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reviewer1391880 - PeerSpot reviewer
Smart Automation & RPA Tech Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Great automation capabilities, good drag and drop functionality, and easy to use
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is pretty customizable. Even big automation tasks are done rather simply."
  • "While Microsoft has a way of integrating well with itself and its own internal tools, it could do more to include external options and add them to the mix."

What is most valuable?

The solution seems to have a good drag and drop functionality. 

It's very well automated.

The solution is pretty customizable. Even big automation tasks are done rather simply. If you want to do more, we've found that anybody can do it. Even a business user that has no knowledge of IT can jump on and figure it out.

Two or three years ago, in all IT products, there were a lot of standards that were missing. Now, using the cloud and using some EA tools, there is a huge scope of possibilities. It's much better.

What needs improvement?

The biggest problem right now is the fact that, when you use only the trial version, you don't have the whole power or capacity of what you can do with the Power Automate. 

The price of the license isn't that cheap. We want to see what it can do, fully, before purchasing. 

If you get a license, you can only have one developer or one user on it.

If you want to be more precise and the jobs to be more complete, it's somewhat complicated and there are some complex tasks that can't be done so easily by a business user. You'll need to get someone that's more highly skilled.

You need to pay for the ability to customize the solution. That's not an option on the free trial. You also have to be able to read some code in order to customize it. You need to be slightly skilled. You can only customize it on your own, only for you, and not for the other users.

When it comes to using UiPath or Blue Prism, there are more tools you can use. For example, Java or tools. It's easy to interact with them with UiPath and not so much on Power Automate. While Microsoft has a way of integrating well with itself and its own internal tools, it could do more to include external options and add them to the mix.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for one to two months. It's pretty new for us.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's largely stable. When Microsoft updates, it tends to update everything at once. Your Excel, Work, Power Automate, etc., everything updates automatically. That makes everything align so that nothing is out-of-date and affecting the stability of everything else at any time. In general, stability seems to be absolutely fine.

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Power Automate
October 2025
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power Automate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2025.
872,655 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

If it's on the cloud, it's generally easy to scale. The volume of data is viable. However, we haven't really attempted to scale anything. I haven't put everything onto Power Automate at this time.

How are customer service and support?

I haven't really reached out to technical support yet. I don't have experience with them, so I can't gauge if they are better than other options.

From my experience, for example, UiPath technical support was not that good. I've used Automation Everywhere and I didn't find them to be very good either. Each time we have a problem with Automation Anywhere, they wouldn't give any explanation. They would always blame the issue on a problem with Microsoft and never with their own problems. Therefore, historically, we haven't had a good run with support at other companies. I'm not sure if this will be the case with Microsoft.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We've looked at and worked with UiPath, Blue Prism, and Automation Anywhere. We're doing comparison POCs with UiPath and Power Automate now. We're not likely to just choose one solution; we may end up using two. We'd like to have options to choose a few depending on the needs.

How was the initial setup?

The initial implementation is not that difficult. It's on the cloud, so there's nothing to install. It's not exactly user friendly, however. UiPath is much more user friendly if you compare it to Power Automate.

In any case, you just connect it with your Microsoft login. If you want to automate a task, it's easy as everything is connected due to the Mircosoft account. It's easy to set up and concentrate your automation tasks.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Since we are on the trial version, we haven't bought it yet, or paid for anything.

If you are a small company, you can have a Power Automate license for as low as $30/month if you want to run one bot per month. It's pretty inexpensive.

With solutions like Blue Prism or UiPath, you need to think in one or five-year terms and many small companies can't just throw down $10,000 upfront.

What other advice do I have?

We're a Microsoft customer. We don't have a business relationship with the company.

We're using the trial version of the cloud deployment model. We haven't paid for it yet as they have to do a benchmark within or the solution for some POCs on UiPath and on Power Automate to see the differences. 

In a lot of companies, they use Microsoft products. It's easy to demonstrate how it's important to have a Power Automate type of solution on hand.

