RPA (robotic process automation) is software automation technology that is programmable by users to accomplish business tasks. It enables users to create intelligent software bots that accomplish a wide array of workplace tasks—from adding input to data analytics software to completing forms—which allows human staffers to focus on higher value tasks.
The benefits of RPA are numerous:
- RPA solutions help out in call centers by offering selling guidance to service agents.
- RPA tools assist in healthcare by completing data entry.
- RPA boosts the finance sector by distributing data across departments without human help.
Many RPA companies are transforming their software to help across industries to meet new customer needs. Below you’ll see a list of 15 vendors who have different solutions with RPA for different company needs:
- Top Robotic Process Automation Companies
- UiPath: Best Overall
- Automation Anywhere: Best for Cloud RPA
- EdgeVerve: Best for Large Enterprises
- Blue Prism: Best for Integration
- WorkFusion: Best for Finance Industry
- Kofax: Best for Large Data Loads
- NICE: Best for Automated Automation
- Hyland RPA: Best for Third-Party Bots
- Pegasystems: Best for DPA
- AntWorks: Best for Incorporating NLP
- Nintex RPA: Best for Machine Learning
- ServiceNow: Best for Customization
- MuleSoft RPA: Best for Company Coverage
- AutomationEdge: Best for Variety of RPA Tools
- Keysight’s Eggplant: Best for Flexibility
- Vendor Comparison Chart
- How to Select an RPA Software Tool
Top Robotic Process Automation Companies
UiPath: Best Overall
UiPath has a solid claim to the title of RPA market leader, with a dedication to RPA rather than just including RPA as a part of its overall portfolio like many other vendors. RPA is well-suited for large enterprises with significant resources to commit to building RPA and associated artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies into its business workflow.
UiPath offers an Azure Cloud SaaS tool, an embedded analytics feature, and a mobile app for its Orchestrator tool. Significantly, it offers an AI integration fabric, which allows robust enablement of AI features.
To speed deployment, the software includes an integrated library of pre-built automation components to augment custom automation. In 2019 UiPath acquired ProcessGold and StepShot, which enabled it to build more process mining into its RPA functionality.
Target User
UiPath’s customers range from banking, healthcare, insurance, government, manufacturing, retail, and telecom.
Key RPA Features
Extensive Partner Network: UiPath has built a rich network of alliances with technology partners, which offer supporting software. These related applications run the gamut from AI to business process management (BPM) to complex process mining. This well-developed network should help UiPath stay up with the curve as RPA grows rapidly.
Advanced User Interface: UiPath clearly strives to offer an intuitive user (UI) interface to its bot dashboards. While it generally succeeds at this, UiPath is an advanced platform, which means not all deployment scenarios are low-code or no-code. Getting full use from RPA requires some machine learning expertise.
Newer Cloud Solution: UiPath unveiled its Cloud Enterprise RPA in June 2019, which is later than some of the top RPA vendors. The key advantage of this cloud version is that it serves companies while avoiding the added hardware-software data center expenses, and it adds scalability.
Pros
- Extensive product offering suitable for many verticals.
- Good for Windows-based users.
- Known for responsive customer support.
Cons
- User interface is complex.
- UiPath was late to the cloud.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.6 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.5 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 8.7 out of 10 |
Honors
UiPath has earned the following recognition:
- Emotional Footprint Leader for RPA in 2022.
- Frontrunner by SoftwareAdvice in 2022.
- Best Company Outlook by Comparably in 2021.
Pricing
For pricing, go to UiPath’s Buy Now page.
Automation Anywhere: Best for Cloud RPA
Focused exclusively on the RPA sector, Automation Anywhere is a market leader, with a high profile in the market that makes it a “first look” for any potential buyers. Automation Anywhere is fully cloud and SaaS-enabled, providing a low enough cost of ownership for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), with a product depth and a developed roadmap that’s also suitable for large enterprise customers.
