Blue Prism vs VisualCron comparison

Why PeerSpot?

SS&C Blue Prism and SMA Technologies are both solutions in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category. SS&C Blue Prism is ranked #5 with an average rating of 9.0, while SMA Technologies is ranked #29. SS&C Blue Prism holds a 3.8% mindshare in RPA, compared to SMA Technologies’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of SS&C Blue Prism users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of SMA Technologies users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

Blue Prism and VisualCron are competing solutions in the field of process automation and scheduling tools. Blue Prism appears to have an advantage in automation capabilities with robust work queues, whereas VisualCron stands out in job scheduling efficiencies.

Features: Blue Prism provides advanced automation options with reusable processes, a robust work queue, and easy integration with existing systems. VisualCron specializes in job scheduling, job dependencies, and seamless connections with varied databases.

Room for Improvement: Blue Prism needs enhanced AI capabilities, wider integration options, and improved customer support. Its interface, especially in attended automation and OCR, could be modernized. VisualCron could benefit from a more streamlined user interface, better technical documentation, and faster customer support, possibly through a community forum.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Blue Prism offers multiple deployment options but faces criticism for slow customer support, impacting users' experience. VisualCron, available on similar platforms, is noted for straightforward licensing but relies heavily on community interactions for customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Blue Prism is often criticized for high costs, though some justify this with significant ROI. VisualCron provides a more competitive and simple licensing model, enhancing cost-efficiency for simpler job scheduling needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Blue Prism vs. VisualCron Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Blue Prism vs. VisualCron

September 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 915,287 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

Automation Anywhere

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Automation Anywhere is 5.2%, down from 9.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Blue Prism is 3.8%, down from 7.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VisualCron is 1.2%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Automation Anywhere	5.2%
Blue Prism	3.8%
VisualCron	1.2%
Other	89.8%

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash

Management Consultant at Accenture

Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions

Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.

Read full review

Tanweer Alam

Technology Architect at Infosys

Automation has delivered secure banking workflows and handles complex client applications efficiently

If we are talking about how Blue Prism has impacted the accuracy and speed of data processing in my tasks compared to UiPath, it is better than UiPath. There is no doubt about it. I will definitely recommend Blue Prism to other users and companies because, as I mentioned, when comparing UiPath and Blue Prism, I find that UiPath offers multiple online training opportunities. Compared to Blue Prism, I see that all the training materials, small videos, and diplomas are more readily available in UiPath, but I do not think everything is as accessible in Blue Prism. My overall rating for Blue Prism is ten out of ten because I worked almost five years in Blue Prism and my experience has been good.

Read full review

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…

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

"The valuable features of Automation Anywhere really are around the ease of use. Our RPA program focuses on citizen development, and all of the developers have full-time jobs as accountants, and then they work in automation on the side when time allows."

"The integrations of Automation Anywhere with the mainframe application for banking companies are among the most valuable features... we were able to create very good solutions integrated with that kind of platform using Automation Anywhere."

"Without thinking twice, I would recommend going for Automation Anywhere."

"When I compare it with other RPA tools, Automation Anywhere seems pretty good. It's a user-friendly tool. Anyone can easily understand it. If there is an error, you can easily debug it from the developer level. In Automation Anywhere, the error handling happens in the easiest way. In case of an error, we send an email. It's not too difficult code to understand. There's only beginning and ending error handling, which is easy to understand."

"I started my RPA journey with Automation Anywhere only because it is the best available solution in the market."

"Since our implementation, I can vouch for the fact that it is very easy to use. You do not need to know a lot of coding, even the business users, who have virtually no idea of coding, can easily operate it. They can run their bots and have the analysis ready for higher management. This is something which provides a great ease of use, and also in part why it is scalable."

"Automation Anywhere has minimized this risk, saving costs related to rectification and improving compliance adherence to avoid penalties in a tightly regulated industry."

"We have had a massive return on full-time employee resources that we have saved by just using Automation Anywhere."