Overall, I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. Power Automate definitely offers the best automation scenarios due to the fact that it's a Microsoft product for Microsoft products. I tried automating something, for example, in SharePoint, using both UiPath and Power Automate, and Power Automate was the clear winner. It was just so easy and seamless.

It's also great from the perspective of a small company as there aren't high costs up front.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
VP at Speridian Technologies
Real User
An easy initial setup but lacks maturity and isn't very robust
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup is pretty easy."
  • "The solution lacks maturity."

What is our primary use case?

We have clients in a number of different industries. We were evaluating Power Automate for a hospital in Kansas City. We were looking at a couple of different use cases with regards to their vendor onboarding and some of the back-office processes. 

What is most valuable?

The initial setup is pretty easy.

The entire product is pretty easy to pick up and learn. We've got some developers and some software engineers that have picked it up. We have RPA specialists that are are deep specialists in UiPath, and they picked up Power Automate relatively quickly. We have guys that are trained in multiple platforms such as Automation Anywhere or Blue Prism and they got it right away.

What needs improvement?

The solution lacks maturity. That will come with time.

The complementary suite of capabilities with regards to task capture and being able to self-document a process needs improvement. The whole document handling aspect, OCR recognition and capabilities, need to incorporate some more of an AI type of approach with document extraction and document handling. 

Being able to handle various types of forms and complex documents is important. Obviously, we handle a lot of documents like invoices that could have multiple formats and multiple pages of content, and very complex material contracts. That area is where it shows that UiPath has come a long way and Microsoft has a ways to go. 

If I look at the suite of tools that UiPath has, it's very robust and extensive. There are complimentary tools that help determine the applicability of a process. Being able to have tools that help assess things like a business case, savings, applicability, etc., relatively quickly, which we see with UiPath, for example, is integral to a good product. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for less than a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

A criticism of Microsoft is that they typically bundle everything together, like with the Office 365 or Dynamics 365 or whatever the package of all the different options are. You get it whether you want it or not. The problem with that is, the content that you're giving away in the bundle is either not fully baked, or fully thought out or all that valuable. Some might be buggy or not do exactly what they are supposed to.

Clients are frustrated that they're getting stuff that they don't want. They'll ask us "why am I getting all these other packages as part of my bundle, that don't make sense?". I would rather see a really innovative and leading tool, rather than a whole bunch of tools that do lots of things. 

How are customer service and technical support?

We haven't really reached out to technical support. We haven't really gone into production. Most of the issues, anything that we've had to do technically, we've figured out.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward. Our team picked it up really quickly. The question is if it's really solving the trickier problems on not. The more complex problems, is where the value is going to be. Process automation is becoming a commodity. Therefore, the differentiation is in really being able to handle the more complex problems, especially at an enterprise level.

What about the implementation team?

We're able to handle implementations ourselves. We're a reseller and gold partner with Microsoft.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'm unsure as to what the licensing costs are. It's not something that I generally deal with.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We're a vendor, therefore, we tend to use various solutions according to our client's needs. We've evaluated UiPath against Power Automate, for example.

We have evaluated Power Automate and we're trying to get some competency there. I don't believe it's to the same level as where you have the maturity as UiPath.

We've also looked at Blue Prism and found their capabilities quite mature.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using the latest version of the solution.

We would typically evaluate the solution as an on-Cloud deployment. However, we would use either cloud or on-premises deployment models, depending on the situation. It's not implemented in our organization. We're a vendor or a partner. We provide services to implement it.

I'd advise other organizations that if you are looking for industrial strength, I don't think this solution is quite it. However, if you're poking around and are going to use it lightly, it might be a way to venture into process automation. It would allow you to try it out without a big commitment. If there are companies that are serious about it, it's probably not the right option. It's not ready yet. Microsoft is maybe trying other ways to build out the capabilities, through acquisition avenues. Therefore, I'm not sure if that's the platform to get. There will be too many growing pains.