Automation Anywhere is known for fast implementation. It has pluggable application programming interface (API) integration for developers. The company’s mobile app allows customers to monitor and manage bots on the run. In a step forward, its IQBot includes support for handwriting.
The company’s thin client architecture is well regarded, as is its ability to connect various automations.
Target User
Automation Anywhere’s customers range from business process outsourcing (BPO), finance, healthcare, insurance, life sciences, manufacturing, government, retail, and telecom.
Key RPA Features
Industry-Leading Partner Network: Automation Anywhere has a vast partner network, offering support for RPA tools and solutions of every stripe. It boasts nearly 600 staff in research and development (R&D), and the company has a market presence around the world, allowing it to serve even the largest multinational client.
User Interface: Automation Anywhere’s most routine bot automations are designed to be easy to build. The solution is fully cloud-based and SaaS accessible, so a web-based software robot is assembled with relative simplicity. The company’s flagship Automation Anywhere Enterprise A2019 offers a persona-based platform for developers and nontechnical staff to use for easy collaboration.
Accessible Cost Structure: Automation Anywhere’s scale and cloud-based approach allow it to offer a digital staff at an affordable cost. Additionally, the company’s bot store and its large community offer support and prebuilt elements that can further drive an accessible price point.
Like all RPA vendors, most of Automation Anywhere’s processes are unattended. But, the vendor acquired Klevops in August 2019, which boosted the company’s orchestration for the more complex attended automation.
Pros
- Known for responsive customer support.
- Flexible architecture allows for easy scaling.
- Typically an affordable cost structure.
Cons
- While simple bots are low-code, more complex automations require extensive knowledge and technical staff.
- In some cases, API access could be improved.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.5 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.5 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 8.6 out of 10 |
Honors
Automation Anywhere has earned the following recognition:
- No. 1 Leader for RPA by G2 in 2022.
- Gold Medalist by SoftwareReviews.
- Customers’ Choice for RPA by Gartner Peer Insights in 2021.
Pricing
The company’s Community edition is free for small businesses, developers, and students—which is excellent as a learning tool. The Enterprise solution also has a free trial available. For more details on pricing, go to Automation Anywhere’s Bot Store.
EdgeVerve: Best for Large Enterprises
EdgeVerve is a subsidiary of India-based IT giant Infosys Technologies. The company’s RPA software is best suited for major enterprise companies, including those with large reliance on consumer customer service. EdgeVerve is a strong player in RPA assistance for call centers.
In addition to its flagship RPA solution, AssistEdge Robotic Process Automation, it also offers a tool set of machine learning and AI tools called Infosys Nia.
Because of InfoSys’s many business relationships, EdgeVerve is expected to grow its customer base aggressively within this existing customer group; customers that don’t have an existing relationship with InfoSys are not as clearly targeted.
Target User
EdgeVerve’s customers are focused in finance.
Key RPA Features
Combining Automation and AI: Built into the EdgeVerge product roadmap is a focus on RPA governance, and a sophisticated approach to automation that uses this governance to manage the union of AI and automation. Part of this strength comes from EdgeVerve’s Infosys Nia division.
Customer Engagement: InfoSys has a strong services component, so it makes sense that the company helps speed deployment and the overall ramping up of RPA projects. This includes support for build and design.
Attended Customer Service and Call Center: With all of its offerings available as on-premises or cloud-based, EdgeVerve has a particular strength in the call center. Its AssistEdge Engage solution offers support for customer service agents, which reflects the company’s strength in unattended RPA. This is a differentiator in an overall market focused on attendance.
Pros
- Strong graphical user interface (GUI) leads to ease of use.
- Highly scalable solutions, with business intelligence dashboards.
- Enterprise-grade security that is GDPR ready.
- The company’s AssistEdgeDiscover offers a big boost to process discovery.
Cons
- While the company’s Nia division specializes in ML and AI, it is not completely clear how well these technologies are integrated between Nia and EdgeVerve.
