Automic Automation vs OpCon vs Stonebranch comparison

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93% willing to recommend

Automic Automation

OpCon

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Automic Automation, OpCon, and Stonebranch based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about BMC, Broadcom, Redwood Software and others in Workload Automation.

To learn more, read our detailed Workload Automation Report (Updated: May 2025).

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Workload Automation

May 2025

Helped 857,585 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:

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Workload Automation category, the mindshare of Automic Automation is 7.2%, up from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpCon is 1.8%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Stonebranch is 4.8%, up from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Workload Automation

Featured Reviews

Peter Grundler

Senior Consultant at Tricise

Helps to move away from manual tasks and offers wide platform support and web-based interface

Customers want to move away from manual monitoring and checking processes. Automating these processes helps in time-saving and reduces human error. When you automate business processes, it reduces mistakes. It eliminates the risk of manual errors such as typos. There is a 20% to 30% reduction in human error. It fulfills all the needs when it comes to visibility and control across various operating platforms. It is the perfect product for managing processes that span multiple operating platforms. Automic Automation has the widest platform support compared to other products, such as Control-M, Tivoli from IBM, or Stonebranch. It definitely helps with compliance processes. We have had a lot of customers for two years with a focus on compliance, and it works. They were successful. Due to the fact that our customers can automate a lot of things, it reduces operating costs. It is hard to give a number because the savings are different for each customer. If a customer never had any automation, there could be about 80% savings after implementing Automic Automation, whereas for a customer who already has automated tasks, the difference will be less by adding Automic Automation. They might see 5% to 10% more savings. Automic Automation helps improve our ability to meet SLAs. In the recent versions, SLA management has been integrated, which previously was an external component. Because a lot of customers used it and asked Broadcom to implement SLA management into the workload engine, Broadcom included it. We see more and more customers running their SLA management via the Automic Automation product.

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Jose Rivera Hernandez

Senior VP of Technology at Triangle Credit Union

Helps automate all kinds of jobs and it's worth the price because it saves a lot of time and money

One problem that I had with them when we got SMA Technologies is that sometimes the jobs fail, but they automatically restart. SMA Technologies automatically gets a notification that the job has failed, and they restart it on their end, so now, we have the job restarting twice. There were times when we came into the office in the morning, and we had two files because the job ran twice. I do not know if the system can prevent a job from running the second time. If a job has run successfully, or it is running, it should not run again.

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Siddharth Matalia

Senior Technical Specialist at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Good GUI and has helpful support but needs a mobile app

This was a migration project where we provided our database, the previous one, and there was a tool that automatically converted the awarded job into Stonebranch. All the conversion was done from the Stonebranch side, and we got a person as well from Stonebranch during migration. There was a person who worked with us a decade back for the AutoSys install as well. He was well aware of our environment, so he helped us a lot. It was easy. It was not that complex. It is much more GUI. That said, we are looking for how the various automation can be done since, through command lines, you can create a number of jobs. While you are creating a single job, it takes 15 minutes with the GUI, however, if you go for the command line, within two or three minutes, your job gets completed. We have built our own solution for automation using some REST API and all those various integrations. It is working for our organization right now. However, we are requesting some kind of solution from Stonebranch. They should have been providing that to us already. For deployment, three or four people were engaged with the setup on their side. To manage everything, they provided us with a person who required help to manage it. Eventually, since it was a cloud platform on their side, if there is some configuration necessary, which they do it. They get a notification, and they fix it very immediately if there is an issue. The response time is very good from their side, and we don't have to worry about maintenance.

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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

"We use it with automation, getting more speed to solve business processes."

"The most important and critical process business in the bank, including COB, close of business, which has to run on a daily basis, is automated."

"The scheduling feature is very user-friendly."

"One of the big features that they did implement, that a lot of people, us included, were asking for for a long time, is the ability to do zero downtime upgrades. They have introduced that."