Overall, I'd rate the solution five out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Power Automate
October 2025
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Power Automate. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2025.
872,655 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user1180215 - PeerSpot reviewer
Advisory Council Member at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
A great solution for simple automation activities, but quite complex to use for advanced workflows or automation
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a great solution for simple automation activities or simple automation of simple tasks. It is also integrated with Office 365. Integration is an absolute breeze with any RPA software."
  • "We expect Microsoft Power Automate to work like any other RPA software, but at present, it is fairly lax, especially in the RPA space. We have a very limited set of use cases today for Microsoft Power Automate. Microsoft should make it a full-featured RPA product like other solutions that we use, such as Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath. This is predominantly the area that they need to improve on. Microsoft Power Automate is quite complex to use as well, especially if you want to do advanced workflows or advanced automation. The regular simple workflows are quite easy and straightforward, but the moment you want to do something complex, it is almost impossible for one of our employees to work on it."

What is our primary use case?

Microsoft Power Automate is a part of the Office 365 environment. Currently, 5% to 7% of our 19,000 employees use Microsoft Power Automate. It has already been connected to all the applications that our employees use, such as Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, and the ecosystem of applications that come with Microsoft Office. This is one of the primary reasons for using this solution. We are also using it for workflow approval and automated signature use cases to deploy a digital signature solution for some documents. It is all automated, from the client all the way to signing and storing the documents. 

What is most valuable?

It is a great solution for simple automation activities or simple automation of simple tasks.

It is also integrated with Office 365. Integration is an absolute breeze with any RPA software.

What needs improvement?

We expect Microsoft Power Automate to work like any other RPA software, but at present, it is fairly lax, especially in the RPA space. We have a very limited set of use cases today for Microsoft Power Automate. Microsoft should make it a full-featured RPA product like other solutions that we use, such as Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath. This is predominantly the area that they need to improve on. 

Microsoft Power Automate is quite complex to use as well, especially if you want to do advanced workflows or advanced automation. The regular simple workflows are quite easy and straightforward, but the moment you want to do something complex, it is almost impossible for one of our employees to work on it.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Microsoft Power Automate for about a year or so now. We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is absolutely stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is definitely not scalable because we don't see this kind of use case. Scaling comes with the flexibility to use it everywhere, but we don't see that flexibility today. Therefore, scalability is definitely a question. We hope to see the product improve so that we can scale it, but today, we really can't do so. 

How are customer service and technical support?

We don't usually call Microsoft for anything. There is absolutely no need for technical support. It is relatively easy. 

How was the initial setup?

There is no installation because it is a part of our size offering purchase from Microsoft Office, so it was relatively straightforward to install. 

What about the implementation team?

Microsoft deployed it for us, and they had a fairly large team. It took a long time, but I don't think it generally takes a long time. We had a very large deployment for around 19,000 employees. When I say deploy, I specifically speak of Office 365, which is the installation of Microsoft Office on these 19,000 end-user computing devices at the same time by using a new Active Directory. If you are specifically talking about deploying in Office 365 or Power Automate alone, it can be done in a matter of hours. You would need only one person to deploy it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is zero licensing cost. It comes with our Microsoft Office subscription.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We use both Automation Anywhere and Microsoft Power Automate.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution for simple automation. We plan to continue using this solution if it gets better in terms of use cases, features, and scalability. It needs a full check-up in terms of functionality to be a fully functional RPA. 

I would rate Microsoft Power Automate a six out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Senior Programmer Analyst at Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Real User
Very good RPA, and lots of documentation but needs to be more mature
Pros and Cons
  • "The RPA robotic process automation is a good feature. We can make a flow within a flow. We just made a UI flow. The flow is to run every day so far it's been quite helpful."
  • "Tech support could be more hands-on. Right now, they simply direct users to documentation instead of directly dealing with issues."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for testing. For example, we made a website solution and we're open to trying new things because it's not on production yet. We use your flows in order to make some data automation. We fill our flows with some data and test to see if it's all correct.

What is most valuable?