- Some users want better reporting on robot performance.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.1 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.5 out of 5 |
| PeerSpot | 3.3 out of 5 |
Honors
EdgeVerve has been awarded:
- BIG Innovation Award in 2021.
- Gold Award in Enterprise (Large) Innovation Category by Golden Bridge Awards in 2021.
- Disrupter Company by the GLOBEE Awards in the Automation and Productivity category.
Pricing
Those interested should Request a Demo with EdgeVerve.
Blue Prism: Best for Integration
Definitely a market leader in RPA, Blue Prism has an elaborate product roadmap and a true commitment to using AI to advance its automation. While it does offer a free version as a trial, Blue Prism is squarely targeted at large enterprise companies with deep resources.
Blue Prism is the most established RPA vendor in the market, having been founded in 2001 by a team of software automation experts; it practically coined the term “RPA.” It has built an extensive array of partners, including consulting partners, that have built a large library of complimentary automation, analytics, and decision management applications. The company’s length of market tenure results in a secure, stable automation product. It is particularly known in financial services.
The vendor offers on-premises or SaaS cloud deployment; it integrates with Google machine learning workflow, which is arguably best in class. Top-tier security and audit trails include non-repudiation features. Blue Prism is well known for its supporting documentation; this is key in the complex RPA market.
Target User
Blue Prism’s customers range from financial services, telecom, insurance, transportation, healthcare, government, manufacturing, retail, energy, and hospitality.
Key RPA Features
Strong Vertical Focus: Understanding that the sectors ranging from healthcare to manufacturing to retail have different RPA needs, Blue Prism has launched scores of industry solutions, with active customers in each.
Graphical User Interface: To allow less technical staff to create automations, Blue Prism includes drag-and-drop interface for building process automations.
Commitment to AI: Blue Prism Labs is an AI laboratory focusing on computer vision and document interface, primarily for unattended use cases. The company’s roadmap suggests it will use this AI depth to support more attended, human-involved use cases in the future. Blue Prism acquired startup Thoughtonomy, which built a cloud-based AI engine, in July 2019 to further its AI functionality.
Pros
- Blue Prism is strong in unattended use cases, which allow humans in the loop for augmented staff productivity.
- The vendor’s large array of partnerships includes many consultants; this could help with launch and implementation.
- The company’s long tenure and focus on security and encryption provide it with the stability needed for large enterprise deployments.
Cons
- Some users say reporting and scheduling could be more efficient in enterprise-wide deployments.
- While many RPA vendors’ bots record human staff and mimic them, Blue Prism doesn’t use this function to build automation.
- The company’s design studio generally requires a more technical user.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.5 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.4 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 8.3 out of 10 |
Honors
Blue Prism was named:
- Best Robotic Process Automation Company in 2020 by Artificial Intelligence Breakthrough Awards Program.
- Finalist in the 2021 Microsoft AI Partner of the Year.
Pricing
For pricing, go to Blue Prism’s Free Trial page.
WorkFusion: Best for Finance Industry
While some RPA solutions aim for simplicity and ease of use, WorkFusion strives to offer deep and robust AI and ML functionality into its RPA tools. It is this quality of fully leveraging AI and ML that will propel RPA into the future. The WorkFusion platform contains hundreds of advanced prepackaged use case solutions that drive performance in predictions, category classification, and data mining.
WorkFusion’s key focus is unattended RPA bots. For companies looking for complex, versatile, high-function unattended solutions that can traverse a large enterprise, WorkFusion is a top choice. The company has a strong presence in the financial industry.
Target User
WorkFusion’s customers are mostly in financial services.
Key RPA Features
Integrated BPM: WorkFusion offers an integrated business process management system to manage robotic automations. This well-developed system enables versatile ML tools and helps interoperability.
Developed Analytics: To better understand the performance of your automations, WorkFusion’s analytic tools offer the ability to target single automations, which help to fix inefficient processes before they go on too long.
