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IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vs SAP Intelligent RPA comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

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

IBM Robotic Process Automat...
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP Intelligent RPA
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
17th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is 3.0%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Intelligent RPA is 2.1%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)3.0%
SAP Intelligent RPA2.1%
Other94.9%
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
 

Featured Reviews

MA
Business Solutions Manager at valleysoft
Has improved analytics and reporting but needs better integration and support
To improve IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for the next release, there should be more integration with external systems, and more integration with IBM's data and AI platforms is needed. There is an AI part in IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for Machine Learning, but IBM has another platform specifically for data and AI, which is integrated right now. More features are hoped for in the future.
SS
RPA Technical Solution Lead at Infomentum
Helps automate processes but needs to offer different licensing models to users
Right now, I am not working on process mining at the minute. Before I switched to the company, I worked extremely closely with the process mining tool from UiPath, SAP BTP, and the process mining that they had created. I am working with MuleSoft Automation and Anypoint. We are not doing any sort of process mining at the minute, but in my company, because MuleSoft is one of the only RPA tools that we are looking at, we have another application called Appian that we are trying to explore now. Appian has process mining capability, which is why we thought we would look at it along with AI capabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Integrating the tool with SAP, EBS, or other ERPs is easy."
"The feature I found most valuable is the TCO."
"I like the integration with Watson and the possibility to have an intelligent reading of all the customers' documents."
"We can connect with different database types, and they have included a different package for a terminal connection to, for example, AS400. When it comes to UI development, it's not using the drivers or anything. It's not a selector-based development like UiPath."
"It is easy to use. We have enabled our resources who don't have a background in automation to be certified and trained, then implement this product within a very short period of time, as it is very user-friendly."
"The quality is great! It's very strong and has a very strong platform."
"It's user-friendly; even non-technical people can program bots using drag-and-drop functionalities."
"The good stuff about IBM is the fact that it's very easy to use, there are very nice and smart AI tools within the licensing that you don't have to pay any access. Moreover, it's more precise and more secure."
"The initial setup of SAP Contextor is easy."
"Contextor is a good solution for a Citrix environment. It's the first with this tool. Other tools provide the same functionality, but not with the Citrix environment."
"It is remarkably easy to configure and code, and it doesn't require an extensive technical background or coding expertise."
"The standout features of SAP Intelligent RPA are its flexibility and integration capabilities."
"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."
"The most valuable feature of SAP Contextor is that everyone is in one place in the program that I need."
"Scalability is fine. It is pretty nice."
"Most of the details are already in the help portal and SAP notes are available. It is well documented as part of the product support."
 

Cons

"We can use its inbuilt activities, and it's a complete package, but just like ElectroNeek, a limitation is that we have to depend on its inbuilt activities. We can't include our own activities or we can't introduce other activities."
"IBM Robotic Process Automation should be more stable."
"Extensibility is the key, especially in terms of the Recorders feature that we have. That should be browser independent. Enhance it because some people have Chrome, some have Internet Explorer, etc. Also, integration with PDFs: Not just the ability to read information from PDFs but the ability to write information from PDFs, make it secure, sign it, etc. Finally, if they can allow a token exchange inside the tool itself, that would help."
"My impression of the support experience is lower than middle. I would rank it as that. They need to improve their support by having more experienced level one support."
"Needs better integration with artificial intelligence or with machine-learning."
"There are certain limitations in the solution for screen reading."
"Capturing GUI operations is very easy, but capturing IBM Logistics automation is hard. It does not always work with browsers or automotive applications like SAP."
"IBM should provide specific solutions for specific problems, like templates for invoicing processes, or general templates for creating efficient processes."
"I would like to see a better capacity for unstructured data, for example, PDF, or text within images."
"For potential features or improvements, one aspect I would suggest enhancing is the flexibility of the extraction process."
"The tool's licensing has been kind of a challenge...At the moment, the tool does not offer different licensing models to users."
"The initial setup is of medium complexity. It is neither too hard nor too simple. You need some background in SAP and an understanding of it."
"One way SAP Intelligent RPA could improve is by integrating built-in DI services for document processing."
"SAP Contextor could improve by automating some processes."
"There should be more of an error, like a proper error feature, in future releases. Sometimes, we don't understand why that automation is not learning what, like, where it is stuck, or what is the reason like, or what is the criteria we are missing to add. So a proper error message would be helpful."
"I found that the SAP scripting of a program is easier than SAP Contextor."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is reasonably priced compared to other tools."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"There is a free trial for one month, so you can use it to run your payloads or proof of concept. After that, you can pay for the license on a monthly or annual basis."
"IBM RPA is cheaper than other tools."
"The license is paid annually."
"IBM licensing is annual and based on Virtual Processor Cores (VPC). This provides flexibility as part of the containerization environment."
"The product has a yearly licensing fee."
"I rate the pricing ten out of ten. So, the pricing is very good for me."
"It all comes with a bundle right now. Having advanced features, it is competitively priced."
"The pricing is not that expensive. It is manageable."
"The initial cost might seem higher, but over time, with continued use over five or ten years, the cost tends to decrease, making it a more economical choice."
"This is not a tool or software with a license as others are. The SaaS model is based on the usage of the tool."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Insurance Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
9%
Media Company
6%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
Integrating the tool with SAP, EBS, or other ERPs is easy.
What needs improvement with IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
To improve IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for the next release, there should be more integration with external systems, and more integration with IBM's data and AI platforms is needed. There ...
What is your primary use case for IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
My customers' main use cases for IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are especially in the banking industry, particularly KYC.
What needs improvement with SAP Contextor?
The tool's licensing has been kind of a challenge. If the tool can bring up a usage-based licensing model, it would be really good. Even a flat rate kind of licensing model would be good, where, fo...
What is your primary use case for SAP Contextor?
The inputs of SAP Intelligent RPA used to come from the process mining output. Whenever we connect process mining to the SAP instances, their SAP instances give us what processes, where the bottlen...
What advice do you have for others considering SAP Contextor?
Speaking about bot creation and management features, I rate the tool as four out of five compared to the other market leaders. UiPath is much better, but SAP is not very far behind. For SAP Intelli...
 

Also Known As

IBM RPA
SAP Contextor, Contextor
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

The Hanover Insurance Group
BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Kabel Deutschland, Orange, Carrefour
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vs. SAP Intelligent RPA and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,282 professionals have used our research since 2012.