"Automic Automation's primary advantage over competitors lies in its robust SAP integration."

"We use it in every aspect of our IT operations, and the scalability is very good."

"It's easy to train other people. A new developer could come in and learn it very quickly."

"The solution is usually pretty easy for non-technical people to pick it up as long as they have basic experience with scripting."

More Automic Automation pros

"There are three features which are valuable: the automated calendar functions; the notification process for failed jobs or unscheduled events occurring, via email and text messaging; and the ability for the scheduling package to communicate across multiple platforms."

"We recently did a branch acquisition of another bank, though not a full bank. With that, we had to convert all of their ACH transactions. It was a very complicated product that we received from our core provider, Fiserv, for some translation programs. It was very cumbersome to run through the process, convert it out, get output files, etc. Without anyone touching it, I was able to automate the full process from pulling in the files from this other bank, converting everything needed, and posting it to our customer's account 24-hours throughout the day."

"It seems like it would scale well."

"The most valuable features are its integration into Windows, into VM, and into AIX, as well as SQL."

"The image scanning and anti-malware features are really valuable."

"The automation part of OpCon is the most valuable for us, with all the core processing. It's really mostly hands-off unless we have failures. In our old days, we'd spend a good part of the day doing processing via manual tasks. We don't have to do any of that any longer."

"The most valuable feature is the self-service because it has made it possible to provide simple and quick solutions in the handling of certain tasks."

"Auto-scheduling is the most valuable feature. We have the ability to schedule [batch jobs on our Unisys mainframes] seven days in advance, so we know exactly how we're running every night."

More OpCon pros

"When it comes to agent technology and compatibility with other vendors, from a platform perspective it was the one vendor that fit all the platforms that we have, from your old platforms - mainframe, NSK, IBM i - to the new ones, going into cloud and container"

"Stonebranch performs well, and the graphical representation is excellent. Overall, it requires more technical effort from our teams, but the solution is intuitive, so anybody can use it."

"We lean a lot on the multi-tenancy that they offer within the product, the ability to get other people to self-manage their estate, versus having a central team do all the scheduling."

"I can name the aliases on the agent, so if we need a passive environment for an agent, that's one of the nice features. If our primary goes down, I can bring up the passive one and I don't have to change anything in the scheduling world. It will start running from that new server."

"I love the Universal Controller. It's been great for us. We host it on-premise... It's High Availability, meaning there's failover from one server to the other if one goes down."

"The Universal Agent is the most valuable feature. Being agent-based and being able to go across multiple technology stacks, which is what our workflows do, Stonebranch gives us the ability to bridge those disparate technologies. It enables us to remove the dependency-gap with the agent so we know the status of the workflow at each step."

"The interface is very user-friendly and easy to navigate."

"The tasks are incredibly capable, and as long as you name them with a nice, uniform naming convention, they are very useful. You can create some interesting workflows through various machines, or you can just have it kick off single tasks. All in all, I really like the Universal Task. You can do some mutually exclusive stuff, such as an "A not B" kind of thing. It has a lot of capabilities behind the scenes."

More Stonebranch pros

Cons

"The versioning and support for the lifecycle of Automic's developed solution is what we were missing. However, this is coming in version 12.2, so I am looking forward to seeing how it works."

"The frustration that we have probably had in the past is where CA tools run for a period of time, then they get deprecated, and you have to build a new one."

"I would like to see the event engine in the next release."

"The scalability is limited by the SQL in the background, and that is a problem."

"Some of the things we don't do are mainly because we don't know how to do them. Hands-on training can be expensive, so we find other ways to work around things to forgo the hands-on training. It is also an issue because we are a Linux shop and most trainers are Windows-based."

"In talking with other customers as well, they would like to see a few enhancements done where you can pull in outside data sources to get a cumulative view from one centralized place."

"The stability is not as good as it was in former years. Stability has gone down from version to version."

"I would like a good AWI in the next release. The AWI is not fully functional at this time."

