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 #16 with an average rating of 9.0. Nintex holds a 2.1% mindshare in RPA, compared to SMA Technologies’s 1.0% 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: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Nintex RPA vs. VisualCron

July 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 September 2025, in the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) category, the mindshare of Automate is 2.0%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nintex RPA is 2.1%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VisualCron is 1.0%, up from 0.5% 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	1.0%
Other	94.9%

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Featured Reviews

Ibukun Shweta

DevOps Engineer at Teksphere Global Services Limited

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.

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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

"We are still in the process of rolling it to production and tweaking it (our AD groups are a mess), but the improvements are priceless. Having users ID's created the same way every time without human error is the best part. We don't need to worry about why groups were not added, user rights not set to folders or missing a private folder being created, typos or just even knowing when things are done and logged."

"The most valuable feature is the drag-and-drop interface, which is very Windows-like."

"The product effectively handles all the tasks we require."

"This tool has machine learning and voice recognition and computer vision, which are both quite useful aspects. These aren't available in other tools. It's a good addition to this tool and it gives the solution an edge on the market."

"Overall, the whole product is really nice and provides significant benefits."

"I find it very user-friendly. Our IT department and other departments can seamlessly collaborate without requiring extensive training. As a business department, we particularly value this aspect, as our team doesn't consist of many IT users. However, we couldn't solely rely on a drag-and-drop approach to implement and utilize the solution within our departments."

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

"The pricing is excellent. I would give them perfect marks in that regard."

More Automate pros

"Once I decide a process is suitable as a Kryon solution, the cycle of automation is quite quick. I learn about the manual process and I'm one of the two guys who program the Kryon environment. It's relatively simple. There are many details, but once you understand the concept it is quite easy."

"The friendliness of the software is good because people without any technical background can start off on it. This solution makes it easy for us to use it, as there is no learning curve. With no learning curve, the development time turnaround decreases."

"The number of commands it gives us to edit and modify is really good. It also captures screen activities and plays them back."

"It has been helpful in reducing the manpower and error rate since we are able to run tasks 24/7 without interruptions. As humans definitely take breaks and there may be absenteeism that is unexpected, the solution provides continuous work. Humans tend to make errors once in a while, but the solution has almost zero percent errors."

"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."

"The recording feature enables us to record what we're doing, like typing or clicking the mouse, and to identify objects on the screen. We basically teach the program how to type, instead of a person. That's the most powerful feature."

"We are able to cope with our clients's demands. No matter how much volume they throw at us, we are able to get it done quickly."

"The bot is typically about twice as fast as a person and more accurate, as long as the data going in is good. That is the biggest advantage."

More Nintex RPA pros

"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."

"What I found most beneficial from VisualCron is that you can directly connect it with different databases, user accounts, and credentials. You can run queries from one machine to another using the credentials, unlike PowerShell, that's run by the machine itself. With VisualCron, you can directly ask other machines and run requests through user credentials. Suppose you have an AWS or Azure environment. In that case, you can maintain the connection between on-premises and cloud-based machines, which is the type of setup in the organization I'm working for. You can directly call some of the services via VisualCron on your local on-premises machine, and I found that an excellent feature of the tool."

"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."

"It helped us reduce manual steps."

"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."

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

"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."

More VisualCron pros

Cons

"Currently, there are many instances where I see empty logs, indicating that, while tasks are scheduled, commands are not executing successfully."

"While this solution is continually improving, as it is now, the user interface could use improvement when I compare it to a product like UiPath."

"I believe we need to test various OCR tools that assist in evaluating, let's say, six different customer resyncs. We analyze their spending patterns and documentations, but current OCR support has limitations, requiring highly standardized documents, which isn't always the case. With a more advanced OCR system, we could improve processes related to credit risk management and legal matters. We're exploring how to integrate Fortra's Automate with our CRM platform, taking cues from instances where Salesforce seamlessly merged with Automate. However, we use a different CRM, Insight for New Enterprise, and we're seeking ways to connect the automation process within our CRM. We aim for the automation to continue smoothly, even in instances where traditional automation methods might face hurdles."

"The documentation for errors needs improvement as many of the error messages we receive are very vague."