Open-Source Databases: The company has included a number of open-source databases to boost data scalability and upgrade its data management capabilities. RPA requires plenty of data to fuel automations.
Pros
- Known for solid customer support.
- Top-rated development process to drive future product road map.
- Sophisticated feature set for analytics.
Cons
- Advanced platform that requires expert staff to fully implement.
- Not focused on attending automations.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.4 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.3 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 7.6 out of 10 |
Honors
WorkFusion was named a Leader in Everest Group’s PEAK Matrix Assessment for Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) 2022.
Pricing
For pricing, go to WorkFusion’s Request demo page on its website.
Kofax: Best for Large Data Loads
Kofax is well-suited to companies that typically gather large quantities of unstructured data from myriad data pools. This includes sources like social media and mixed-data customer interactions.
While many RPA vendors require customers to run automations on all client desktops and terminals, Kofax has shifted this system. Its RoboServers tool shows the system’s interface in a single, easily managed container. This ingenious method avoids having to run the solution on every desktop, which lowers infrastructure costs.
Potentially further reducing costs, the Kofax platform has such a strong offering in optical character recognition (OCR) tools that the need to purchase an additional OCR solution from a third party is typically avoided. The company is strong in the logistic and transportation industries.
Target User
Kofax’s customers include finance and accounting, customer engagement, and operations.
Key RPA Features
Easy Data Transport: An RPA tool uses automated bots to shift data from one web portal to another, saving staff time. Data transport is one of the most common RPA use cases.
Lower Need for VDI: Because the Kofax RPA manages the UI from a central location, the system needs fewer virtual desktop infrastructures, which cuts costs and allows for easier scaling.
REST/SOAP Interface: Kofax’s representational state transfer and simple object access protocol (REST/SOAP) interface allows easy embedding of automations into third-party applications. This is particularly helpful as companies use third-party apps to enable scalability.
Pros
- Strong in data extraction from documents.
- Can use APIs to mine and migrate data from any number of sources.
- Relatively easy reuse and redeployment of existing automations, which enables faster deployments in new situations.
Cons
- Some concerns with customer support.
- Could use more focus on debugging applications.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.2 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.5 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 9.1 out of 10 |
Honors
Kofax received three 2022 Best Software Awards from TrustRadius including:
- Overall Best Software.
- Best Software for Mid-size business.
- Best Software for Small Businesses.
Pricing
For pricing, go to Kofax’s Request a Demo page.
NICE: Best for Automated Automations
NICE is well-suited for a growing niche: large enterprises that need automated automations. That is, automations with humans in the loop—the so-called “augmented” human staff member—are particularly useful for large enterprises with a call center to maximize. For large enterprise clients, another plus for NICE is its long tenure as a company—almost two decades as an automation vendor.
Additionally, NICE has a solid record with unattended workloads, which remains the more common customer need in the RPA market. NICE is focused on analytics (yet another good tool for call centers), which allows close monitoring of how well a given set of bots and automations is achieving a return on investment (ROI).
Target User
NICE works with enterprises, small businesses, healthcare, financial services, BPO, education, retail, telecom, nonprofit, and collections.
Key RPA Features
Specialized Attended: The company’s Advanced Process Automation offers vertically-oriented attended automations to serve various industries, including manufacturing, banking, and telecommunications.
Real-Time Call Center: The NICE platform allows managers to track each sales rep in the call center, using a bot to offer suggestions, assistance, and support as that rep handles sales calls.
Automation Coupled With Analytics: The NICE Employee Virtual Attendant integration and Shape Analysis (NEVA) tool uses an analytics grid to check for performance over time, both for unattended and attended automations. This kind of RPA governance tool is useful for improving ROI.
Pros
- Known for good customer support.
- RPA solutions offered via virtually any format, from on-premises to SaaS, private or public cloud.
Cons
- AutomationDesigned, a core platform component, requires developer skills to fully maximize.