The RPA robotic process automation is a good feature. We can make a flow within a flow. We just made a UI flow. The flow is to run every day so far it's been quite helpful.

There's good Microsoft documentation that makes setup easy.

What needs improvement?

I am now a member of the digital transformation team, so we are making various products. We are just making the new projects, and developing them in the store. However, everything is new to us. We have are not working with this tool for more than six months. Therefore, it's hard to really know how well it works or what is lacking.

The solution needs more features so that it can better compete with competitors that have been on the market longer and are more mature.

Tech support could be more hands-on. Right now, they simply direct users to documentation instead of directly dealing with issues.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've only just started using the solution. We have been using it for six months so far. It's been less than a year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the solution is quite good. We're not in production, so we can't verify it 100% as we're just testing its capabilities. It's a rather new tool as well, so I don't know how much it's been tried and tested overall. However, overall, from what I've witnessed, it's been good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is quite new, both for us and on the market. I can't speak to the scalability as we haven't tried to scale it, and I don't know if many companies have really tried.

Although we have about 1,500 employees, we're still testing the solution, so not everyone has access to the product. Maybe five or six of us are actually on it and trying it out. We're all programmers.

How are customer service and technical support?

As a developer, I can open a ticket with Microsoft, even though our DBA did teach us a lot about the solution. There's a lot of documentation and support online, so there's rarely a reason to have to actually open a ticket. So far, we've been satisfied with the arrangement, although, for the most part, their assistance is simply directing users to specific documentation.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Currently, we're just testing this solution, however, our organization is also using UiPath.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup isn't too complex. It's rather straightforward. You can just follow the documentation provided. Microsoft makes it very easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is offered as part of a larger Microsoft license. It came as a solution in a bigger package. I'm not sure what the exact cost of it it, as it's not my area of expertise.

What other advice do I have?

We have the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Enterprise license, and that covers for Automate and VI. Right now, we are doing some tests.

We're just working with four workflows. We're just really starting and haven't begun any big projects yet. We have 15 ongoing small projects.

I'm not sure of the exact version we are using.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten. We're still testing it in production. We need more time with it to really get a sense of what it can do.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
IT Team Lead at Kantar
Real User
An RPA specifically for Microsoft applications, but very limited in process complexity and integrations
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that it is very easy to use."
  • "The tasks that can be automated are limited to Microsoft applications only."
  • "Any task that is automated needs to be very simple. This tool does not seem to handle complicated tasks very well."

What is our primary use case?

The reason why we are using this product is that we like to use it where we have automation projects specifically for Microsoft products. We can automate to improve productivity and for those applications and simple tasks, it is easy to use.  

For example, suppose I get my email with Outlook. There are certain times I will get specific Excel files from a pre-determined output which I have to always place into a particular SharePoint folder. From there, some other automation gets triggered and the file is processed in a certain way. Those are the sort of things we can automate with Power Automate. It is very good at working with those simple Microsoft-product-related processes.  

We use it wherever we have workflow processes in which Microsoft products are interacting. Before using this solution, people would get those emails and the recipient had to download the file and then manually put it into SharePoint. Now, as soon as it comes into the inbox, Power Automate gets triggered and it automatically copies the file to the correct SharePoint. There is no reason that a repetitive task of this sort needs to be done manually.  

How has it helped my organization?

It offers a different option than using UiPath which is much more complicated and more expensive for simple tasks that Power Automate can do more easily.  

What is most valuable?

It is very hard to say what the most valuable features are in Power Automate because we are still exploring the product and utility. I like the simplicity of how we can create those automated activities quickly. For now, the most valuable feature is that it is very easy to use.  

What needs improvement?

There is definitely a lot of enhancement that Microsoft can incorporate into Power Automate. For example, we have quite a lot of .NET applications that we created. These are custom applications that we created using something like VB.NET or C#.NET. These are obviously applications that are not published by Microsoft. I would like it if Microsoft could enhance the capabilities of Power Automate to allow users to connect to other tools and applications in some way. That will help us create better processes without making them more complicated or having to use another automation tool. Right now, we have to use UiPath to help us make processes such as the one described. I have not seen any way that Power Automate can do that type of integration. So if we could get better integration with non-Microsoft solutions as a feature for Power Automate, that will be very useful.  