More Automation Anywhere pros

"The use cases range from document ingestion, process enablement, and data management, including financial records cleanup."

"One key feature is the workflow design is able to be customized according to the way that you want the automation to work."

"Blue Prism is highly scalable and reliable."

"The most valuable features are the exception handling and embedded control room."

"We find all features valuable."

"It's fast to get up and running if you use a cloud deployment."

"From technical perspective, Blue Prism is pretty good."

"My company decided to go with Blue Prism because of the security it provides."

More Blue Prism pros

"Using the Windows Task Scheduler means you have to do some coding while using VisualCron means the tool takes care of the coding from the backend; you're just using the visual interface of VisualCron, creating the logic, and telling the tool what actions need to be performed, so VisualCron would take care of everything on the backend for you, which helps you manage time better."

"Support is AAA+, fast, and very detailed."

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

"It helped us reduce manual steps."

"VisualCron is a very powerful program to automate different steps in your business processes. We use it to automate replacing files and inform departments about the replacement."

"'ve only had a few cases where I've had to request support in the past 12 years of use, but the support response time and resolution were was extremely quick."

"What I found most beneficial from VisualCron is that you can directly connect it with different databases, user accounts, and credentials. You can run queries from one machine to another using the credentials, unlike PowerShell, that's run by the machine itself. With VisualCron, you can directly ask other machines and run requests through user credentials. Suppose you have an AWS or Azure environment. In that case, you can maintain the connection between on-premises and cloud-based machines, which is the type of setup in the organization I'm working for. You can directly call some of the services via VisualCron on your local on-premises machine, and I found that an excellent 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."

More VisualCron pros

Cons

"The bot creation process is straightforward in some ways and complicated in others. You can get your initial stuff laid out really quick, but then putting in your exception handling is more time consuming."

"Automation Anywhere is unable to connect to the database directly."

"From the IQ Bot perspective, frankly speaking, they still have to improve a lot... My expectation from a straight, technical, architectural point of view was that I would be able to create my own algorithm and integrate it. But with IQ Bot, I am not able to integrate anything..."

"It still uses old, deprecated Microsoft components that have an end date."

"There are occasional technical issues, particularly with cloud operations. Sometimes, the bot struggles to initiate on the cloud, even when everything appears in place."

"Its pricing definitely needs to be more competitive. When licensing costs are high, we cannot use this tool for automation."

"We could use more accuracy with IQ Bot."

"Going on-cloud comes with security hiccups and concerns."

More Automation Anywhere cons

"My clients report that there is a little bit of a challenge regarding the cost-benefit ratio."

"The only issue I have found in Blue Prism is an archiving issue once you have a huge database size, so the archiving is quite slow on Blue Prism's side."

"Blue Prism is expensive to scale because there are costs associated with additional licenses and improvements to infrastructure."

"If you are looking into processing invoices then Blue Prism is not the tool that I would choose because the others have better OCR capabilities."

"There are some new tools on the market that work better than Blue Prism. When Blue Prism receives information I have found other RPA solutions refresh the application better. At this moment it's not the best application."

"Unfortunately, developing with Blue Prism takes more time than developing with UiPath or other platforms, because each action requires multiple actions."

"The scalability has to do with the latency of what you're connecting to. And so if you're connecting to something that isn't particularly scalable, it doesn't matter how many robots you scale out. You're constrained by the latency and the size of the application or solution or service that the robot is using."

"The recording of the transaction is missing in this solution."

More Blue Prism cons

"I've mentioned before that it would be great to see a move away from SQLCE and XML configuration files."

"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."

"An area for improvement in VisualCron is its cluttered interface. It isn't always easy to find all functionalities, so what VisualCron needs is a user interface expert who can improve the interface. There's a learning curve in terms of finding what you need from the interface of VisualCron. The technical support for VisualCron also needs improvement in terms of response time. Currently, there's no live support or hotline you can call to get quick answers, so this is what I'd like to see in the next version of VisualCron. A less cluttered and more streamlined interface, where you don't need to hunt for some of the features, is also what I'd like to see in the next VisualCron update."