- Since it’s designed for large enterprises, the initial set up can require the expert staff that these larger companies tend to have on-premises.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.3 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.4 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 8 out of 10 |
Honors
NICE has been awarded for:
- Customer Experience excellence in the 15th Annual Ventana Research Digital Innovation Awards.
- CRM (customer relationship management) Industry Leader Award in 2020.
Pricing
For pricing, go to NICE’s Contact Us page.
Hyland RPA: Best for Third-Party Bots
Hyland RPA, previously Another Monday, will appear attractive to SMB and enterprise clients that are newer to the RPA market because the company offers a usage-based cost structure. Clients pay for automation instances that are successful, a key selling point (clients pay a micropayment per successful transaction). Given that a percentage of the RPA market struggles for true ROI, this offer should continue to help Hyland RPA attract companies of various sizes and verticals.
The company supports its platform as a managed service, which means Hyland RPA can play a hands-on role with its clients. For larger clients, like banks and telecoms, Hyland RPA will directly support the platform. This approach isn’t best for every client; many companies prefer to buy an RPA solution via the cloud or SaaS and manage it only with in-house staff.
That said, Hyland RPA works for those clients that seek a comprehensive solution, as opposed to an “experiment and grow” approach that starts small and scales. The company is strong in manufacturing and utilities.
Target User
Hyland RPA specializes in industries such as healthcare, financial services, insurance, higher education, and government.
Key RPA Features
Includes Third-Party Bots: Hyland RPA’s system is built to oversee and manage bots from third-party sources, which is an approach to RPA that enables great scalability.
Encryption: To bulk up security, Hyland RPA has built encryption into its platform. This is a key feature, given that bots transfer data across an entire organization.
Diverse Prebuilt Elements: The company offers a cohesive menu of automated bots, allowing an end-to-end solution that handles an entire company’s RPA needs with less development time.
Pros
- Platform offers strong bot governance features.
- Set up for the likely future environment of RPA, where a vendor offers an all-encompassing integrated services approach.
- Built with a decentralized architecture that needs no single application to launch and operate bots.
Cons
- Relies on services support from Hyland RPA and its partners; some users may not prefer this.
- A robust customer-created bot strategy in addition to its “all enterprise-wide” strategy would be a plus.
User Reviews
| PeerSpot | 4 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.6 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 8.3 out of 10 |
Honors
Hyland RPA was listed as No. 30 in Fortune Best Workplaces in Technology in 2021.
Pricing
For pricing, go to Hyland RPA’s Contact Us page.
Pegasystems: Best for DPA
Companies looking for an RPA solution with extensive features may select Pegasystems. An overwhelming majority of the company’s clients deploy these human-in-the-loop robot automations, which serve everything from call centers to diverse sales forces.
That said, Pegasystems’ real focus is digital process automation (DPA), sometimes referred to as business process management. In fact, the company’s RPA is available as a no-cost upgrade for buyers that purchase a DPA solution.
Although experts disagree, DPA is a more all-encompassing system that assists everything from business rules to document support, along with robotic process automation. This all-encompassing focus will appeal to some businesses, especially large enterprises, which have the need for such a robust platform. SMBs are likely less of a fit.
An additional plus: Pegasystems has a large market presence, fully global, which suits a multinational client.
Target User
Pegasystems works with financial services, insurance, healthcare, communications, government, manufacturing, transportation, energy, retail, media, and travel.
Key RPA Features
Easy to Deploy: Clients can get operational with relative ease, using Pegasystems’ lightweight architecture that supports fast stand-alone robotic automations.
Visual Studio Scripting: Using a system that watches and records human staffers’ use of applications on the desktop, the Pegasystems platform will then send resulting operational data to Pega’s machine learning platform on AWS.
Multi-Use Robots: In an efficient methodology, Pegasystems’ concurrent scheduling system enables unattended automated bots to assist in a variety of work situations, saving a customer programming time and virtual machines.
