No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Control-M vs F5 BIG-IQ comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 13, 2026

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

Control-M
Ranking in Process Automation
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
207
Ranking in other categories
Managed File Transfer (MFT) (2nd), Workload Automation (1st), AI IT Support (3rd)
F5 BIG-IQ
Ranking in Process Automation
26th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of Control-M is 3.3%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of F5 BIG-IQ is 0.9%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Control-M3.3%
F5 BIG-IQ0.9%
Other95.8%
Process Automation
 

Featured Reviews

RP
Batch Admin at NBC Universal
Brings data together from multiple platforms and optimizes cross-environment orchestration
The features of Control-M that I like the most include the ability to easily integrate or bring in different platforms into Control-M. For instance, AWS, mainframe, TWS, and something that's running on Autosys can all be brought into Control-M, converted to how Control-M runs it, and then the batch can be executed. This centralizes various applications in Control-M, which doesn't just have to handle batch processes, but also other tasks like reporting on required data. I find this functionality very useful and the setup is impressive, with more advancements yet to come. With Control-M, my company has achieved several measurable improvements since I started. The metrics indicate that the number of failures has dropped, and we have addressed the issue of excessive false alerts that I encountered when I joined. Previously, we received an overwhelming number of alerts daily, but now we manage to maintain that at a normalized level, perhaps around five to fifteen alerts, depending on running core batches and their setup.
Bikale Kassu - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager for Implementation and Administration at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Has faced challenges with visibility and technical support but allows centralized management of multiple sites
The configuration part is complex for F5 BIG-IQ. The simplicity and visibility part needs improvement. The dashboard, especially the analytics part, needs to be more simple and presentable. For the security part, it is difficult to present to our management, so we have to capture it and prepare manual reporting options rather than getting them directly from the system. The automation part in F5 BIG-IQ is limited; we are still using it only for load balancing for some services. We haven't integrated it with our Accesso or implemented any automation options. The setup process for F5 BIG-IQ would rate a five out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The deployment agent in this version was the most attractive thing I have found -- it's fast and very useful to upgrade in one go."
"The workflow is much easier compared to the ACS services we were using."
"I definitely recommend Control-M; it is quite stable, scalable, and the ease of administration is good as well."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"I think the benefit is very high, because Control-M allows for end-to-end orchestration of the project without needing separate projects for the data pipeline and downstream applications such as reporting, so all tasks can be accomplished using one product, providing significant value if budget constraints are not an issue."
"It is an enterprise tool that integrates with all the applications in our organization. It has made our life easier because we don't need to wake up at midnight and do monitoring, etc. It does everything. It also sends precautionary alerts. If a job or activity is running for more than the specified time, it alerts the application team. So, our teams do not need to sit in front of a laptop or any open application to watch the jobs. They can do their other regular activities while Control-M takes care of all the jobs. It notifies them when there is job completion, delay, and error."
"Control-M is the most used tool in my current project and is essential for job scheduling and checking job failures."
"The job scheduling and file transfer are two major, important features."
"We mainly use F5 BIG-IQ to protect our web-based applications, such as our email and website, so we use it as a web-based application firewall for those services."
"The most valuable features are load balancing and WAF."
"Features like AFM, the gateway, and Global DNS are the coolest features that save work for us."
"The backup, monitoring and logging are the best features."
"F5 BIG-IQ is a central management system for the BIG-IP."
"Their technical support is perfect, they were so supportive, the guys are great and they would do anything for you."
"It is quite good in a large environment where I have multiple devices; it is easy to manage the devices."
"We use this solution on a daily basis, and it is very stable."
 

Cons

"Sometimes it does not have the option for confirmation, so it was annoying to click run and not see the job working or doing anything because of the lag on the screen."
"We've also had a few database bugs within our organization. I think we are migrating to OpenJDK rather than just regular Java and that has since shown some issues with our Control-M instance, timing out and causing our jobs to stop running. We are still working with BMC to fine-tune that and get that resolved."
"There are eight different kinds of dashboards in Workflow Insights, but there could be more because there is third party software that provides more dashboard styles."
"Implementing it is not straightforward. It requires careful installation, customization, and configuration."
"The Control-M API does not support SQL database-type jobs, where a job has been configured to use the SQL catalog to locate SSIS."
"You need to pay for extra features if you need them."
"Task-based licensing (number of active jobs) can get very expensive."
"Currently, the history module captures only seven days of job execution data, and if we had at least 30 days available, that would be beneficial for investigating any issues."
"I had trouble with high availability deployment in my environment."
"F5 BIG-IQ is a complex solution, and it cannot manage everything related to BIG-IPs."
"The solution's rSeries has been made free, and iSeries should be made free as well."
"The solution should improve pricing. It's expensive in comparison to other American solutions."
"For us, right now, F5 is too expensive."
"You do need to have a good and solid background or foundation for networking and you need to understand how to configure F5 appliances in order to properly use it."
"Integration with VAS is something that they need to work on."
"I would like the product to be cheaper."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an expensive product compared to other solutions, although I think that it is a good one. We are in a good position with licensing, as we can run 10,000 jobs."
"Pricing can be steep, but you get what you pay for."
"It is a little bit expensive."
"The pricing of Control-M is reasonable."
"The annual licensing within BMC Control-M is on a per task basis. Three- and five-year contracts are also offered. The customer usually buys a bundle of tasks, e.g., 5,000 tasks, then my team configures Control-M for their usage."
"The cost of the hardware is high. Because you need to license each job, it is costly."
"BMC's price is based on the number of jobs."
"Initially, our licensing model was based on the number of jobs per day. That caused some issues because we were restricted to a number. So at our renewal time we said, 'We want to convert from number of jobs to number of endpoints.' That cost us extra money but it gave us additional capabilities, without worrying about the number of jobs."
"Users have to pay an annual subscription fee for the solution's iSeries."
"I would like the product to be cheaper."
"F5 BIG-IQ is a cheap solution."
"There is only one licensing fee for F5 BIG-IQ and everything is included in the price."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Process Automation solutions are best for your needs.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
25%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
6%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Marketing Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise27
Large Enterprise167
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Control-M?
From what I know about pricing, I would probably put Control-M in the expensive category, but you do pay for what you get; you are paying for a premium product.
What needs improvement with Control-M?
We are not on the latest version of Control-M; we currently have version 20 and 21.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for F5 BIG-IQ?
From the pricing perspective, F5 BIG-IQ rates an eight out of ten as it's reasonably priced.
What needs improvement with F5 BIG-IQ?
The configuration part is complex for F5 BIG-IQ. The simplicity and visibility part needs improvement. The dashboard, especially the analytics part, needs to be more simple and presentable. For the...
What is your primary use case for F5 BIG-IQ?
Currently for WAF, we are moving to another device, F5. We are not using Imperva. F5 BIG-IQ is the Web Application Firewall we're currently using, but regarding the Imperva products, now we are flo...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Control M, BMC Control-M Managed File Transfer, BMC Australia CTM
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The Bank of East Asia, LINE Bank Taiwan, Coop, Air Europa, Carrefour, Itau Unibanco, Snam, Embraer, ANZ Bank, EDP, Dominio's, Tampa General Hospital, W&W Informatik GmbH, Veterans General, Up Sí Vale, Sky Italia, REWE digital GmbH, Raymond James, Railinc, Navistar, Management Science Associates, Colruyt, CARFAX, Banpara, Aspiag Service, Amadeus, AG Insurance, ING Bank Slaski
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Control-M vs. F5 BIG-IQ and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.