Nintex RPA vs VisualCron comparison

Nintex and SMA Technologies are both solutions in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category. Nintex is ranked #12 with an average rating of 6.8, while SMA Technologies is ranked #18 with an average rating of 9.0. Nintex holds a 2.1% mindshare in RPA, compared to SMA Technologies’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Nintex users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of SMA Technologies users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 4, 2024

VisualCron and Nintex RPA compete in the automation software category. VisualCron has an advantage in scheduling and alerting, while Nintex RPA stands out with its scalability and ease of integration across different systems.

Features: VisualCron's automation features include job variables, branching logic, extensive logging capabilities, and a visual tool layout for workflows without coding. Additionally, it supports plugins and database integration. Nintex RPA offers a visual design interface, cross-platform integration, and reusable components, focusing on seamless error handling and robust logging.

Room for Improvement: Users note VisualCron could improve its user role management, navigation for beginners, and documentation. Enhancements in its user community support are also suggested. For Nintex RPA, users desire better AI integration, document handling, and smoother integration with external platforms like Google and ServiceNow. Improved error handling for complex automation is also needed.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VisualCron supports deployment across Private, Public, and Hybrid Cloud environments. It is praised for knowledgeable support, despite some slower response experiences, with a strong user community noted as beneficial. Nintex RPA provides similar deployment flexibility and is recognized for remarkable support responsiveness and an active user community.

Pricing and ROI: VisualCron offers a straightforward licensing model valued for lack of hidden costs, perceived to bring high ROI by reducing manual tasks. Nintex RPA, while possibly more expensive, is considered affordable for its features, with flexible licensing for scalable automation. Despite higher initial costs, its ROI and efficiency gains are seen as justifying investments.

To learn more, read our detailed Nintex RPA vs. VisualCron Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Nintex RPA vs. VisualCron

September 2025

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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

Automate

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 Nintex RPA is 2.1%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VisualCron is 0.9%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Automate	2.0%
Nintex RPA	2.1%
VisualCron	0.9%
Other	95.0%

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Featured Reviews

Jane Rachma Kiniti

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.

Read full review

JonathanNg

Global Automation Lead - Customer Operations at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Helped us identify areas where frontline staff aren't following standard procedures or using unexpected systems, giving us better insight into our end users' workflows

To analyze and make sense of the data generated by Kryon process discovery can be a lot of effort. It's not as automatic as some might think. It really depends on how many processes you have and how actively you use them. But the scalability aspect isn't necessarily about deployment or technical maintenance. It's really about how you analyze and gain insights from the data gathering. I'd rate the scalability a seven out of ten because the solution has been scaling well for a long time. It's very easy to deploy. But getting value out of it at scale can be a challenge, just like with any deployment. We use it mainly for process discovery. We actually proceed it from different teams. So, we have 15 licenses that we rotate with different people, actually through different teams. So, we do discovery for the online team; we gather the results after about two weeks to a month. We analyze those results, and then we deploy them again on the analytics team. We regularly deploy it to different teams. So, it's in constant use. It just runs on the systems through discovery mode most of the time.

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Sourav-Dutta

Technical Lead - Database Administrator at SMART ENERGY SYSTEMS LLC

It's user-friendly, and I didn't need long to understand the process

We use VisualCron for all our automation needs, like connecting to FileZilla, calling APIs, generating PGP keys, creating encryption files with the PGP key login to Azure, etc. It can automatically log in to SQL Server and execute SQL script jobs in bulk. We had 2,000-3,000 users at my previous…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would rate the technical support as a nine out of ten because it is quite fast and courteous."

"The interface is simple, user-friendly, and very intuitive."

"I like the interface; it makes managing automation easy. We can set different schedules and templates for each task."

"A great feature that you seldom see in these kind of systems is the ability to use a database as trigger to launch a task. This is something I asked for a few years ago and that was added."

"The solution is continuously adding more integrations to help with workflows and bot and task creation."

"Fortra's Automate has effectively replaced the workload of an entire employee, saving us significant time and money."

"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."

"Web scraping is quite good since it offers a lot of possibilities."

More Automate pros

"We have been using Kryon Process Discovery for about a year now. With our initial tests and monitoring just a couple people, we were able to identify 79 possible use cases within a one-month period."

"Troubleshooting and debugging could be improved. It's missing a proper debugger. It's very difficult, based on the log files and the fact that it doesn't have a proper debugger, to troubleshoot issues. It will sometimes end with no indication as to why it ended and it becomes a bit of trial and error."

"The thing that we find the most value in is the Process Discovery component and the ability to really see what users are doing on a day-to-day basis. We're starting to make sense of the processes that they're doing and getting visibility into what they're doing. Overall, the Process Discovery is very good."