Pros
- Growing commitment to unattended automations.
- Advanced in natural language processing (NLP) and mining email and chat interactions with user-programmed automations.
- Strong presence in CRM, so a company sales staff will be assisted by its automations.
Cons
- Customer support for RPA could be improved.
- Bots can be programmed by a business analyst, but that individual will need some scripting skills; not strictly low-code.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.2 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 3.9 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 8.3 out of 10 |
Honors
Pegasystems has won:
- Champion 2022 Low-Code Business Process Management Emotional Footprint Award.
- Two platinum and three Gold Muse Awards.
Pricing
For pricing, go to Pegasystems’ Platform Trial page.
AntWorks: Best for Incorporating NLP
Based in Singapore, AntWorks is a global AI and intelligent automation company that uses RPA to manage, measure, and maximize a company’s production of digital workloads in real time. Working with BOTs, AntWorks is able to mitigate risk with continuity planning and failover management and is built for self-recovery.
The AntWorks RPA enterprise bot platform offers an array of automation modules, enabling the time-efficient list of reusable services. This is a popular strategy in the RPA sector and one that AntWorks takes up a step by incorporating NLP, extensive data capture, and an ML engine in its solution.
To its credit, the AntWorks approach stresses a holistic approach to automation that incorporates several elements of automation and management rather than isolated tools.
Target User
AntWorks RPA works with enterprise-scale automation across many industries, including banking, financial services, insurance, and manufacturing, to help a company build a digital workforce customized to a company’s needs.
Key RPA Features
Low-Code and No-Code: While many companies’ RPAs require some form of coding, AntWorks requires little to no coding for its functionality.
High BOT Productivity: AntWorks offers high productivity because of its availability and message-based BOT triggers largely limiting downtime.
Cognitive BOTs: AntWorks RPA is able to respond based on changes of environment ensuring the company’s success.
Pros
- Easy-to-use system.
- Helpful training and support.
- Integrates well with other company services.
Cons
- Slow service for companies.
- Billing portion can be confusing.
- Cannot group reports together.
User Reviews
| SoftwareAdvice | 4.5 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.5 out of 5 |
| PeerSpot | 4 out of 5 |
Honors
- HFS recognized AntWorks as a Leader in Innovation & Embedded Intelligence for its RPA.
- Adobe presented AntWorks with the award for the best use of Technology in Learning.
- NelsonHall called AntWorks’ technology “cutting-edge” and among the most “intriguing competitors” in cognitive automation.
Pricing
For pricing, contact sales or select the Request Demo link at the top of AntWorks’ website.
Nintex RPA: Best for Machine Learning
Nintex RPA, once Israel-based Kryon, has RPA tool sets for both attended and unattended automations and is focused on process discovery. This commitment to process discovery will likely serve its customers well; discovering when and where in the workflow to fill an inefficiency with a bot is critically important.
Nintex RPA automates processes with its RPA to help businesses improve their performance and reduce operational costs and downtime. Nintex RPA is a market-leading tool that helps uncover answers to a company’s needs by identifying, mapping, and recommending the tasks suited for its automation systems.
Nintex RPA is growing. With patents for machine learning and other core RPA tools, Nintex is a vendor to watch.
Target User
Nintex RPA works with industries such as banking, healthcare, energy, government and education, manufacturing, technology, and the food industry.
Key RPA Features
Desktop Personal Assistant: Unlike most RPAs, Nintex RPA offers an assistant to help employees understand their systems. The assistant can be guidance for any tasks requiring human intervention.
24/7 Virtual Workers: A company can choose for a bot to complete tasks in less time and allows employees to focus on more valuable tasks. The bots can run all of the applications a company needs and give the company real-time information.
Automated Fragmented Processes: Nintex RPA streamlines vital processes for its customers. A task that previously involved many people can be done by bots automatically.
Pros
- Easy installation.
- Allows customer customization.
- Saves company time.
Cons
- Unable to upload spreadsheets as a list.