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

"Sometimes when we communicate with the ERP system and there is an issue, we are not always aware of the specifics of Automate and the source of the problem."

"They do not encrypt passwords, so this is an issue with HIPAA compliance."

"The intelligent automation feature could be improved. It's interesting because it's simple, but the automation quality isn't always good. It's easy to use, but sometimes you need to make a slight improvement to the automation, and that's not so easy."

More Automate cons

"Extracting meaningful data requires significant effort. You need a dedicated business analyst who can understand the output."

"At first, we had problems with the object detection but in this latest release it has been better, and I think it keeps getting better."

"It would be better to have [upgrades] done automatically, like an application on your smartphone. Or even if done manually, the upgrade should just be "next, next, next," and it's upgraded, rather than making it a project to upgrade."

"I would like to see a better OCR solution. That's the main thing: identifying unstructured data, like all paper documents and data from pictures."

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

"Kryon RPA's integration with other solutions could be more seamless."

"Another major drawback is OCR. We are not able to read scanned documents correctly in a reliable way. There is always some margin of error. Some of the processes require us to read scanned documents, and you need to ensure that it is 100 percent accurate. Without that level of assurance, you can't automate such tasks."

"Further simplifying the low-code development process can attract a broader user base by making automation accessible to those with minimal technical skills."

More Nintex RPA cons

"VisualCron is software, and you will experience performance degradation when you scale up. VisualCron takes too much memory or CPU power. We have to increase the hardware resources of a specific server or system."

"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."

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

"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."

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

"The documentation is a bit weak."

"The error timeout and info could be better. When making web request calls, it will time out sometimes and we won't get any useful info out of the error response."

"I would like for VisualCron to expand audit log to show who changed job variables that are initialized per job run."

More VisualCron cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It has gone up in price. The price of Fortra's Automate has increased since we first started using it. It does a lot but also costs a lot. It was a lot more affordable before Fortra owned the software."

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

"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."

"Compared to other products, the pricing model for this solution is much more convenient, flexible, and adaptable to the Portuguese reality."

"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 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."

"I'm only involved in running the product and maintaining the systems, so I can't speak to the cost."

"I believe the price falls within a reasonable range, which significantly influenced our decision regarding the product. This aspect is crucial for any technological solution, especially in our country where enterprises might be hesitant to invest heavily in something untested or uncertain about its practicality and potential returns."

More Automate pricing and cost advice

"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."

"The product has reasonable pricing."

"We have a yearly license. It's about $5,000 per year."

"The price is affordable."

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

"We have been able to alleviate two FTEs, which was a big savings for us. We were able to reuse those resources in other locations. It is over 5000 hours a year in total savings."

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

"We've more than broken even over on the license. Year to date, we are at $120,000 in savings."

More Nintex RPA pricing and cost advice

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

"ROI is one month."

"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."

"The price is a bit high."

"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."

"ROI is 95 percent."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Computer Software Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

27%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	18
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	4

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

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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 26% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs Automate

Compared 23% of the time

Redwood Software - Finance Automation Edition vs Automate

Compared 11% of the time

Blue Prism vs Automate

Compared 9% of the time

Tungsten RPA vs Automate

Compared 4% of the time

More Automate Competitors

UiPath Platform vs Nintex RPA

Compared 24% of the time

IBM Robotic Process Automation (RPA) vs Nintex RPA

Compared 15% of the time

Automation Anywhere vs Nintex RPA

Compared 13% of the time

Blue Prism vs Nintex RPA

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs Nintex RPA

Compared 12% of the time

More Nintex RPA Competitors

Microsoft Power Automate vs VisualCron

Compared 37% of the time

Control-M vs VisualCron

Compared 21% of the time

OpCon vs VisualCron

Compared 9% of the time

ActiveBatch by Redwood vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

Stonebranch vs VisualCron

Compared 5% of the time

More VisualCron Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Automate

September 2025

Download Automate product report

Buyer's Guide

Nintex RPA

August 2025

Download Nintex RPA product report

Buyer's Guide

VisualCron

August 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

July 2025

Free Report: Nintex RPA vs. VisualCron

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

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