AWS Step Functions vs Control-M comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and BMC are both solutions in the Workload Automation category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #16 with an average rating of 8.0, while BMC is ranked #1 with an average rating of 9.4. Additionally, 77% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of BMC users who would recommend it.

AWS Step Functions

Read 10 AWS Step Functions reviews

139 Views
123 Comparison Views

77% willing to recommend

Control-M

Read 114 Control-M reviews

24,842 Views
9,214 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

AWS Step Functions

Control-M

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between AWS Step Functions and Control-M based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Workload Automation solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed AWS Step Functions vs. Control-M Report (Updated: September 2024).

Buyer's Guide

AWS Step Functions vs. Control-M

September 2024

Download the complete report

Helped 805,335 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

AWS Step Functions

Ranking in Workload Automation

16th

Average Rating

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Management (BPM) (12th)

Control-M

Ranking in Workload Automation

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Number of Reviews

114

Ranking in other categories

Process Automation (2nd), Managed File Transfer (MFT) (3rd)

Featured Reviews

Vladimir Shilov

DevSecOps at Ciklum ApS

Jan 12, 2024

Has the ability to visualize automated processes and logical parameters

I use Amazon Step Functions to visually design and simplify the development of functions, automate various tasks, and coordinate workflows across different AWS services. I also use it to streamline the development of my Azure tool by visually orchestrating Lambda Functions and integrating them with…

Read full review

reviewer2507619

Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Jul 5, 2024

Provides a centralized platform for monitoring and managing workflows

The product has enhanced the interface with a clear visual display of data and process batches, showing the completion status of workflows. It makes it easier to understand our organization's progress at a glance. The platform integrates with Jenkins, Ansible, Docker, and Kubernetes. It can schedule and manage container workflows. Integrating new solutions into the DevOps toolchain with the right approach and resources is straightforward. However, sometimes it can be complex. It offers excellent visibility and management capabilities. It provides a centralized platform for monitoring and managing workflows and job scheduling. It supports various scheduling options, including time-based, event-based, and condition-based scheduling, allowing users to automate complex workflows efficiently. It has simplified the process by streamlining the data workflow. It facilitates data extraction from sources, transforms it as needed, and loads it into the destination database. This comprehensive support for data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL). It is highly effective for building, scheduling, managing, and monitoring production workflows. For instance, it allows us to set up ETL processes to run at specific times, such as daily at midnight or in the morning. This precise scheduling ensures that all dependencies are met and tasks are executed in the correct sequence. For example, the transformation job is scheduled to start after the extraction job has been completed. Operational efficiency is crucial as it reduces processing time. Faster data flow means job workflows are completed more quickly, reducing processing time. It is essential for meeting tight deadlines and maintaining smooth operations. While numerous scheduling solutions are available, BMC's Control-M is highly effective for managing and orchestrating workflows across an enterprise.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's a general solution that you can adapt to your own needs and is simple to use. We like that it can be integrated with everything in the AWS suite, and that the creation of the pipeline can be done using the graphical user interface."

"It's Amazon, it's scalable."

"What I like the most about Amazon Step Functions is how easy it is to use."

"The integration capability is easy, whereas building state machines is tricky."

"It is a scalable solution."

"If you want to create a workflow to call one Lambda function after another, and other serverless features, it could save you a ton of money. That's for sure."

"One can rate all the calls and that is a good feature."

"The solution is stable...The solution is easy to scale."

More AWS Step Functions pros

"We used Control-M's Python Client and cloud data service integrations with AWS and, as a feature, it was very customizable. It gave us a lot of flexibility for customizing whatever data maneuver we wanted to do within a pipeline."

"I find it very helpful to be able to keep track of all our help desk tickets."

"The most valuable features are the managing of file transfers and the product keeping up with technology."

"The Control-M interface is good for creating, monitoring, and ensuring the delivery of files as part of our data pipeline. There's a wealth of information in both the full client, as well as the web interface that they have. Both are very easy to use and provide all the necessary material to understand how to do various tasks. The help feature is very useful and informative and everything is very easy to understand."

"Control-M is excellent when it comes to building, scheduling, managing, and monitoring production workflows. Those workflows are of very high importance to our operations."

"Self Service for repeatable, low impact workload automation processes."

"The reporting is top-notch. I haven't found any other applications on the market that can replicate what Control-M offers. The alerting is very good, and I think their service monitoring is the best in the industry."

