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Automation Anywhere vs Katalon Studio vs SmartBear TestComplete 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.8
Automation Anywhere offers varied ROI, with quick returns from task automation and improved efficiency despite initial costs.
Sentiment score
7.3
Katalon Studio is easy to adopt, saving 30%-40% costs, improving efficiency, and enhancing speed to market.
Sentiment score
6.8
SmartBear TestComplete automation saves time, enhances client satisfaction, and boosts efficiency, with annual savings of approximately $10,000.
In terms of cost, we participated in projects achieving two to three million dollars in annual savings.
As a return on investment, we have achieved a 250% ROI in six to nine months, and sometimes it increases up to 380% percent.
Automation Anywhere has helped us save money.
Once set up, only one person is needed to handle all tasks, reducing the requirement for multiple personnel.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Automation Anywhere's customer service is mixed, with praise for knowledgeable staff but concerns about response times and support quality.
Sentiment score
5.9
Katalon Studio's customer service is praised for its responsiveness, with improvements at enterprise-level, but has limitations for free versions.
Sentiment score
6.9
SmartBear TestComplete's customer support is knowledgeable but inconsistent, with delays and unresolved issues needing faster escalation and responses.
Whenever we need help, we can reach out to them, and they help us out.
We also have dedicated account managers and technical experts to solve our problems related to Automation Anywhere.
We just have to raise a ticket, after which we receive a call, email, or ping from the Automation Anywhere team.
Katalon's support is not very strong unless you opt for the enterprise version.
I encountered a couple of issues during the initial setup, but customer care resolved them quickly.
Documentation is good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Automation Anywhere is praised for scalability, enabling easy expansion and resource adjustment while efficiently accommodating diverse automation needs.
Sentiment score
6.9
Katalon Studio is cost-effective and scalable for small teams but less optimal for large-scale load testing.
Sentiment score
7.4
SmartBear TestComplete is scalable and adaptable, with flexible scripting, but may require licensing for wider deployment.
As we are using Microsoft Copilot for our AI agents, I look forward to integrating it with Automation Anywhere and its solutions, seeing it as a beneficial partnership as Automation progresses toward AI as the main solution.
For Windows-based applications, it provides UI interface automation, which enhances its scalability.
Automation Anywhere is highly scalable for both horizontal and vertical expansions.
It allows me to develop, run, and deploy test cases extensively.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Automation Anywhere's stability varies; reliable for some, issues arise with legacy systems and updates but improves with strong infrastructure.
Sentiment score
6.7
Katalon Studio is stable for most users, but complex projects and updates can cause crashes and integration issues.
Sentiment score
6.9
SmartBear TestComplete generally stable, but users report crashes, memory leaks, and HTML5 testing delays in certain scenarios.
With the latest applications, there are no significant issues like freezing or crashing.
From a stability and reliability perspective, we can remain confident that the product performs as an enterprise solution and meets expected standards.
If you have good best practices, reusable code, an effective framework, and a solid development methodology, bots can be very stable.
It needs more stability when test cases are executed.
Stability is important as it saves time and provides valuable reports to higher management for decision-making.
 

Room For Improvement

Automation Anywhere needs improved integrations, UI, debugging, support, scalability, pricing, and training resources for better adoption.
Katalon Studio faces scripting limitations, unreliable Object Spy, slow testing, stability issues, and lacks integration and support features.
SmartBear TestComplete faces challenges in object recognition, integrations, licensing, performance, and support across browsers and mobile devices.
It is better to write a Python script instead of using Automation Anywhere's package when dealing with Excel because it is buggy and tends to break.
Making the product more lightweight by reducing its dependency on infrastructure could greatly help in the long run.
It would be beneficial if the platform provided options for power developers to integrate seamlessly with languages like Java or C#, allowing them to write their own scripts and code.
Parallel execution is available, but not with the free version.
Providing clearer guidance during the trial period for certification and training modules would also help.
There is significant competition, so providing a good offer with extra features could be beneficial.
While using SmartBear TestComplete, we are fine with the current capabilities, however, it would be beneficial to improve some performance aspects, especially the image comparison feature.
 