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Flows) for the last three months.  

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not created anything complex, so we have not faced any issues in the form of glitches or any bugs to this point. When we start doing more sophisticated workflows, that may end up being a different story.  

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not really had much of an opportunity to test the scalability of the solution yet. If we find a particular workflow that requires a change or something, it is easy to drop that version and recreate something new from scratch. It does not take much time. Scaling the number of processes up or down at this point does not seem to be an issue.  

The number of users in our company right now remains pretty small. I think there are only around 15 to 20 of us are actually exploring the capabilities. Eventually, that group should be much larger.  

How are customer service and technical support?

We have not had any reason to work with the technical support team at this point. One of my colleagues did drop them a note asking if there is a way we can use Power Automate to connect to any of the custom tools that we created. I do not believe that we have got an answer to that question yet, so it is taking some time.  

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was quite good and went smoothly. It was not complex at all. It is good that it was relatively easy because we understood that it would mostly be used for easy processes to do some small tasks. We went that way and are using the tool only for working with simple automation processes. We did spend some time trying to automate more complex processes, but as the processes became more complex the tool became more complex to use. It is much easier to use it to do non-complex things. The setup for the processes themselves is fairly easy to do.   

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

This solution can save money when used for simple tasks specifically using only Microsoft products.  

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are currently working on evaluations of various products. The thing is, we have just started to embark on our journey into RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and we have brought in UiPath to act in that capacity. We are very much, at a nascent stage of the discovery of what we can do and what the product is capable of. We are identifying processes that can be automated and we are planning to work mostly with UiPath on those solutions. We have already engaged in a contract with UiPath for use of their product at this point in time.  

Most of our work is going towards UiPath currently but we also have this Microsoft Enterprise licensing. There seems to be no reason we should not use that as well if there are ways it can provide an advantage. We are also exploring if the enhancements we would need to tie in other applications and processes to Power Automate are something that we could do internally. At this time we are working with a combination of solutions that falls somewhere between our existing processes and new capabilities with automation tools.  

What other advice do I have?

I have a few comments and advice for people considering the addition of RPA in their workflows. I would suggest that they do as much streamlining of their processes as possible. If they can get smaller things up and running by creating the process with a simple tool it may help their efficiency as well as their bottom line. When you go for big tools like UiPath and all the other robust RPA solutions, the cost of creating those smaller processes will be higher than they need to be. If people have a Microsoft Enterprise license, they could actually use the Power Automate tool to make their processes much more lean and efficient. Doing the same thing by employing any of the RPA-related solutions and tools might be a lot more effort.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Power Automate, overall as a product as a six-of-ten at this point. It has got a lot of room for improvement.  

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Sr. Software Engineer at Globant
Real User
Easy to set up with great templates and reasonable pricing
Pros and Cons
  • "In just in one click, we can see any documentation, etc., that we need. It makes it very easy to navigate."
  • "All the services on the Microsoft platform are great. If we want to try something like with SharePoint or Azure or the 365 CRM, then we can't with the everyday community edition of the Microsoft Power Automate. It would be a good thing if there was some sort of trial period. Let's say you have 14 days. That way, can log into the loading screen with Power Automate, and get to utilize services like SharePoint, OneDrive, 365 CRM or etc. to see if they like them. It would be a good way for Microsoft to cross-sell or up-sell."

What is most valuable?

I really like the Excel operations and the templates that the solution has available. If you're looking for 10 items, chances are there are templates already for six to eight of them. We just have to download or integrate that template and our work has been done for us, in a sense. 

It's really user friendly. One of the coolest features that I've found is when we are writing some functions or some custom line of code, there is specific virtualization that we are working with that we are utilizing for recording. 

