we ...

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What needs improvement with Appian RPA?

There are not any areas that need improvement off the top of my head. It has been 18 months since I worked with the e...

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What is your primary use case for Appian RPA?

We were automating customer experience workflows for the contact center, including systems like CRM, service desk sol...

See all answers

RPA that Bots can run without centralized control?

Yes, Attended Bots which can run without centralized control Module. RPA Tools like Automation Anywhere, uiPath ,Pow...

See all answers

How do I choose between UiPath and Microsoft Power Automate?

Microsoft‌ ‌Power‌ ‌Automate‌ ‌is‌ ‌intuitive‌ ‌and‌ ‌easy‌ ‌to‌ ‌integrate‌ ‌and‌ ‌use.‌ ‌I‌ ‌like‌ ‌that‌ ‌there‌ ‌...

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How is Automation Anywhere compared to Microsoft Power Automate?

‌Neither‌ ‌solution‌ ‌requires‌ ‌any‌ ‌coding‌ ‌experience,‌ ‌and‌ ‌both‌ ‌are‌ ‌easy‌ ‌to‌ ‌use‌ ‌and‌ ‌have‌ ‌great...

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Comparisons

UiPath Platform vs Automate

Compared 33% of the time

Blue Prism vs Automate

Compared 9% of the time

Automation Anywhere vs Automate

Compared 8% of the time

VisualCron vs Automate

Compared 7% of the time

MOVEit vs Automate

Compared 5% of the time

More Automate Competitors

UiPath Platform vs Appian RPA

Compared 66% of the time

Blue Prism vs Appian RPA

Compared 34% of the time

More Appian RPA Competitors

UiPath Platform vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 22% of the time

Blue Prism vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 16% of the time

Automation Anywhere vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 14% of the time

IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 10% of the time

Celonis vs Microsoft Power Automate

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Power Automate Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automate

June 2025

Download Automate product report

Buyer's Guide

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

June 2025

Download Appian RPA product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Power Automate

May 2025

Download Microsoft Power Automate product report

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate

Jidoka RPA

Power Automate, Microsoft Flow, MS Power Automate, WinAutomation by Softomotive, ProcessRobot by Softomotive, Minit

Overview

Automate offers a user-friendly solution with a drag-and-drop interface for efficient task automation and integration with major platforms like SAP and Azure, making it ideal for quick deployment with minimal coding and training.

Automate provides powerful features for businesses seeking efficient automation, offering compatibility with databases, email integration, and cloud platforms. Its simple interface supports both beginners and experienced users, simplifying tasks like invoice processing, HR automation, and data transformation. Cost-effective pricing and flexible licensing enhance its appeal while integration capabilities and scheduling tools ensure smooth workflow automation.

What are Automate's Key Features?

Drag-and-Drop Interface: Simplifies automation with intuitive design.
Integration Capabilities: Connects with platforms like SAP and Azure for seamless data flow.
Database and FTP Triggers: Enhances automation potential through direct data interaction.
Efficient Scheduling: Automates tasks with precise timing and control.
Web Scraping: Automates data extraction for quick analysis and reporting.

What Benefits and ROI Should Users Expect?

Rapid Deployment: Minimizes coding efforts for quick implementation.
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers flexible pricing models to suit budget constraints.
Operational Efficiency: Reduces manual workloads and enhances productivity.
Comprehensive Integration: Facilitates improved data management across systems.
Scalability: Adapts to growing business needs with ease.

In industries such as healthcare, banking, and logistics, Automate is used for tasks like invoice payment automation, data transformation, and task automation. This leads to streamlined processes and reduced manual workload, illustrating its value in enhancing operational efficiency through diversified workflows.

Fortra

Appian RPA seamlessly integrates with the comprehensive Appian Platform for process automation, offering an end-to-end solution for streamlining workflows and automating repetitive tasks. With features like the Universal RPA Task Recorder and the Low-code Appian Process Modeler, users can quickly build and deploy bots without extensive coding knowledge. Appian RPA ensures governance, dynamic exception handling, secure deployment, and scalability, enabling organizations to maintain automation integrity while efficiently managing digital workers across various environments. By leveraging Appian RPA alongside Appian IDP, AI, business rules, and API integrations, businesses can achieve seamless process automation and drive value quickly, optimizing workflows between humans, digital workers, and systems. With Appian's unified platform for change, organizations can accelerate digital innovation, enhance business efficiency, and create end-to-end automation solutions tailored to their specific needs.

Appian

Microsoft Power Automate is a powerful tool that streamlines and automates tasks within an organization.

It is used for workflow automation, data integration, and creating automated notifications and approvals.

Power Automate connects different applications and services, such as SharePoint, Excel, and Outlook, to automate data transfer and synchronization.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Aldergrove Financial Group, Preferred Health Professionals, Mindbeam Technologies, First Credit Union in British Columbia, Vestcom International, Prime Liberty Benefits, University of Tampa, CNLBancshares, World Precision Instruments, BJ's Restaurants, Globe Pequot Press, Accudata Technologies, Norton Healthcare, Pacific Toxicology Laboratories

empark, talan, liverpool, ayesa, aeromexico, teknei

1. Coca-Cola 2. General Electric 3. Siemens 4. Accenture 5. Deloitte 6. Johnson & Johnson 7. Ford 8. Nestle 9. Procter & Gamble 10. IBM 11. Amazon 12. Google 13. Microsoft 14. Adobe 15. Cisco 16. Oracle 17. SAP 18. Intel 19. HP 20. Dell 21. Verizon 22. AT&T 23. T-Mobile 24. Walmart 25. Target 26. Home Depot 27. McDonald's 28. Starbucks 29. Nike 30. Apple 31. Facebook 32. Twitter

Buyer's Guide

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

June 2025

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Find out what your peers are saying about UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Microsoft and others in Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Updated: June 2025.

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