More Automic Automation cons

"The solution has quite a learning curve for beginners. It's challenging. I wouldn't rate it as super-easy to automate processes. It's medium-weight. I've used more complex software, but I've used simpler software."

"There is a learning curve. We had to go to class, learn, and take their training classes, then come back. We got assistance from OpCon as well to convert our processes on the Unisys machine over to the IBM. Now, when we add new products, it's pretty straightforward to write a new process and schedule it, then run it at a set time of day."

"I think that they're working on this, but I wish that there was a more centralized area to be able to see what other people are doing... They have a community platform for OpCon users, but I want to see more of where somebody is doing this process in that way. They have a great community platform right now, but I feel that it could be developed."

"The UI refresh rate is really bad and needs improvement."

"It would be great if you could create physically separate "clients," as I call them. I wish I could have a production client and a testing client and that they would be separate."

"There is one feature that has been a difficult problem, and right now, OpCon can't do it. I'm not sure if it should be expected to, but we have tried to get it to where it could start a process on an external database."

"The products are extremely powerful and capable. Anytime you have such capability, the programming/configuration that goes into making it work can be complicated."

"One problem that I had with them when we got SMA Technologies is that sometimes the jobs fail, but they automatically restart. SMA Technologies automatically gets a notification that the job has failed, and they restart it on their end, so now, we have the job restarting twice. There were times when we came into the office in the morning, and we had two files because the job ran twice."

More OpCon cons

"One hiccup we've had is due to the fact that we have other internal scheduling tools. We're able to talk to them, but we have trouble with some of the networking between them, so we're still trying to work out the kinks there."

"Stonebranch Universal Automation Center could improve the analytics."

"The Universal Controller is decent for the money it costs... It needs some work to have full features, compared to other products that are out there, specifically IBM's Workload Scheduler."

"There is a component called the OMS, which is the message broker. We rely on infrastructure, resiliency, and availability for that piece. If that could change to be highly available just as a software component, so that we don't have to provide the high-available storage, etc. for it, that would be a plus. It would just be cheaper to run."

"It's not available on the cloud, so they should take that due to safety, security, and scalability."

"It can't handle negative written codes."

"It would be ideal if they had the exact same features as the CA Workload Automation DE series. It would be helpful to have calendaring options."

"Occasionally, we have an agent that doesn't come back up after patching. That doesn't happen very often... It's really just a restart of the agent and it comes back up. But that might be one thing that could be improved."

More Stonebranch cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is a support system for us, not our core business, so we purchased this product inexpensively."

"Pricing is a big issue for some of them because Broadcom changed the way of calculating the price. People have been their customers for the last five or ten years, but Broadcom decided to change the way of licensing by moving to the number of jobs runs and then they say that clients have to pay three million because they run one million jobs per day. The clients are quite surprised to see that the contract is not the same as before, and then they are afraid of paying more."

"We came to a very good deal, but it took us three years to finalize."

"Before I joined this company, Automic had a contract with its parent company, and their pricing was very competitive. However, when we split into multiple businesses, the contract increased significantly, becoming an expensive tool."

"It costs too much. That's why we are now looking at other products."

"Its price is way up there with BMC. It is a little bit on the expensive side."

"The pricing was client-wise, but they are changing it to execution-wise pricing. So, we are in negotiation."

"They have changed the pricing on their licensing, and it's cheaper than before."

More Automic Automation pricing and cost advice

"We currently renewed with one of their new technology bundles. It's around $36,000 annually. We run a query of our SQL in our SQL database to see how many jobs we run. They're charging us per usage and whatever add-ons you want to use with OpCon."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"Operating OpCon comes with a cost."

"While the overall cost is reasonable, I'm interested in exploring options for making the managed automation solution, specifically the mass solution, more cost-effective."

"Yearly, we're paying about $62,000. OpCon has an all-inclusive feature and module license, but you pay per task."