In just in one click, we can see any documentation, etc., that we need. It makes it very easy to navigate. 

What needs improvement?

I'm still new to Microsoft. I don't know if there are features or aspects of the solution which are lacking. I need more time to work with it to really decide if there's anything I'd like to have on the solution that's not already there.

All the services on the Microsoft platform are great. If we want to try something like with SharePoint or Azure or the 365 CRM, then we can't with the everyday community edition of the Microsoft Power Automate. It would be a good thing if there was some sort of trial period. Let's say you have 14 days. That way, can log into the loading screen with Power Automate, and get to utilize services like SharePoint, OneDrive, 365 CRM or etc. to see if they like them. It would be a good way for Microsoft to cross-sell or up-sell.

Otherwise, it's expensive, to buy all these extra applications, without knowing if or how you could use them or integrate them into your work.

One thing that I would really like to recommend is that they should get an actual learning environment or LMS where we can go and find all the different tools, how to utilize the different tools of Power Automate, and documentation or tutorials in video form on how we can create our own custom templates. 

Right now, what we have to do is we have to navigate to a different platform, for example, YouTube, and search on YouTube to see whether there are different kinds of techie guys that have updated their information about the Microsoft Power Automate. Microsoft Power Automate needs its own in-house LMS, where we can get the entire knowledge of the product from beginning to end. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've only been using the solution for two or three weeks.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not tried any kind of real-world problems so I can't say too much about the solution's stability. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I haven't used the solution long enough to really test the scalability. I'm not sure how scalable it is.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward. Even a person who has one or two years of coding skills can install the solution quite easily. It's pretty simple. You don't have to be a Microsoft expert. I, for example, would be able to handle it, and I am very new to Microsoft.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using the latest version of the solution. I tried to follow some YouTube tutorials from different people who are actually doing some good work with Microsoft Power Automate, however, they're using different versions as compared to the latest version that I'm using. The layout and the modules and everything is different as compared to the previous versions.

I use the cloud deployment model because it has some free storage or free allocation with the subscription.

I would definitely recommend the solution. Even small businesses would benefit from the solution. Any company would be able to integrate it. There are a lot of tasks you could handle with the solution. It's great for handling customer inquiries, for example, if you had a business with inquiry forms on sales sites.

It also offers one of the cheapest rates as compared to other automation tools. Other automation tools charge a huge amount for license fees. Microsoft Power Automate offers decent fees for the automation tools they offer. 

The solution is also excellent for businesses due to the fact that it's totally based on the cloud. You can use it in anywhere and you can execute your flows from your mobile. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. If they offered some better tutorials, I'd rate them higher. No one wants to go and read through dozens or hundreds of web pages. The tutorials need to be interactive or video so that it's easy and engaging. If Microsoft was able to offer that, they'd be close to perfect.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
RPA Developer at a tech consulting company with 11-50 employees
Real User
You can build your RPA solutions with this easy-to-use product but the stability is questionable
Pros and Cons
  • "This product has an easy-to-use interface with nice detail in the features."
  • "The stability of the product is not very good and can even fail with simple projects."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use we have for this product is a solution we created for a client to download daily data from a big company's website. It is a website tool for helping the company monitor the channel for managing their associate or partner responsibilities. They needed to visit the website every day — or as often as possible — so they could get information from the parent company, or collect orders or complaints from there.  

What is most valuable?

The most valuable thing about the product is that it is simple. When you go into the UI — and probably because Softomotive has about a 20-year long history in the IT industry — there are small details in the features that simplify how you work with it. It has all the big features like competing products but the detail is the kind of thing that makes users feel more comfortable using the product than if the details were not there. So those kinds of ease-of-use details are good things for Softomotive. The design is a GUI interface which is really for non-programmers. There is only the graphic user interface so it is simple to use.  

What needs improvement?

I think the primary thing that needs improvement in this product is the stability. It looks like it is easy-to-use and that is very nice, but it is more important to have a stable product and not just one that is easy-to-use. If I am working to create a simple process, odd errors occur quite often and in the middle of creating the process.  