"Maintaining and monitoring of workloads have been and continue to be the most valuable feature in our environment."

More Control-M pros

Cons

"The pricing of the solution can be improved."

"The solution's pricing could be cheaper. It is cheaper than Airflow."

"It wasn't easy to understand the licensing model. It's like if you use just a little, it's cheap, but it becomes more expensive as you use more. It's like a hook that ties you inside the Amazon ecosystem. So, it creates a dependency."

"I would like to see more data transformation features in Amazon Step Functions like additional operators and logic."

"Setup took about one day. We had some errors to understand in the beginning, but now everything is working good."

"If AWS Step Functions keeps adding more integrations, it would be even better."

"The price and support are areas with shortcomings where the solution needs to improve."

"The interface can sometimes feel limited, as we're unable to see what AWS is running behind the scenes."

More AWS Step Functions cons

"The company has been working with BMC on the MFT. There are still some things about MFT which don't work the way that we want with our needs. So, we would like to see that improved."

"We develop software. More frequently, we are working with microservices and APIs, using our integration tool, MuleSoft. While Control-M is really a good tool to integrate with other tools, it is important for them to continue improving their microservices and API."

"I would like to see more auditing capabilities. Right now, it has the basics and I've been trying to set those up to work with what our auditors are looking for."

"The unifying features between Control-M for different platforms needs improvement. The scheduling options on the Control-M mainframe jobs are different than they are on our Linux server. There are a few differences here and there."

"Its operations and infrastructure can be improved."

"The main area that could be improved would be documentation, just like every other software product out there!"

"Control-M doesn't have any dynamic reporting facilities or features."

"I think it's slightly expensive but at the same time it's a good product."

More Control-M cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"The solution's price is reasonable."

"We have account based licensing. There are two or three types of licensing. One of them is based on the number of jobs, so we a license close to 4,000 jobs per day. The cost is based on the different modules, which we buy from them. If we a buy a hardware module, which we are presently using and integrating, that is an additional cost, but I'm not sure of the amount. Each module comes with a different cost."

"The pricing is reasonable. It's not an exorbitant amount. The licensing is pretty reasonable for the number of jobs that we run."

"The license model is based on the number of jobs we run on the SaaS application or the number of executions, unlike the on-premise model options. If we have a handful of jobs, it's always good to consider Control-M, but if it's a large number of jobs, Control-M might not be a great option."

"The cost of the hardware is high. Because you need to license each job, it is costly."

"Compare to other tools Pricing and licensing was more. It should be decrease."

"we are more looking for a better cost/license/performance model because BMC, while we could say it's the best, is also the most expensive. That is what we are probably most annoyed with. We are paying something like €1,000,000 over three years for having 4,000 jobs running. That's expensive."

"Pricing can be steep, but you get what you pay for."

"You must accept that BMC licensing can be very confusing. No one can easily understand how they calculate things, whether it is user-based, job-based, or server-based. The calculation is quite tough. How BMC calculates licensing is not easily available anywhere."

More Control-M pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Workload Automation solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

805,335 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

33%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

28%

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 Amazon Step Functions?

The integration capability is easy, whereas building state machines is tricky.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Amazon Step Functions?

I worked with Step Functions about a year ago for six months. Currently, I don't have any use cases for Step Functions. But overall, I was pretty amazed with it. It has great integration with many ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Amazon Step Functions?

I would rate my experience with this product a ten out of ten. Step Functions obviously cannot solve every problem statement. But it makes sense for a wide range of use cases. Everything has some l...

See all answers

How does Control-M compare with AutoSys Workload Automation?

Control-M acts as a single, centralized interface for monitoring and managing all batch processes, which is helpful because nothing gets left unattended since it is all visible in one place, and th...

See all answers

What do you like most about Control-M?

First of all, the shift from manual to automation has been valuable. We have a tool that can automate.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Control-M?

The product price is reasonable. I rate the pricing an eight.

