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IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vs Microsoft Power Automate comparison

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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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.1
Automate enhances IT by saving resources, improving productivity, and achieving ROI with reduced costs and increased efficiency quickly.
Sentiment score
8.3
IBM RPA offers 20-30% ROI, short payback period, cost-effectiveness, automates tasks, and enhances client satisfaction and financial benefits.
Sentiment score
7.1
Microsoft Power Automate offers high ROI with minimal investment, improving productivity and saving costs via efficient automation under O365.
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.
My customers have seen high ROI with IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) because it has a lower cost than other vendors.
On a daily basis, it saves about two to three hours.
It has helped us save time, and we've saved thousands of hours through automation.
There has been around 20% to 30% productivity improvement, which will definitely save money and costs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Automate's customer service is highly rated for quick, knowledgeable support and effective communication, despite a complex knowledge base.
Sentiment score
6.6
IBM RPA offers reliable customer service, though some users seek better educational resources and more experienced level-one support.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Power Automate support varies by user, license, and region, with mixed response times and differing satisfaction levels.
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.
They need to improve their support by having more experienced level one support.
Having experience with coding is essential to fully utilize Power Automate.
On a scale of one to ten, the technical support of Microsoft Power Automate rates as three within India, and eight or nine for support from outside India.
They offer 24-hour technical support that consistently answers inquiries.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Automate is flexible and scalable, offering high availability, load balancing, and competitive pricing, making it effective for large organizations.
Sentiment score
7.6
IBM RPA is highly scalable, appreciated for its cloud flexibility, aided by Kubernetes, microservices, and AI expansion efforts.
Sentiment score
6.7
Microsoft Power Automate is affordable and integrates well with Microsoft, despite challenges in complex, non-Microsoft ecosystem integrations.
The scalability of Automate also scores a ten out of ten.
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.
The solution is very scalable because it's supported by Cloud Pak for Automation, allowing scaling with other solutions or independently.
I would rate the scalability of IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) as eight on a scale of one to ten.
Microsoft Power Automate is scalable enough for me and my customers.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Automate is stable and reliable, with minimal glitches, but performance may be impacted by server connectivity and resource dependency.
Sentiment score
6.9
IBM RPA is generally stable, with improved version 11, but some users report minor issues and memory concerns.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Power Automate is deemed highly stable and reliable, with minor glitches, often rated seven to nine for stability.
The stability of the solution is a ten out of ten.
It has very robust features, and it is not prone to instability.
The stability of Fortra's Automate is excellent.
IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has been running smoothly for four years without any errors, which indicates a high level of stability.
 

Room For Improvement

Automate needs improved stability, user interface, integration, documentation, and security, with enhanced community support and OCR capabilities.
IBM RPA needs stronger AI, better integrations, user-friendly features, and improved support to address user challenges and requests.
Power Automate needs stability, user-friendliness, better AI, integration, and comprehensive documentation, with improvements in OCR and error handling.
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.
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.
Developers should have discretion over which view they want to use, either the old designer view or the new designer view, as Microsoft is forcing the new designer view, which most developers don't prefer.
It would be better to make it a wizard more than requiring coding.
We haven't gone into depth to explore the integration with AI, so I am not really sure.
 

Setup Cost

Automate offers cost-effective pricing per bot with both perpetual and annual licenses, providing flexibility and competitive enterprise solutions.
IBM RPA pricing is often high with annual licensing, but it offers flexibility, bundling, and a free trial.
Microsoft Power Automate offers cost-effective pricing but has licensing complexity and hidden costs for premium features.
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 pricing of IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is an area that could be improved.
The price of Microsoft Power Automate was affordable for our clients, who are small companies.
I don't remember paying anything excessively or overpriced.
Microsoft Power Automate is reasonably priced compared to others in the market.
 

Valuable Features

Automate boosts efficiency with user-friendly automation, seamless integration, robust scheduling, cost-effective licensing, and minimal technical requirement.
IBM Robotic Process Automation boosts efficiency and productivity with user-friendly automation, integration, and advanced analytics features.
Microsoft Power Automate offers low-code automation, seamless Microsoft integration, easy deployment, and extensive features for efficient workflow management.
Automate's non-reliance on additional orchestrators makes it quite cost-effective.
In my opinion, the best feature Automate offers is the scheduling.
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.
We haven't encountered any errors in the last four years, which speaks to its reliability.
The analytics and reporting tools in IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are the best compared to all other RPAs because all other RPAs only use dashboards while IBM is the only one to have a reporting tool that includes dashboards.
We have saved thousands of hours by automating tasks that would have been labor-intensive and error-prone if done manually.
If I want to fill something in Power Platform and need to fill another item in Salesforce, instead of doing the same task in different platforms, I can directly fill it in Power Platform and integrate it with Salesforce through API in Microsoft Power Automate, and my work is complete.
Microsoft Power Automate has positively impacted my organization as it has saved a lot of time and effort.
 