"The advanced Excel functionalities are really convenient because we work a lot with spreadsheets. It’s also easy to use the HTML selectors. It’s just a click and it picks it up. There’s not a lot of no hard-coding with it."

"The most valuable features for our organization are the automatic processes which save main power in the back office."

"Attended automation has diverted 34 percent of training calls to our tech support centers."

"While we have only explored the simple use cases so far, Nintex RPA has good integration capabilities, such as working well with Gmail and Outlook to automate document handling and notifications."

"Nintex RPA doesn't require much coding, and you can drag and drop the activities."

More Nintex RPA pros

"The tool has reduced our operational costs by 40%."

"The most valuable feature of VisualCron is its ability to schedule interactive jobs so that you can have interdependencies within the job and interdependencies of a job on another job, and so on."

"The ability to clone jobs to shorten the time it takes to implement a process has been invaluable, but its flexibility also gives us the ability to create a job that can handle a multifaceted process with a complex workflow."

"I love VisualCron because we previously spent a lot of time writing Power switches to connect to SQL Server. VisualCron makes it easier to execute services or connect to FileZilla by only adding the credentials to the master credentials stored in the solution."

"It has improved our organization with more automation within the business departments and less administration and development in the IT department. Usually, as the IT department, we are the bottleneck for many requirements within the business. With this tool, the business departments are able to perform many task themselves."

"VisualCron is a very powerful program to automate different steps in your business processes. We use it to automate replacing files and inform departments about the replacement."

"'ve only had a few cases where I've had to request support in the past 12 years of use, but the support response time and resolution were was extremely quick."

"What I like about VisualCron is that like its name, it's a very visual tool. In my previous company, there were a lot of scripts for all kinds of services, and through VisualCron, you get to group all flows and get a nice visual overview. VisualCron also has an alerting feature, so you receive alerts from it. VisualCron makes everything clearer and easier to maintain. Every other solution that I was looking for almost always needed a programmer, but with VisualCron, you can do what you need to do without programming skills, so this is another valuable feature of the tool."

More VisualCron pros

Cons

"Error messages should be better. For error status, there should be better documentation because a lot of times, error messages that you get are quite vague. For example, you get a message saying that the workflow has run into an unknown status, which is vague. It just tells you that it failed, but you don't know how or why it failed. It makes debugging difficult."

"It's possible that they could use a stronger community for seeking guidance and help."

"There is a lack of good development for artificial intelligence, such as machine learning."

"We really need a free development environment for customers. Building and testing automation on production isn't ideal."

"The user interface could be slightly enhanced to make it more modern."

"Some companies have asked for voice integration. This is likely part of the roadmap."

"The interface could be more user-friendly and easier to navigate."

"Fortra's Automate is not as reliable as I would like it to be."

More Automate cons

"I have seen some very minor occurrences where Kryon's interactions with Microsoft Office might cause the robot to hang. However, it is about one to two percent of the time where we are seeing this happen. It is such a small percentage that it's not even something that we are overly worried about. This would be where they might have some stability issues, but it could be the Microsoft Office API or how they are interacting together."

"I would expect that in the first year there is no ROI. It has to be measured over three or five years."

"We would like to see having a little more specific documentation, or some of the examples be easier to find. One of the big things that we get directed to now is the Kryon Community page, but a lot of that wasn't in existence or publicized when we started doing our training and education. Now, we're stumbling through using it. For the majority of the time, we have either had to try and interpret what the instructions meant or do a service desk ticket."

"It could be more reliable in spying HTML."

"What needs improvement in Kryon RPA is the support. Sometimes, the solution has problems, so I contacted support, but I didn't receive immediate help from the team. You have to wait a while before the problem gets solved. This happens a few times in terms of getting cases solved. It would also be better if Kryon RPA had a cloud version because currently, from what I know, it only has an on-premise version, though I could be wrong about that. There isn't any additional feature I'd like added to Kryon RPA because it's a good service, but the support is very, very bad, so that area could be improved."

"We need better training and community support in Indonesia."

"We use Google Drive a lot. If somebody sends us a spreadsheet or a document, it's going to be in Google’s format. It's not going to be in Microsoft Office format. But currently, there's no integration with Google’s documents. That would be a huge plus to have."

"From our experience, the product is not suitable for end users."