Setup Cost

Automation Anywhere is costly for small businesses, with flexible pricing and discounts, yet challenges persist in price-sensitive markets.
Katalon Studio is cost-effective and competitive, though some advanced features may require costly licenses compared to alternatives.
SmartBear TestComplete's pricing and licensing receive mixed reviews, seen as both reasonable and costly depending on usage and modules.
It is more cost-efficient compared to all other RPA platforms.
Automation Anywhere costs are aligned with UiPath and Blue Prism, which are also expensive.
It is not cheap, with costs ranging between 700 to 800 dollars per month.
The approximate cost is around $8,000.
The pricing of Katalon Studio is affordable, making it a sensible option for those looking for an affordable range.
Katalon Studio is on the expensive side.
 

Valuable Features

Automation Anywhere simplifies bot creation with intuitive tools, AI-driven features, and strong integration, enhancing productivity and process automation.
Katalon Studio simplifies automated testing with versatile features, platform support, and user-friendly tools, favored for comprehensive test management.
SmartBear TestComplete excels in cross-platform automation, integration, and support for multiple languages, enhancing automated testing efficiency and maintenance.
I can set it up to provide users with a form to fill in all required information, and then the bot operates based on those specifications.
For example, the email module has been enhanced over the years to support all the latest authentication technologies. That is very important as we move away from username and password and embrace multi-factor authentication.
Automation Anywhere has undergone drastic changes over the past five years, transitioning from version 10 to A360, including desktop-based and cloud-based options.
We can schedule our test cases, and the report which we get can be shared with higher-level management.
Katalon Studio has the highest number of integrations compared to other tools at a similar price point, such as Jira, Brokerstack, and Jenkins.
The browser compatibility and self-healing capabilities are excellent, which helps keep the code updated.
The most valuable feature of SmartBear TestComplete for me is the image comparison functionality.
 

Featured Reviews

Vatsal Mehta - PeerSpot reviewer
Accommodates diverse use cases and effectively meets customer requirements
AI agents need further improvements. AI agent technology in agentic process automation is still evolving. We have only scratched the surface, and there are many potential use cases yet to be explored. As technology advances, I believe it will enable us to implement more comprehensive automation solutions. Document Automation has issues related to speed. When I compare Document Automation with IQ Bot, IQ Bot is faster than Document Automation. My understanding is that they are still evolving Document Automation, and this issue of slowness will be resolved in the upcoming .35 version, so we are good with that. They are working on signature identification and validations for handwritten documents. Currently, we are able to extract data out of scanned but digital images, but there is still scope for improvement for handwritten documents.
Appu Ashok - PeerSpot reviewer
Expansive integrations boost automation potential across devices
I am in the field of product research and am familiar with Katalon Studio for product comparisons and test automation. Even though I am not an active tester, I have created a few tests using Katalon Studio Some of our customers use Katalon Studio, however, our own product, Tangene, is a…
Prakhar Goel - PeerSpot reviewer
Used for integration automation, user-based automation, and web automation
The solution's most valuable features are the drag-and-drop feature, keyword-driven approach, and reusability of the scripts. The solution has introduced a new feature that helps us identify objects we cannot normally identify. It gives you a fair idea of objects, resolving the object recognition issue. The solution can be used to perform different tests on different machines.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
5%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Katalon Studio?
Katalon Studio is on the expensive side. I rated it eight on a scale where ten is very expensive. I recommend optimiz...
What needs improvement with Katalon Studio?
The pricing could be improved. Offering a discount on Katalon Studio licenses could encourage more users. There is si...
What do you like most about SmartBear TestComplete?
TestComplete has strong reporting capabilities. The reports they generate are really good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SmartBear TestComplete?
I am not involved in pricing or licensing; our management team handles these aspects.
What needs improvement with SmartBear TestComplete?
While using SmartBear TestComplete, we are fine with the current capabilities, however, it would be beneficial to imp...
 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
Coca-Cola Tesla Black Board TaTa Consultancy Services Sony
Cisco, J.P. Morgan, Boeing, McAfee, EMC, Intuit, and Thomson Reuters.
Find out what your peers are saying about Tricentis, OpenText, Katalon Studio and others in Regression Testing Tools. Updated: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.