The additional features I might like to see in the next release would be adding in some capabilities that other products already have. For example, some RPA process management framework. UiPath has something like that, RE Framework (Robotic Enterprise Framework), which is something in Softomotive we have to develop by ourselves. They have some premade processes in WinAutomation, but in running a process they should have some kind of error handling. For example, if there are tasks that should be run like 100 times and maybe it will freeze up at the 50th cycle, then the process should start again from 50, not from number one.  

If they can come up with some kind of framework and error handling, that will enhance the stability of the running processes made out of their solution. Right now I cannot resolve these main issues on my own and they should be added to the product.  

For how long have I used the solution?

I started testing it out three months ago and have been using it for about two months.  

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the product is not always good even when working on simple projects. This is not a bad product — I still use it — but the stability is something that they need to improve.  

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is just buying more licenses. I worked for RPA consulting company and a development company and then I worked as an RPA developer. Then I was dispatched to a company to develop a process for that company. That company at the time purchased ProcessRobot, and then recently WinAutomation — I think five copies. They tested it and they are now trying to expand usage.  

How are customer service and technical support?

I have been in touch with the technical support for WinAutomation by Softomotive a lot, really. The support is good and they provide the information or answers I need.  

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used other products in the past. For example, by comparison, UiPath might be a little bit more stable but it is also a little bit more complicated in the UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience) than Softomotive. UiPath has not got some of the fancy features — just the basic ones. You just collect your UI elements or web elements and use the basic features. But say you maybe run a process 1000 times in both tools. UiPath seems to me in our testing to have fewer errors than Softomotive. But the complexity of the project or the stability would make me choose one product over the other.  

How was the initial setup?

The setup in WinAutomation is kind of straightforward. I did not experience any trouble in the installation. ProcessRobot is a bit different and then UiPath is a little bit more complicated in the installation, but I think it is manageable as well.  

To actually get the product to work from the point of installation to where I could start running some processes took maybe a month the first time. But this included learning the product. Development with a little experience using the tool usually takes 15 days or about two weeks.  

What about the implementation team?

We did the deployment of this by ourselves.  

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Because I am in this industry, I am gathering information about different tools all the time. I use mainly WinAutomation and ProcessRobot and maybe UiPath for only a month. It is sometimes just to collect information and other times to consider other products.  

What other advice do I have?

I think the advice I can give someone considering this solution has to do with making a smart choice. If someone wants to do some RPA project without already knowing a product, then he or she needs to take quite a long time to learn about RPA. You can look at the subject to learn about it and then learn a little bit about programming. There is not just one place to find this kind of tutorial and educational material. A single vendor will only provide what you need to use their product. Each vendor has different educational materials from different perspectives and different methods of teaching.  

If they want us to use Softomotive as a solution, they may have to do less work in learning about RPA because it is easy to use. But they should probably also visit the UiPath website or maybe AutomationAnywhere to compare the products and features. In many ways, the products are the same with the ultimate goal being that of creating a working RPA process.  

But I think there is a difference in the availability of information and user communities. UiPath has a little bit more structured education system and their community is larger. Because Softomotive is not as widely used it is more difficult to ask other users questions. You may have to direct your questions to the software team. But with UiPath, they can ask questions through a web portal like forum.uipath.com. It is less stressful to ask a question and get an answer from other users.  

ProcessRobot users also have a smaller community but they cannot ask questions from support unless they have the license for the product. WinAutomation is different. It is kind of a semi-commercial product but it is not totally free like open-source. There is also a little restriction on which questions you can ask of support before you invest in the product. They are very responsive and also helpful and their company helps people directly. You go through a sort of process. Maybe Softmotive might not always find an answer or give you a particular solution. Then you can also be a little creative and look for how something is solved using other RPA tools like consulting UiPath Academy. This might give you some hints about what you are trying to accomplish.  

