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IBM Workload Automation vs JAMS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 8, 2025

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
5.2
IBM Workload Automation is valuable for complex setups with trained teams, despite maintenance costs and slower performance on simpler networks.
Sentiment score
8.9
JAMS streamlines operations, reduces costs, enhances scalability, improves productivity, and allows developers to focus on development tasks.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.3
Opinions on IBM Workload Automation's support vary; some praise it, while others face delays and inconsistent service.
Sentiment score
9.6
JAMS customer service is praised for responsiveness, knowledge, and helpfulness, with high ratings despite occasional delays in support.
I would rate their support between eight and nine out of ten.
They are very quick to respond depending on the issue's severity.
Their response is prompt, exemplifying how support should be.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
IBM Workload Automation is preferred for scalability in complex scheduling, with minor challenges at higher scales, especially in time zones.
Sentiment score
6.0
JAMS scales well for large businesses, handling high job volumes efficiently, with flexible licensing and robust failover capabilities.
We might be underutilizing it, but as more jobs require processing, additional servers would be necessary.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.8
IBM Workload Automation is viewed as reliable and stable, with minor issues resolved swiftly, boosting user confidence.
Sentiment score
7.8
JAMS is highly stable and reliable, with minimal issues, widely trusted for mission-critical operations across diverse conditions.
We experience periods of major incidents annually due to capacity constraints, which result in job failures.
Being on the new version, there's been zero downtime.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Workload Automation requires interface improvements, enhanced automation, better support, and lower maintenance costs to improve user experience.
JAMS needs better search, intuitive interface, enhanced documentation, error messaging, database support, source control, and C# developer resources.
The maintenance charges have increased significantly, and a lower cost would be beneficial.
Another area for improvement would be the addition of source control for jobs internally, as this feature would solve several problems for me.
A major improvement would be the integration of AI to help us accomplish various tasks.
 

Setup Cost

IBM Workload Automation is costly but offers flexible pricing models with cloud advantages and justifies expense with reliability and features.
JAMS offers cost-effective, flexible licensing with scalable options, remaining more affordable than competitors despite recent pricing changes.
The price is fair considering the functionality and importance of the tool, although the increase did unsettle our management.
 

Valuable Features

IBM Workload Automation excels with dynamic scheduling, multiplatform integration, user-friendly GUI, real-time updates, and effective monitoring.
JAMS offers flexible scheduling, automation, robust monitoring, and cross-platform support, enhancing productivity with seamless notifications and custom integrations.
One valuable feature of IBM Workload Automation is the ability to combine different applications and platforms to organize jobs together, creating dependencies.
The most valuable feature of JAMS is its user-friendly interface, especially after upgrading from version six to seven.
This efficient feature has been invaluable, enabling us to streamline our workflow and enhance productivity.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Workload Automation
Ranking in Workload Automation
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
JAMS
Ranking in Workload Automation
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Workload Automation category, the mindshare of IBM Workload Automation is 6.8%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of JAMS is 2.0%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Workload Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Ilhami Arikan - PeerSpot reviewer
With an easy setup phase in place, agent-based installation can be done in minutes
Sometimes we have issues with the solution's stability. So, stability can be improved. Reporting and visibility of the solution need improvement. These days, we need more visibility. We need to access the logs and databases easily. You need to keep track of the running number of logs, like which ones are executed, completed, etc. So if there would be a good reporting dashboard, then it would be good. There's room for improvement in the solution since it is a challenging thing when we want to use the solution's technology with our new technologies. For example, if we need to use TWS on our OpenShift platform, the solution's API is not capable enough. So the product itself needs to be aligned with new technologies.
Patrick Norton - PeerSpot reviewer
Support has been among the most helpful and knowledgeable we've ever worked with but performance monitoring needs improvement
The monitoring of the JAMS product and its performance is an area of concern for me. I also need better tools to adopt version seven. Another area for improvement would be the addition of source control for jobs internally, as this feature would solve several problems for me. JAMS has some quirks. It has a bit of a learning curve. Some exceptions are not intuitive, such as when a job is terminated due to exceeding its defined runaway time limit. This generates a misleading exception message that is difficult for new users to understand and requires experience to interpret correctly. Stalled jobs present a unique challenge, particularly when pushing a system like JAMS version six to its limits. While rare, these instances occur when jobs become unresponsive despite appearing in API queries but not in the monitoring console. Although workarounds exist, they highlight the need for improved native monitoring capabilities within JAMS. Currently, the system assumes flawless operation, necessitating supplemental monitoring tools to detect issues like excessive pending or stalled jobs, ensuring timely intervention by our teams.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
32%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Healthcare Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Workload Automation?
IBM Workload Automation could be improved by reducing its cost. The maintenance charges have increased significantly, and a lower cost would be beneficial.
What is your primary use case for IBM Workload Automation?
We use IBM Workload Automation ( /products/ibm-workload-automation-reviews ) as a scheduler. We install agents on the application servers and use scheduling to trigger jobs on other servers. Our us...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM Workload Automation?
I recommend IBM Workload Automation as it's a well-established and stable product. However, the cost is a concern. The product features a master-slave setup that ensures continuity during failures....
What do you like most about JAMS?
I find the historical tracking feature of JAMS invaluable for reviewing past events.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for JAMS?
They recently switched to subscription-based pricing, which increased. The price is fair considering the functionality and importance of the tool, although the increase did unsettle our management.
What needs improvement with JAMS?
A major improvement would be the integration of AI to help us accomplish various tasks. AI could assist in simplifying operations and could potentially enhance the tool's capabilities.
 

Also Known As

IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler, IBM TWS
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Standard Life Group, Banca Popolare di Milano, A*STAR, ArcelorMittal Gent
Teradata, Arconic, General Dynamics, Yum!, CVS Health, Comcast, Ghiradelli, & Boston’s Children’s Hospital
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Workload Automation vs. JAMS and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,687 professionals have used our research since 2012.