"Our license is for 1000 jobs. Including support, the license and upgrades are 2000 euros a month."

"Cost depends on your environment. We are doing stuff now with failover and recovery, so we have boosted our costs."

"Scaling is pricey."

More OpCon pricing and cost advice

"The price of the solution is at a medium level compared to the competition."

"Stonebranch is cheaper than Control-M, so many companies are using Stonebranch."

"Outside of licensing fees, there aren't any other costs."

"When we reviewed this solution against other vendors, Stonebranch blew everybody out of the water in terms of cost."

"I don't have pricing information, but I do know it's cheaper than our old legacy system. Other than the standard licensing fees there are no additional costs."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

17%

Computer Software Company

12%

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

46%

Financial Services Firm

19%

Government

Real Estate/Law Firm

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Automic Workload Automation?

It is easy to manage complex workloads and use electronic workflow automation.

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

The pricing was client-wise, but they are changing it to execution-wise pricing. So, we are in negotiation.

What needs improvement with Automic Workload Automation?

The support and knowledge of incident management could be enhanced. There have been unresolved issues persisting for ...

What do you like most about OpCon?

My favorite feature is the dashboard feature, which shows jobs that are running, and completed, any failures, and pro...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpCon?

I am the one who signs the contract. In the beginning, when I started working here, it seemed very expensive, but aft...

What needs improvement with OpCon?

One problem that I had with them when we got SMA Technologies is that sometimes the jobs fail, but they automatically...

Control-M vs Automic Automation

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Comparisons

Compared 29% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs Automic Automation

Compared 14% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs Automic Automation

Compared 9% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs Automic Automation

Compared 8% of the time

HCL Workload Automation vs Automic Automation

Compared 1% of the time

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Control-M vs OpCon

Compared 31% of the time

VisualCron vs OpCon

Compared 12% of the time

IBM Workload Automation vs OpCon

Compared 10% of the time

UiPath Platform vs OpCon

Compared 10% of the time

AppWorx Workload Automation vs OpCon

Compared 5% of the time

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Control-M vs Stonebranch

Compared 30% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs Stonebranch

Compared 14% of the time

AutoSys Workload Automation vs Stonebranch

Compared 14% of the time

ESP Workload Automation Intelligence vs Stonebranch

Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Download Automic Automation product report

Automic Automation

June 2025

Download OpCon product report

OpCon

May 2025

Download Stonebranch product report

May 2025

Also Known As

Automic Dollar Universe

No data available

Stonebranch Universal Automation Center

Overview

Automic Automation is employed for migration assistance, digital business automation, integration with platforms, ITIL process workflows, batch processing, disaster recovery, scheduling ERP batch jobs, and automation within finance and telecom sectors.

Businesses implement Automic Automation across on-premises and cloud infrastructures, supporting SAP, mainframes, host systems, and other environments. Valued for its versatility and out-of-the-box integration capabilities, it enhances automation efficiency and reduces operational costs. The platform is known for its robust object-oriented workflow, zero-downtime upgrades, CI/CD pipeline integration, and multi-client architecture. Enhanced stability, scalability, user-friendliness, and compliance are notable benefits.

What are the key features?

Versatile Scheduler: Manage complex schedules effortlessly.
Object-Oriented Workflow: Robust and flexible workflow management.
Zero-Downtime Upgrades: Continuous operation without interruptions.
CI/CD Integration: Seamless incorporation into development pipelines.
Multi-Client Architecture: Supports diverse and multiple client environments.
Unique Scripting Language: Enhances customizability and automation.
Predictive Analytics: Improved job execution and performance insights.
Intuitive GUI: Simplifies job and workflow management.

What benefits or ROI should be evaluated?

Enhanced Stability: Reliable operations across environments.
Scalability: Easily adapts to growing business needs.
Reduced Operational Costs: Streamlined automation processes lower expenses.
Compliance Assurance: Ensures adherence to regulations and standards.