Categories and Ranking

Automate
Sponsored
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
5th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Robotic Process Automat...
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Power Automate
Ranking in Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
132
Ranking in other categories
Process Mining (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Automate is 2.0%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is 3.3%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Power Automate is 17.7%, down from 21.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Power Automate17.7%
Automate2.0%
IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA)3.3%
Other77.0%
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
 

Featured Reviews

Jane Rachma Kiniti - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Saman Guruge - PeerSpot reviewer
We can connect to different databases and use inbuilt activities, but we can't include our own activities
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. When it comes to deployment and scheduling bots, there are some conflicts. They are using Microsoft MQ to communicate with their bots, but it's not reliable. When we are scheduling time, if I need to schedule an interval of one minute, sometimes, the queue gets loaded with a lot of processes or bots, and they don't wait until the first one gets complete. So, that sort of disadvantage is there. I have found one bug in version 22 when sending or configuring mail. While using their orchestration environment, on IBM Server, you can configure an SMTP connection to send out the details you want. For example, when you create a user, they send out an email. That part didn't work, and I created a few tickets. The issue is that there's a typo in the endpoint API. They have probably corrected it in version 23.
Ayobami Shobaloju - PeerSpot reviewer
Automating processes has saved time and improved communication
Something frustrates me concerning Microsoft Power Automate, and that is about the integration with Microsoft Forms and Excel. The issue now is that I don't get my responses synchronized automatically, and that frustrates me a lot. If the team could take this as feedback, the synchronization of the feedback responses from the forms and the Excel sheets should be seamless. This synchronization issue happens frequently, and it causes a lot of delays in the sense that the mails that ought to go out to the agents fail at some point. I have to reload these responses so that the agents can get their responses as when submitted. What I notice is that the responses don't go out without proper synchronization, so I reload the field responses, and this works afterwards. I would say probably a seamless walkthrough process for new users would be beneficial. For those using it for the first time, a seamless walkthrough process would be fine.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Performing Arts
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Insurance Company
10%
Government
5%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise65
 

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?
My main use case for Automate is to deliver enterprise-scale script execution jobs, which means we are using Automate...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra Automate?
Until now, I have not specified any other tech products except Microsoft Power Automate, N8N, and Make.com that I've ...
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 ...
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, particu...
RPA that Bots can run without centralized control?
Yes, Attended Bots which can run without centralized control Module. RPA Tools like Automation Anywhere, uiPath ,Pow...
How do I choose between UiPath and Microsoft Power Automate?
Microsoft‌ ‌Power‌ ‌Automate‌ ‌is‌ ‌intuitive‌ ‌and‌ ‌easy‌ ‌to‌ ‌integrate‌ ‌and‌ ‌use.‌ ‌I‌ ‌like‌ ‌that‌ ‌there‌ ‌...
How is Automation Anywhere compared to Microsoft Power Automate?
‌Neither‌ ‌solution‌ ‌requires‌ ‌any‌ ‌coding‌ ‌experience,‌ ‌and‌ ‌both‌ ‌are‌ ‌easy‌ ‌to‌ ‌use‌ ‌and‌ ‌have‌ ‌great...
 

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate
IBM RPA
Power Automate, Microsoft Flow, MS Power Automate, WinAutomation by Softomotive, ProcessRobot by Softomotive, Minit
 

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
The Hanover Insurance Group
1. Coca-Cola 2. General Electric 3. Siemens 4. Accenture 5. Deloitte 6. Johnson & Johnson 7. Ford 8. Nestle 9. Procter & Gamble 10. IBM 11. Amazon 12. Google 13. Microsoft 14. Adobe 15. Cisco 16. Oracle 17. SAP 18. Intel 19. HP 20. Dell 21. Verizon 22. AT&T 23. T-Mobile 24. Walmart 25. Target 26. Home Depot 27. McDonald's 28. Starbucks 29. Nike 30. Apple 31. Facebook 32. Twitter
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vs. Microsoft Power Automate and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
871,469 professionals have used our research since 2012.