More Nintex RPA cons

"An area for improvement in VisualCron is its cluttered interface. It isn't always easy to find all functionalities, so what VisualCron needs is a user interface expert who can improve the interface. There's a learning curve in terms of finding what you need from the interface of VisualCron. The technical support for VisualCron also needs improvement in terms of response time. Currently, there's no live support or hotline you can call to get quick answers, so this is what I'd like to see in the next version of VisualCron. A less cluttered and more streamlined interface, where you don't need to hunt for some of the features, is also what I'd like to see in the next VisualCron update."

"I want to improve the UI in VisualCron, as it's not as user-friendly, particularly when setting up the task scheduler. If you're familiar with the tool, then no problem, but if not, you'll have a problem typing text because sometimes, the cursor points to other places, so there's an issue with text box alignment in VisualCron. That was painful for me when I was just a VisualCron novice, but when you become used to it, there won't be a problem."

"VisualCron seems to operate like an efficient machine when it comes to improvements and enhancements and new features. I always appreciate the quick response I get when bringing up an issue or coming up with suggestions. I've mentioned before that it would be great to see a move away from SQLCE and XML configuration files."

"Our suggestion to make it better and more manageable in terms of GDPR: Implement it in a very partnership way."

"VisualCron's command console is a little bit difficult to understand and needs to improve."

"The documentation is a bit weak."

"There are some conditions in the mail trigger, but you can only use them as an "AND" condition, not as an "OR" condition. This is an improvement that could be useful. For example, some people put "invoice" in the subject and others put "invoice" in the body. If I want to make a trigger for everybody whose sending invoices, I have to make two jobs for this now."

"The only problem I face when I use the tool is that it doesn't contain much documentation or it doesn't have many video tutorials on its features."

More VisualCron cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"It comes with a package that costs approximately $20,000 USD per year."

"I like the way this solution is priced because you can buy a license, or you can buy the software outright."

"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."

"From a distributor's perspective, one of the biggest selling points of Automate is its price point."

"The cost is a bit high for a small business like ours, but we manage with Fortra's Automate."

"From a distributor's side, one of the biggest selling points is its price point. Without going into any numbers, compared to UiPath, Automation Anywhere, and Blue Prism, we're significantly cheaper. The main difference is that other competitors usually charge you per process. However, in Automate's case, it's priced per bot. So, a bot can run multiple processes at the same time, but you are only priced for a single bot."

More Automate pricing and cost advice

"The price is affordable."

"Kryon is slightly more expensive compared to UiPath."

"Can't beat the price... There are different pricing levels for every bot or unattended bot. You can buy however many you want. You'll need an additional virtual machine for it to work on."

"We're paying in the neighborhood of about $66,000 a year. The cost is fairly similar to its competitors' costs. It might have been a little bit more reasonable than the others, and that cost was with Process Discovery in addition."

"It is very cheap. I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being expensive."

"In addition to the standard licensing costs, there are manpower costs."

"For an unattended robot it's $6000 a month."

"They license per robot and we have 25 robots. You get so many robot licenses and can allocate those licenses to either attended, unintended, or Process Discovery bots. If you have 25 licenses, for example, you could have 20 automation bots and five process discovery. This allocation is flexible. There are also maintenance costs."

More Nintex RPA pricing and cost advice

"ROI is one month."

"VisualCron is correctly priced because it wasn't very cheap, and it wasn't overly expensive, so the price for it was set correctly. When my previous company bought VisualCron, it was €800 per server per year. On a scale of one to five, I would rate the pricing for VisualCron a five because it was just right. The tool was affordable, and it has one of the most competitive pricing in the market."

"The price is a bit high."

"We are fine with a rather cheap setup. Licensing with VisualCron is fair. You have a simple one-year licence in different sizes. There isn't a licensing jungle with hundreds of options and opt-ins."

"ROI is 95 percent."

"The pricing is extremely fair, and because of that I recommend purchasing multiple instances to split out the processing load across multiple application servers."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

27%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	18

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	5

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.

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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...

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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 ...

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Best RPA tools for IBM iSeries

We have found that Foxtrot (Now NintexRPA) is a very solid solution for IBM iSeries integration using the IBM ACS 525...

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What do you like most about Nintex RPA?

Nintex RPA often includes security features, including encryption and user access controls, which ensure the protecti...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nintex RPA?

Although Nintex RPA is expensive, it is somewhat affordable considering its features. I would rate the cost aspect as...

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What do you like most about VisualCron?

The tool has reduced our operational costs by 40%.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VisualCron?

The price is a bit high. However, it is okay.

See all answers

What needs improvement with VisualCron?

The documentation is a bit weak. The tool must provide a better set of documentation.