See all answers

Comparisons

Camunda vs AWS Step Functions

Compared 43% of the time

IBM BPM vs AWS Step Functions

Compared 18% of the time

Oracle BPM vs AWS Step Functions

Compared 7% of the time

Pega BPM vs AWS Step Functions

Compared 6% of the time

Appian vs AWS Step Functions

Compared 3% of the time

More AWS Step Functions Competitors

AutoSys Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 22% of the time

IBM Workload Automation vs Control-M

Compared 9% of the time

Automic Automation vs Control-M

Compared 7% of the time

Rocket Zena vs Control-M

Compared 6% of the time

Redwood RunMyJobs vs Control-M

Compared 5% of the time

More Control-M Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

AWS Step Functions

September 2024

Download AWS Step Functions product report

Buyer's Guide

Control-M

September 2024

Download Control-M product report

Also Known As

Amazon Step Functions, Step Functions

Control M

Learn More

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

BMC

Overview

AWS Step Functions enables orchestration of complex workflows, parallel task execution, and seamless integration with AWS services, simplifying ETL automation and data pipeline management.

With AWS Step Functions, developers streamline task automation and ensure smooth microservices orchestration. It simplifies development and manages interdependencies, validates data, and integrates AWS services for cost-effective workflows. It offers a user-friendly graphical interface for creating pipelines, scalable parallelization via the "map" state, control over historical events, and visualization with JSON. Enhanced by a dashboard-like view, it aids in visual workflows and debugging.

What are the most valuable features?

Seamless AWS Integration: Easily integrates with the entire AWS suite for efficient workflow creation.
User-Friendly Graphical Interface: Simplifies creating and managing workflows with visual tools.
Scalable Parallelization: Utilizes the "map" state for efficient parallel processing tasks.
Control Historical Events: Manages and controls historical data and events effectively.
Visualization and Debugging: Provides a dashboard-like view to enhance understanding and debugging.

What are the benefits and ROI to look for?

Streamlined Development: Simplifies orchestration and automates task management.
Cost-Effective Workflows: Creates efficient, cost-saving workflows by integrating with AWS services.
Enhanced Data Validation: Ensures data correctness by managing interdependencies.
Automation of ETL Jobs: Automates data extraction, transformation, and loading processes seamlessly.

In specific industries such as finance, healthcare, and e-commerce, enterprises implement AWS Step Functions to manage data pipelines, orchestrate microservices, and automate complex ETL jobs. They benefit from seamless integration with AWS services, enhanced data validation, and streamlined development, resulting in efficient and cost-effective workflows tailored to their operational needs.

Control-M is used for enterprise workload automation, orchestrating finance, retail, healthcare, and supply chain processes. It handles batch job scheduling, managed file transfers, cloud integrations, and compliance auditing across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments.

Organizations leverage Control-M to efficiently monitor and manage business-critical processes like payroll, HR, SAP, Informatica, and database tasks. It enhances visibility, security, and error resolution. Automating and optimizing workflows in data centers, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, Control-M supports diverse technological environments. The platform's robust capabilities make it suitable for effective centralized management of applications and data pipelines, ensuring enhanced collaboration and scalability.

What are Control-M's most important features?

Integration capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with various systems
Automation API: Facilitates automation through APIs
Managed File Transfer: Simplifies secure file transfers
GUI console: Intuitive graphical user interface
Role-based administration: Provides access control
Single-pane view: Centralized monitoring dashboard
Scheduling options: Flexible job scheduling
Workflow orchestration: Coordinates complex workflows
Reporting: Generates insightful reports
Monitoring: Tracks and manages tasks
Forecasting: Predicts future workloads
Self-service portal: Empowers users with self-service tools
Plugins: Extends functionality through additional plugins

What are the benefits or ROI of using Control-M?

Enhanced visibility: Centralized view of all processes
Ease of use: User-friendly interface
Error reduction: Minimizes manual errors
Improved collaboration: Facilitates teamwork
Scalability: Supports growth and scale
Support: Comprehensive customer support

Control-M is implemented in industries like finance to handle payroll and HR tasks, in retail for inventory management and supply chain processes, and in healthcare for compliance auditing and patient data processing. Organizations benefit from streamlined workflows and automated processes across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments, ensuring efficient and secure operations.

Sample Customers

Alpha Apps, The Guardian, SGK, Bigfinite

CARFAX, Tampa General Hospital, Navistar, Amadeus, Raymond James, Railinc

Buyer's Guide

AWS Step Functions vs. Control-M

September 2024

Free Report: AWS Step Functions vs. Control-M

Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Step Functions vs. Control-M and other solutions. Updated: September 2024.

DOWNLOAD NOW

805,335 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our AWS Step Functions vs. Control-M report.

See our list of best Workload Automation vendors.

We monitor all Workload Automation reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.