"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."

"The error timeout and info could be better. When making web request calls, it will time out sometimes and we won't get any useful info out of the error response."

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

"There are some conditions in the mail trigger, but you can only use them as an "AND" condition, not as an "OR" condition. This is an improvement that could be useful. For example, some people put "invoice" in the subject and others put "invoice" in the body. If I want to make a trigger for everybody whose sending invoices, I have to make two jobs for this now."

"Some preferences and permissions are not quite self-explanatory, but those are rather advanced features."

More VisualCron cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Initially, they charged a premium, but now the rest of the vendors have increased their overall pricing and Automation Anywhere is not that high at this time. It's pretty viable."

"Annual licensing costs would be about $100,000."

"The setup cost depends on multiple factors, so you need to get details before choosing."

"It is somewhere in the middle. The price and value of Automation Anywhere are better than UiPath. The pricing is good globally. It could be a little bit cheaper, but it is good."

"Automation Anywhere offers a subscription-based licensing model for cloud, on-premises, and hybrid deployments."

"They all are very competitive today. At the end of the day, it boils down to the negotiations that happen and what type of partner you are."

"Automation Anywhere is thought to be quite expensive, especially for smaller organizations."

"The licensing cost is approximately $4,000 USD, which is a seed license."

More Automation Anywhere pricing and cost advice

"Blue Prism is a bit higher priced compared to other payment-related or investment-related solutions. At the same time, it also provides more security than those solutions, specifically for the banking and insurance sectors."

"Blue Prism has a really simple licensing model, where the licenses are not confusing and there are no hidden costs the way there are in UiPath."

"This is a very expensive product and this is the reason that they're losing their market share."

"It's an expensive product. For what they are providing in terms of capabilities and features for the price, I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten."

"Its price should be lower."

"Compared to other tools on the market, it is one of the most expensive."

"To use Blue Prism, there is a need to pay INR 15,000 per customer."

"Blue Prism has a higher cost with respect to RPA enablement, particularly if you are trying to start with RPA."

More Blue Prism pricing and cost advice

"ROI is one month."

"ROI is 95 percent."

"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."

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

"The price is a bit high."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	161
Midsize Enterprise	85
Large Enterprise	561

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	77

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

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

Should I choose Blue Prism or Microsoft Power Automate?

Hello Netanya, it depends on your needs and your expertise. In my humble opinion you can start a big RPA project imp...

See all answers

I am evaluating Blue Prism and UiPath for RPA for my company. Which one do you recommend?

I'm very familiar with UiPath and the RPA industry: was hired by Daniel Dines in 2015 when there were 35 employees an...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Blue Prism?

If I rate the satisfaction with Blue Prism licensing cost from one to ten, I can mention eight to nine for satisfacti...

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Comparisons

UiPath Platform vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 5% of the time

AutomationEdge vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 3% of the time

Appian vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 2% of the time

WorkFusion vs Automation Anywhere

Compared 2% of the time

More Automation Anywhere Competitors

UiPath Platform vs Blue Prism

Compared 14% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs Blue Prism

Compared 11% of the time

Pega Robotic Process Automation vs Blue Prism

Compared 5% of the time

WorkFusion vs Blue Prism

Compared 5% of the time

NICE Robotic Automation vs Blue Prism

Compared 3% of the time

More Blue Prism Competitors

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs VisualCron

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

Stonebranch vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

UiPath Platform vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

Control-M vs VisualCron

Compared 6% of the time

More VisualCron Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automation Anywhere

September 2026

Download Automation Anywhere product report

Buyer's Guide

Blue Prism

September 2026

Download Blue Prism product report

Buyer's Guide

VisualCron

September 2026

Download VisualCron product report

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)

No data available

Interactive Demo

Automation Anywhere

Demo not available

SS&C Blue Prism

Demo not available

SMA Technologies

Overview

Automation Anywhere offers ease of use, robust system connectivity, and GenAI-driven document automation through a cloud-native platform, significantly enhancing productivity across multiple industries with advanced AI features.