Automic Automation is widely used in finance and telecom industries, addressing unique challenges and demands. It integrates with Broadcom products and supports SAP environments, ensuring well-rounded automation and operational efficiency. While technical support and vendor assistance could improve, businesses find value in its scheduling, deployment options, and workflow visibility. The industry's capability to manage cloud systems and SaaS deployment helps in mitigating disaster recovery issues and facilitates smoother ITIL process workflows.

Broadcom

OpCon automates batch processing, core system operations, file transfers, and daily processing. Integrated across Unisys, Windows, and cloud systems, OpCon is used in financial institutions, credit unions, and multi-platform environments for job scheduling, report generation, SQL queries, scripting, and FTP processes, handling thousands of jobs daily.

Users value OpCon for comprehensive automation capabilities, particularly the scheduling feature that allows advance planning and streamlined workflows. The self-service functionality enables non-IT staff to manage tasks efficiently. OpCon's integration with core banking systems, robust job management, and error notification system significantly improve operational efficiency. Features like Solution Manager enhance accessibility and control, ensuring process continuity and ease of use.

What are the Key Features of OpCon?

Advanced Scheduling: Allows users to plan and automate workflows efficiently.
Self-Service Functionality: Empowers non-IT staff to manage tasks independently.
Integration with Core Systems: Works seamlessly with core banking systems and other platforms.
Error Notifications: Provides robust error management and notifications for quick resolution.
Solution Manager: Enhances control and accessibility for managing automated processes.

What Benefits Should You Look for in Reviews?

Operational Efficiency: Users often report improved operational performance and reduced manual effort.
Time Savings: Automation of repetitive tasks leads to significant time savings.
Improved Accuracy: Automated systems minimize human error, leading to higher accuracy in processes.
Cost Reduction: Optimized resource usage results in cost savings.
Enhanced Flexibility: Customizable workflows meet unique business requirements.

Users find OpCon complex with a steep learning curve. Desired improvements include better separation of environments, enhanced graphical display, finer user authorization, simpler notification and alerts, more templates, increased web functionality, seamless interface, integration tools, online training, smoother scheduling, better reporting, mobile accessibility, smarter self-service, improved mainframe support, and integration with third-party systems. Pricing model and licensing could be more streamlined.

In financial institutions and credit unions, OpCon is implemented to handle thousands of daily jobs, automate internal processes, and integrate workflows across various platforms. It ensures secure file transfers, generates detailed reports, executes SQL queries, and supports seamless third-party integrations.

SMA Technologies

Stonebranch automates enterprise-level workload and task scheduling across platforms like Linux, Windows, and mainframe, managing thousands of daily tasks for improved efficiency and visibility.

Stonebranch enables organizations to streamline job scheduling by replacing older systems with a robust solution that automates complex workflows, batch processing, and secure file transfers. Its compatibility with multiple platforms and enhanced visibility aid teams in efficiently managing business processes, database interactions, and IT workflows. Equipped with a Universal Controller and Agent, it provides seamless integration across diverse systems, empowering users with greater control over their tasks. While it fosters digital transformation, there are opportunities for enhancements in areas like graphical workflow overviews and API functionality.

What features does Stonebranch offer?

User-friendly interface for intuitive navigation
Robust agents ensuring reliable task execution
Comprehensive workflow automation tools
Platform-agnostic compatibility for diverse systems
Secure file transfer capabilities
High scalability for growing needs
Effective error handling features

What benefits should users expect?

Improved efficiency in task management
Streamlined processes reducing operational complexities
Enhanced visibility and control over workflows
Seamless integration with existing systems
Support for digital transformation initiatives

Organizations in industries such as finance and healthcare implement Stonebranch for its ability to automate complex processes, manage mainframe and distributed environments, and securely transfer sensitive data. Its platform-agnostic nature caters to the demanding needs of these industries, providing a reliable backbone for essential operations.