- Doesn’t work well for remote desktops.
- Constant updates.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.5 out of 5 |
| GetApp | 4.7 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 8.6 out of 10 |
Honors
Nintex has received the following recognition:
- Leader in 11 of 12 Zinnov Zones for Hyper Intelligent Automation—H1 2022.
- Won the 2022 TrustRadius Tech Cares Award.
Pricing
For pricing, go to Nintex’s pricing page.
ServiceNow: Best for Customization
Previously Intellibot.IO, ServiceNow’s RPA offers the full range of automation design, from chat tool and ML architecture to both attended and unattended bots. In an interesting twist, the UI offers a view of the software robots connected to one another, which offers designers a global view of the automated work process.
Now Platform offers UI-based interactions and a reduction manual, reduces repetitive system actions, and accelerates automation for its customers. There are management hubs, desktop design studios, integration with Flow Designer, and the ability to choose from over 1,300 tools such as connectors, templates, and optical character recognition.
Target User
ServiceNow customers’ industries are education, energy, financial services, government, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, retail, service providers, and telecommunications.
Key RPA Features
Native Integration: ​​A company using ServiceNow’s RPA will notice their applications can easily integrate with the RPA, making the data between the applications readily available for customers.
Unique Components: Unlike many RPAs, ServiceNow’s RPA offers over 1,300 tools for its customers, giving them the ability to use specific components for their business.
Customization Factors: ServiceNow’s RPA offers three large customization options including Flow Designer, a management hub, and a desktop design studio.
Pros
- Helpful common service data model.
- Lots of modules for IT service management.
- Easy to work with.
Cons
- No way to go into change requests.
- Slow user interface.
- No mobile version.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.8 out of 5 |
| PeerSpot | 4.1 out of 5 |
| Capterra | 4.4 out of 5 |
Honors
Gartner has acknowledged ServiceNow as a leader in the 2023 Gartner Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms for the third consecutive year.
Pricing
ServiceNow’s RPA is known for significant capabilities at reasonable cost. For details on pricing, call the sales department, or select the Demo page for more information.
MuleSoft RPA: Best for Company Coverage
Mulesoft RPA, previously ServiceTrace, offers RPA within a larger digital process automation approach. With the goal of efficiency, the company’s automation process uses an assessment form that staffers use to describe the value and potential benefit of an automation. Additionally, oversight of both human staffers and automated bots is supported by metadata from a business process model.
Mulesoft RPA has many subsections to help companies. These include the MuleSoft RPA Manager, MuleSoft RPA Recorder, MuleSoft RPA Builder, and MuleSoft RPA Bots to ensure coverage and help with any area a company needs RPA management. These subsections benefit a company further by eliminating manual tasks.
MuleSoft RPA is helpful to many companies needing additional help within their business practices.
Target User
While MuleSoft RPA covers many industries, it’s known for its help in financial services, healthcare services, and manufacturing.
Key RPA Features
Multiple Subsections: MuleSoft RPA has multiple parts to give companies the best result. These are the MuleSoft RPA Manager, MuleSoft RPA Recorder, MuleSoft RPA Builder, and MuleSoft RPA Bots.
Measurable ROI: MuleSoft RPA can automate routine workflows anywhere across a customer’s business for large and small processes.
Scalability: As more data is input into businesses, MuleSoft RPA helps to integrate and push digital capabilities for its customers.
Pros
- Helpful monitoring capabilities.
- Ability to define multi-tiered APIs.
- Flexible systems.
Cons
- Expensive tool.
- Needs more connectors.
- Need improvement with processing.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.4 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.3 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 8.2 out of 10 |
Honors
MuleSoft was acknowledged as a Visionary in 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for RPA.
Pricing
For pricing, go to MuleSoft Automation Pricing.
AutomationEdge: Best for Variety of RPA Tools
Offering both on-premises and cloud-based RPA, AutomationEdge has a robust partner list (including large vendor BMC), which should aid product offering and growth over time. To ease deployment, the company offers hundreds of prebuilt automations.