Sometimes I have found that I kind of I reached a dead end. I had no answer as to where to go. I was just confused and then I could not find any answer from the Softmotive website and there was nowhere to ask the question that I had. Other vendors also have wonderful features and then I tested those to see what they could do. It is kind of a long process to develop a stable process and you have to continue to learn.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate this product as a seven. Of course to rate this software higher, they would need to work on the stability issues, enhance the available resources for users, and fill in some of the features that are missing which other products already have. 

* Added on 2020-07-17 : Now that Softomotive is acquired and WinAutomation have become a part of PowerAutomate and the price has gone down almost to half of its original price, the future is quite promising for this product.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Process and Performance Improvement Consultant at a consultancy with self employed
Real User
Process automation that is easy to use and the pricing is flexible
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of this solution are the cost and ease of use, it's very simple."
  • "They need to come up with a little more on AI and precision discovery path to be able to record the processes."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is for process automation.

How has it helped my organization?

With regards to the process on the server-side, you are giving the client the opportunity to run from a very small deployment and to take it from one office location to another, and globally.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of this solution are the cost and ease of use, it's very simple.

They have many, easy-to-use features.

What needs improvement?

When this solution is sold to the clients there is no automated process in place as many other RPA products have. I have to fully understand the product so that I can go over the processes with the client and all staff they may have. 

It would be good to record all of the processes and automate them.

The Kryon product has that option, where when you are doing something automatically it can record it on an AI interface. If they could have that feature included, it would benefit the client.

They need to come up with a little more on AI and precision discovery path to be able to record the processes.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with this solution for nine months.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable. It allows you to expand not only from one geography, but across as well.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have not contacted technical support. I am not a part of the technical support, but an advisor. I have been asked to go in for implementation analyzing.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment depends on the requirements of the client. For most of our clients, I recommend it in two processes.

A smaller process with approximately 50 users using it would take one and a half months to develop, depending on availability and time.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is flexibility in pricing.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I studied five to eight different tools and narrowed it down to the two or three tools that I felt would suit our client's needs.

Some of the other products that were included in my narrowed down studies were Kofax, Automation Anywhere, and UiPath.

There is a very different approach when it comes to Kofax, and I wouldn't recommend UiPath because there is a lot of coding in terms of implementation. UiPath was one of the first ones to have the market and has now lost market share because there are too many available that are smaller, such as Kryon and Kofax.

One other solution that I am studying is NICE. I am trying to get a better understanding of it as an option for my clients.

What other advice do I have?

I am a consultant who advises his clients about the solutions that are best for them. I make recommendations based on their requirements.

Clients have two options, one is the desktop solution and the other is an enterprise version.

For smaller clients what I recommend is to start with the desktop version. I ask them to try it out and if they think that it works in their organization and it's helping, they will get better ROI after proving it to them in the trial POC that I conduct. I have them try it out for six months to a year and then suggest they move to the enterprise version.

My philosophy is value addition. I have seen that with most of the products that we have purchased, we may use only 40% to 50% of the features. I want to change that and cause a disruption in the consulting industry. What I want to do is recommend products to my clients where I see value addition and minimum utilization of features and functionality of the product to 80%.

It's a very different approach and very difficult for clients to understand at first. I am using the years of experience that I have and doing what is in the best interest of the client.

My advice would be not to go directly to process robot. Instead, try the desktop version with smaller processes, small implementation, and get comfortable with it first. 

Start off small then go big. Going big is a huge investment if you are not sure.

Do it one step at a time. Get a few processes, try it out, develop the methodology of implementation, and make it a small mini project or a work in progress then decide. If you are in a hurry and you take a big bang approach without doing it systematically, however good the product is, it could be disastrous.

At the end of the day, this is going to cost you, not only in terms of dollars but in terms of time invested. You will be running with your production environment and existing systems, and there is going to be a lot of effort required to do this, so you have to be convinced that this works for you. Do a POC from three different vendors.

In terms of cost, ease of use, and comfort, I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
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Updated: October 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Power Automate Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.