See all answers

Comparisons

UiPath Platform vs Automate

Compared 21% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs Automate

Compared 15% of the time

Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition vs Automate

Compared 9% of the time

Blue Prism vs Automate

Compared 8% of the time

Control-M vs Automate

Compared 4% of the time

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UiPath Platform vs Nintex RPA

Compared 20% of the time

IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vs Nintex RPA

Compared 11% of the time

Blue Prism vs Nintex RPA

Compared 11% of the time

Automation Anywhere vs Nintex RPA

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs Nintex RPA

Compared 9% of the time

More Nintex RPA Competitors

Microsoft Power Automate vs VisualCron

Compared 34% of the time

Control-M vs VisualCron

Compared 23% of the time

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs VisualCron

Compared 9% of the time

OpCon vs VisualCron

Compared 8% of the time

Stonebranch vs VisualCron

Compared 6% of the time

More VisualCron Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automate

October 2025

Download Automate product report

Buyer's Guide

Nintex RPA

October 2025

Download Nintex RPA product report

Buyer's Guide

VisualCron

September 2025

Download VisualCron product report

Also Known As

HelpSystems Automate, Automate

Kryon RPA

No data available

Overview

Automate offers a user-friendly solution with a drag-and-drop interface for efficient task automation and integration with major platforms like SAP and Azure, making it ideal for quick deployment with minimal coding and training.

Automate provides powerful features for businesses seeking efficient automation, offering compatibility with databases, email integration, and cloud platforms. Its simple interface supports both beginners and experienced users, simplifying tasks like invoice processing, HR automation, and data transformation. Cost-effective pricing and flexible licensing enhance its appeal while integration capabilities and scheduling tools ensure smooth workflow automation.

What are Automate's Key Features?

Drag-and-Drop Interface: Simplifies automation with intuitive design.
Integration Capabilities: Connects with platforms like SAP and Azure for seamless data flow.
Database and FTP Triggers: Enhances automation potential through direct data interaction.
Efficient Scheduling: Automates tasks with precise timing and control.
Web Scraping: Automates data extraction for quick analysis and reporting.

What Benefits and ROI Should Users Expect?

Rapid Deployment: Minimizes coding efforts for quick implementation.
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers flexible pricing models to suit budget constraints.
Operational Efficiency: Reduces manual workloads and enhances productivity.
Comprehensive Integration: Facilitates improved data management across systems.
Scalability: Adapts to growing business needs with ease.

In industries such as healthcare, banking, and logistics, Automate is used for tasks like invoice payment automation, data transformation, and task automation. This leads to streamlined processes and reduced manual workload, illustrating its value in enhancing operational efficiency through diversified workflows.

Fortra

Using Nintex RPA, enterprises can leverage trained bots to quickly and cost-effectively automate routine tasks without the use of code in an easy-to-use drag and drop interface. Users are now equipped with a comprehensive, enterprise-grade process management and automation solution that streamlines processes fueled by both structured and unstructured data sources.

Nintex

VisualCron offers task automation through a visual interface, eliminating the need for programming skills. With capabilities like alerting and variable usage, users benefit from integration with databases, timely task execution, and cross-platform operations.

VisualCron empowers users by simplifying complex workflows. It allows seamless task automation through features like interactive scheduling and role-based operations. Users appreciate its integration capabilities, replacing multiple tools with a comprehensive automation solution. The support system ensures quick assistance, making it a reliable choice for workflow visualization and task execution. However, areas like error handling and interface design require enhancements for improved user experience.

What are the key features of VisualCron?

Visual Interface: Users automate tasks without needing programming skills.
Integration: Connects with databases and multiple systems to streamline operations.
Alerting: Notifies users about tasks and system statuses.
Task Scheduling: Allows interactive management of automated tasks.
Credentials Management: Enables cross-platform operations securely.

What benefits can users expect when evaluating VisualCron?

Increased Efficiency: Reduces the time spent on manual processes.
Cost Reduction: Eliminates the need for multiple tools by consolidating functionalities.
Enhanced Support: Offers robust post-sales support for quicker assistance.
Streamlined Workflows: Simplifies complex task automation.

Organizations leverage VisualCron in industries like finance and logistics to automate tasks such as encryption and secure file transfers. It's also integral in managing data operations, facilitating communications between systems, and executing SQL jobs, enhancing operational efficiency across sectors.

SMA Technologies

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

Amazon, Audi, Chevron, Toyota, Uber, Walmart

7 Eleven, ABB Sécheron SA, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Amazon Europe Core, Apple, Assa Abloy, Aston Martin, Banco Santander, BMW (Australia)

Buyer's Guide

Nintex RPA vs. VisualCron

September 2025

Free Report: Nintex RPA vs. VisualCron

Find out what your peers are saying about Nintex RPA vs. VisualCron and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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