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Automate vs IDERA ER/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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.1
Automate boosts efficiency and reduces costs with easy deployment, allowing quick returns without extra IT staff.
Sentiment score
5.8
Users appreciate IDERA ER/Studio for ease, graphical presentation, and efficiency, despite not fully utilizing its capabilities.
Fortra's Automate has effectively replaced the workload of an entire employee, saving us significant time and money.
It has reduced our expenditures in terms of purchasing more products and employing more technicians.
I've seen a good return on investment with Automate, as it streamlines processes and improves my productivity.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Automate's customer service is praised for prompt, effective support, despite occasional language barriers and a challenging knowledge base.
Sentiment score
7.1
IDERA ER/Studio's customer support is praised for responsiveness and professionalism, despite occasional delays, especially for East Coast users.
They don't always understand the processes I'm trying to implement.
I would rate the technical support as a nine out of ten because it is quite fast and courteous.
They are very responsive and have been able to resolve any issues I have encountered.
There is plenty of documentation available online for assistance, making it straightforward to address any issues.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Automate is scalable, enabling easy expansion with flexibility and load balancing, though some concerns about complexity and cost exist.
Sentiment score
7.4
Most users find it scalable; performance improves in new versions, especially using cloud environments for large data models.
It is easy to increase one bot or one studio without needing to buy another orchestrator, which can be quite expensive.
Automate is stable for my needs and is highly scalable, allowing the same workflow to serve numerous tasks effectively.
It scales well to teams of one hundred plus people.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Automate v.11 is mostly stable and reliable, but resource-intensive, with occasional errors and crashes depending on task type.
Sentiment score
7.8
IDERA ER/Studio is generally stable, though occasional issues exist with older versions, complex models, and server performance.
It has very robust features, and it is not prone to instability.
The stability of Fortra's Automate is excellent.
The stability is good and consistent, with no fluctuations in functioning.
Erwin is a very stable product.
 

Room For Improvement

Intelligent automation faces issues with usability, integration, and support, needing improvements in user interface, customization, and community engagement.
IDERA ER/Studio needs deployment, licensing, documentation, performance, and feature enhancements for better user experience and functionality.
This is a significant concern, especially with critical workloads where visibility into errors is essential.
I would prefer not having to log in to update a ticket; being able to respond via email would be beneficial.
Integration with Amazon S3 is somewhat lacking.
Both Erwin and ER/Studio do not have AI or machine learning features for automation.
 

Setup Cost

Automate offers flexible and cost-effective pricing, allowing multiple processes per bot, making it competitive against UiPath and Blue Prism.
IDERA ER/Studio is costly and complex to license, but many find its features offer valuable returns.
Competitors are often more expensive than Automate.
It offered what we wanted at a good, competitive price.
It does a lot but also costs a lot.
The setup cost may have been around $1500 to $2000.
In terms of pricing, ER/Studio is slightly more expensive compared to Erwin, by about five to ten percent.
 

Valuable Features

Automate offers user-friendly automation with seamless integration, intuitive features, and cost-effective scalability, enhancing productivity and efficiency.
IDERA ER/Studio enables comprehensive data modeling, collaboration, and automation with user-friendly interfaces and integration with versioning tools.
Automate's non-reliance on additional orchestrators makes it quite cost-effective.
In my opinion, the best feature Automate offers is the scheduling.
I find the ease of use from a programming perspective very valuable.
When we built an application, it facilitated the development process by providing the skeleton of the application and the foundation for functions.
It has strong versioning support and can even integrate with third-party versioning tools like GitHub.
 

Categories and Ranking

Automate
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (5th)
IDERA ER/Studio
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (7th), Database Development and Management (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Automate and IDERA ER/Studio aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Automate is designed for Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and holds a mindshare of 2.0%, up 1.0% compared to last year.
IDERA ER/Studio, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Architecture Management, holds 3.6% mindshare, down 4.0% since last year.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Automate2.0%
UiPath Platform18.7%
Microsoft Power Automate17.3%
Other62.0%
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IDERA ER/Studio3.6%
LeanIX13.4%
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect11.5%
Other71.5%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Ibukun Shweta - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation optimizes scheduling, but improvements needed in error reporting and script execution
In my particular use case, for session management, it would be better if I could get a more granular view into connectivity issues to servers. Sometimes, although your flows or tasks are running as scheduled, connecting to the servers can hit a snag without alerts or error logs to check. Some servers might need patching or could be affected by network issues or latency. The workflow sometimes gets stuck without clarity on the errors. An explicit error report would be helpful, especially when the connection fails unexpectedly. It's complex to analyze problems that might arise from firewall issues or other anomalies that could hinder the flow from executing as expected. The depth of these connection challenges would benefit from better debugging capabilities. As for improvements, if Automate wasn't designed primarily for script execution, that's understandable. However, for Linux, I would prefer to see less complexity in workflows to achieve a natural completion of scripts. There are features, such as 'wait for terminal output,' that should more intuitively detect completion based on the shell prompt. Improving those aspects would make Automate more efficient for my needs. Regarding error reporting, I think Automate should offer better error reporting when connecting to servers. Currently, there are many instances where I see empty logs, indicating that, while tasks are scheduled, commands are not executing successfully. This is a significant concern, especially with critical workloads where visibility into errors is essential.
Aaron Cutshall - PeerSpot reviewer
Used for data modeling and has a scripting language to write your own scripts
The solution has streamlined our data modeling processes quite a bit. It's a central focus in our data modeling and data cataloging efforts. The tool's reverse engineering capability to bring in existing database structures and create models from them has benefitted our data architecture needs. With the tool's data dictionary capability, we're able to maintain consistency in our models, name use, and actual data domains. The solution's reverse engineering helps with understanding legacy databases. In fact, I've been asked to reverse-engineer several more legacy databases so that we can have them modeled and cataloged. The solution is deployed on the cloud server, but it’s only within our network. The solution has a lot of capabilities. I like the fact that it has a scripting language that allows you to automate and write your own scripts. I think that's been a big bonus for us. I highly recommend the solution because of its capability for logical models, where you can put your business definitions and logic. While less expensive, some other tools can't do that. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Performing Arts
6%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Energy/Utilities Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HelpSystems AutoMate?
We use it for specific cases, mainly secure file transfers, which are vital for us. And it works for us.
What is your primary use case for HelpSystems AutoMate?
The main purpose is for automation. That has been the purpose why I have been using it so far.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra Automate?
Regarding pricing, it is very friendly. I would not say that it is really cheap or very expensive, but it fits within our budget.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IDERA ER Studio?
In terms of pricing, ER/Studio is slightly more expensive compared to Erwin, by about five to ten percent.
What is your primary use case for IDERA ER Studio?
I have been working with data modeling tools. Personally, I have been working with Erwin for many years now. ER/Studio is something I am currently trying to evaluate for acquiring it for our organi...
What advice do you have for others considering IDERA ER Studio?
I would strongly recommend ER/Studio for large teams. Erwin is a very stable product, but for smaller teams, it's okay. If I had to rate ER/Studio, I would give it nine out of ten because the absen...
 

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate
IDERA ER Studio, ER/Studio, ER/Studio Enterprise Team Edition
 

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
Newmont Mining, Entrust, Accolade, TalkTalk, Catalina, Protective Life, NTT Data, dir systèmes, Microsoft; American Express, Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, Coriant, Fedex, GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, Prudential, Wells Fargo
Find out what your peers are saying about UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Microsoft and others in Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Updated: August 2025.
867,445 professionals have used our research since 2012.