Delivering a comprehensive suite of tools designed for easy integration and rapid deployment, Automation Anywhere drives efficiency by reducing costs and automating repetitive tasks. Its cloud-native platform supports broad industry adoption, including advanced AI features like process automation and Co-Pilot, streamlining complex workflows with minimal technical skills required. Users benefit from robust integration capabilities, which facilitate seamless interaction with multiple systems. However, there is room for improvement in areas such as user-friendliness for beginners, stability, flexible licensing, and enhanced OCR functionality. Organizations in sectors such as banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare gain from the improved operational efficiency and ROI Automation Anywhere offers.

What are the important features of Automation Anywhere?

Ease of Use: Simplifies automation tasks with a user-centric interface.
Robust Connectivity: Provides seamless integration with multiple systems.
GenAI-Driven Document Automation: Leverages AI to automate document management.
Process Automation & Co-Pilot: Enhances workflow automation with advanced AI.
Cloud-Native Platform: Enables rapid deployment and integration.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Time Savings: Automation drastically reduces manual processing time.
Cost Efficiency: Decreases overall operational costs by automating tasks.
Productivity Enhancement: Streamlines workflows with AI-driven tools.
Improved Integration: Enhances ability to work with multiple systems.
Scalability: Supports growth with a flexible cloud-native architecture.

In the insurance industry, Automation Anywhere is utilized for automating processes such as enrollment management and compliance checks. Its applications extend to supply chain management, financial transactions, and business performance monitoring across sectors like banking, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare, helping organizations to automate routine tasks, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.

Automation Anywhere

Blue Prism offers advanced automation features with integration capabilities and robust exception handling. Its scalability and reliability make it ideal for automating complex and repetitive tasks across industries like banking and manufacturing.

Providing a user-friendly design studio, Blue Prism stands out with enhanced automation features such as unassisted bots, strong security measures, and Visual Basic Objects. Its integration capabilities with analytics tools like Tableau and a simplified licensing model contribute to its appeal. Despite its complexities in UI design and training resource limitations, it remains stable and reliable. Blue Prism addresses tasks such as invoice processing and data entry, but improvements in AI, cognitive capabilities, and customer support are needed. Enhancements in OCR technology, unstructured data handling, and web-based interfaces could significantly boost its accessibility.

What are Blue Prism's most important features?

Enhanced Automation: Streamlines complex tasks with a robust interface.
Security Measures: Provides strong security protocols to safeguard processes.
Integration: Seamlessly interacts with analytics tools for data insights.
Exception Management: Facilitates easy handling of process exceptions.

What benefits or ROI should be evaluated?

Scalability: Ensures stable performance for varying organizational needs.
Licensing: Offers a straightforward model for simplified deployment.
Operational Efficiency: Reduces manual labor in complex tasks.
Cost-Effectiveness: Despite higher costs, delivers high value in automation efficiency.

Organizations in industries like finance and manufacturing harness Blue Prism to automate repetitive tasks, boosting efficiency in back-end operations. In banking and insurance, it's used for auditing, compliance, and report generation, enhancing accuracy and reducing manual efforts.

SS&C Blue Prism

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

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics

Coca-Cola, Walgreens, American Express, Royal Bank of Canada, Pfizer, Shop Direct, O2, Siemens, Ascension Healthcare, Jaguar Land Rover

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

Buyer's Guide

Blue Prism vs. VisualCron

September 2026

Free Report: Blue Prism vs. VisualCron

Find out what your peers are saying about Blue Prism vs. VisualCron and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Blue Prism vs. VisualCron report.

See our list of best Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vendors.

We monitor all Robotic Process Automation (RPA) 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.