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Fortra's Automate vs Microsoft Copilot Studio 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortra's Automate
Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (4th)
Microsoft Copilot Studio
Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies
19th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Chatbot Development Platforms (4th), AI-Agent Builders (5th)
 

Featured Reviews

Jane Rachma Kiniti - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Project Manager at Labo des histoires
Automate has streamlined workflows and increased efficiency with powerful automation
The best features of the solution are the flexible automation features, it is rich with beautiful connectors, and it is easy to use with little to no coding knowledge required to get started, so anybody can use the tool. The intuitive interface of Automate has an intuitive design, which makes it easy to learn and use even without a strong technical background, and it has a drag-and-drop interface, which makes everything so easy and straightforward. The error handling capabilities in complex automation tasks are powerful, as it handles all types of tasks, whether complex or simple. I've never faced any problems even when dealing with complex tasks, so everything is super smooth and highly reliable, even when dealing with big tasks, as it has never slowed down. Automate's compatibility with existing IT infrastructure has impacted our business operations positively by providing smooth integration with other software that we use, such as Gmail, Jira, and Microsoft 365 apps, which gives us a unified platform instead of having to keep switching from one software to another, saving a lot of time and streamlining the whole workflows. The automated analytics have helped improve our business processes since it has increased our efficiency by automating our everyday tasks, freeing up time for us to focus more on strategic activities such as analyzing data and developing new business strategies. It is also cost-saving. By minimizing manual labor, it decreases human errors that can lead to costly mistakes. By automating the tasks, it helps to save costs, and it also improves our accuracy by reducing these errors to ensure that tasks are done almost perfectly.
Shrikant Pillay. - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at kyndryl
Has helped automate repetitive tasks and streamline content summarization across teams
For analytics, I prefer using the Power BI platform instead of Microsoft Copilot Studio. When it comes to analytics, though it gives the right insight, the visuals are not of great quality, or sometimes they don't appear at all. For instance, when creating charts of sales on a quarter-on-quarter basis or month-on-month basis in a bar graph or pie chart, Microsoft Copilot Studio doesn't perform adequately. Anything requiring image creation or graphs and plots is not optimal. The graphing features are missing in Microsoft Copilot Studio. Although image creation is available, it lags at times, similar to any other LLM module. When creating content based on graphs or CIO presentations, these features are not developed to a great extent.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We are still in the process of rolling it to production and tweaking it (our AD groups are a mess), but the improvements are priceless. Having users ID's created the same way every time without human error is the best part. We don't need to worry about why groups were not added, user rights not set to folders or missing a private folder being created, typos or just even knowing when things are done and logged."
"The interface is simple, user-friendly, and very intuitive."
"This product is quite easy to install, learn, and use, with our new employees being able to start using it in projects for clients after only two weeks of internal training."
"We've automated all the vendor processes so that we don't have to manually load any files."
"The most valuable feature is the drag-and-drop interface, which is very Windows-like."
"Customers of AutoMate will realize their ROI within 90 to 120 days from their go-live date."
"We have done the setup in the last eight months, my team of approximately ten to twelve team members were doing manual jobs, and Fortra's Automate is doing that with three or four bots we have set up, doing this job without any errors and really reducing my manual work and the human errors which were done by my team so I don't need to re-verify data or invest time in this."
"The licensing of the product is very good; you only need to license it once and then you have it forever, which makes the product quite affordable."
"The integration part in Microsoft Copilot Studio is something I really appreciate because it's very easy to integrate with anything, and the main reason we chose this Studio is its simplicity in developing and building workflows and interconnecting things, especially when it comes to public cloud; life is quite easy."
"Starting with Microsoft Copilot Studio for product projects, especially for POC and MVP, accelerates the creation and demonstration to clients, helping them interact with and understand the solution before discussing further improvements."
"The use case involves intelligent code assistance, UI, UX, and integration parts."
"Microsoft Copilot Studio has helped enhance my development process quite a lot."
"We have achieved approximately 60 to 70% productivity gain using Microsoft Copilot Studio."
 

Cons

"The documentation is not that great."
"They do not encrypt passwords, so this is an issue with HIPAA compliance."
"The technical support could be better. We suffer from language barriers, as we are in Argentina."
"While this solution is continually improving, as it is now, the user interface could use improvement when I compare it to a product like UiPath."
"I would like to see some better web automation, a wizard like the one in the product WinAutomation would be very nice."
"There is room for improvement regarding cloud functionality; there are a few missing features, and the logging could be better, especially air logging. We can go into logging events and create our own task, but it would be nice if this were more detailed."
"The solution has a very weak knowledge base."
"One aspect I dislike about Fortra's Automate is that debugging slows me down."
"The price for Microsoft Copilot Studio can definitely be improved, as small organizations find it very difficult to manage the subscription."
"I feel that the pricing and licensing methods of Microsoft Copilot Studio are not very conducive."
"While Microsoft Copilot Studio can create documents and add information, it does not do so accurately, and this is an area that needs improvement."
"For analytics, I prefer using the Power BI platform instead of Microsoft Copilot Studio."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is quite reasonable. We can run the process with one bot. The limitation is at the server level because they have some resources, and sometimes that is enough. It isn't too expensive, so you can get a good return off of one, and you can also have a pack of five bots that is quite competitive."
"It comes with a package that costs approximately $20,000 USD per year."
"I believe the price falls within a reasonable range, which significantly influenced our decision regarding the product. This aspect is crucial for any technological solution, especially in our country where enterprises might be hesitant to invest heavily in something untested or uncertain about its practicality and potential returns."
"I'm only involved in running the product and maintaining the systems, so I can't speak to the cost."
"While solutions like UiPath and Blue Prism cost around $11,000-$12,000 for each license, this product costs around $7,000 and you can keep it forever."
"From a distributor's perspective, one of the biggest selling points of Automate is its price point."
"It has gone up in price. The price of Fortra's Automate has increased since we first started using it. It does a lot but also costs a lot. It was a lot more affordable before Fortra owned the software."
"Once you buy the software, you just pay for the support for backend help."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for HelpSystems AutoMate?
My use case for Fortra's Automate involves repetitive tasks and streamlining file transfer across multiple systems and multiple team members as it serves as a centralized file-sharing platform.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra Automate?
My assessment of the pricing for Fortra's Automate is that it is moderately priced—not expensive, yet not inexpensive either.
What needs improvement with Fortra Automate?
The areas that have room for improvement in Fortra's Automate include the reporting and analytics functionality, where the analytics could be more detailed. Currently, it is difficult to get deep i...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Copilot Studio?
While Microsoft Copilot Studio can create documents and add information, it does not do so accurately, and this is an area that needs improvement. The complexity of the licensing is another concern...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Copilot Studio?
Microsoft Copilot Studio is implemented for different scenarios, including straightforward and common scenarios. However, in cases where there is a need to work with RAG scenarios, high accuracy, a...
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Copilot Studio?
The predictive analytics features in Microsoft Copilot Studio are rated at the highest level because there is the ability to rely on its own functionality and many connectors. Before the introducti...
 

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aldergrove Financial Group, Preferred Health Professionals, Mindbeam Technologies, First Credit Union in British Columbia, Vestcom International, Prime Liberty Benefits, University of Tampa, CNLBancshares, World Precision Instruments, BJ's Restaurants, Globe Pequot Press, Accudata Technologies, Norton Healthcare, Pacific Toxicology Laboratories
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Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Automate vs. Microsoft Copilot Studio and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.