AutomationEdge RPA with its AI capability can help analyze a company’s data and gives a company more insights into its systems. AutomationEdge RPA benefits a company with cost reduction and efficiency with its ability to personalize and offer self-service.
AutomationEdge RPA offers many specific needs for its customers and larger companies as they grow.
Target User
AutomationEdge RPA helps in the finance, insurance, retail, telecommunication, BPO, logistics, manufacturing, education, and healthcare industries.
Key RPA Features
Conversational RPA: AutomationEdge Conversational RPA allows employees and companies to access their HR, accounts, operations, support, and other issues in one window.
RPA-as-a-Service: AutomationEdge’s RPA as a service was launched to help people not only pay as they go but help companies determine what they want before buying a new product.
SAP Automation: With SAP Automation using AutomationEdge, there is more visibility, control, increased efficiency, enhanced reliability, and reduced costs. AutomationEdge SAP automation customers have noticed little to no errors in their back end.
Pros
- Completes projects on time.
- Flexible and easy to use.
- Takes little to no coding experience.
Cons
- Little available support materials.
- Only performs one similar function at a time.
- Analysis tool needed.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4.6 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.3 out of 5 |
| Featured Customers | 4.7 out of 5 |
Honors
AutomationEdge was recognized in Zinnov’s IT Automation Zone for 2021.
Pricing
AutomationEdge offers a number of pricing levels to allow budget-strapped businesses to get on board with RPA. For more pricing details, go to AutomationEdge’s pricing page.
Keysight’s Eggplant: Best for Flexibility
Keysight Technologies, based in Santa Rosa, California, is a technology company aiming to innovate new technologies. Eggplant’s RPA is data-driven, so a company can set up automatically completing tasks based on what a company wants for its records. Eggplant’s RPA is an AI-powered automation tool that comes with a deployable runtime that is flexible with a company’s platform.
Keysight’s Eggplant brings the power of RPA and AI together for a company’s automation process. Keysight’s Eggplant flexibility ensures a company can complete a task how it would like.
Target User
Keysight’s Eggplant focuses on industries such as aerospace and defense, automotive, enterprise IT, financial services, healthcare, retail, and telecom.
Key RPA Features
Works on Any Platform: Unlike most RPAs, Eggplant offers its services across applications, websites on any browser, remote devices, and operating systems.
Universal Fusion Engine: Using Eggplant’s AI-powered engine, companies can be confident in their system being identified, executed, and automatic tests.
API Evaluation: Eggplant ensures the company’s website’s operations match the front end and back end.
Pros
- Same setup for desktop and mobile applications.
- Easy to use with less programming skills.
- Verifies and tests for performance optimization.
Cons
- Requires two machines.
- Slow loading speed.
- High cost can be prohibitive.
User Reviews
| G2 | 4 out of 5 |
| Gartner Peer Insights | 4.4 out of 5 |
| TrustRadius | 8.4 out of 10 |
Honors
Keysight’s Eggplant has been named a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Continuous Functional Test Automation Suites, Q2 2020.
Pricing
For pricing, go to Keysight’s Try Eggplant page.
To learn more: Best Practices for RPA Deployments
Vendor Comparison Chart
| RPA Companies | Pros | Cons | Best For | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UiPath |
|
|
Best overall | Buy Now |
| Automation Anywhere |
|
|
Best for Cloud RPA | Bot Store |
| EdgeVerve |
|
|
Best for large enterprises | Price page |
| Blue Prism |
|
|
Best for integration | Free Trial |
| WorkFusion |
|
Advanced platform that requires expert staff to fully implement. Not focused on attending automations. |
Best for finance industry | |
| Kofax |
|
|
Best for large data loads | Request a Demo |
| NICE |
|
|
Best for automated automation | Contact Us |
| Hyland RPA |
|
|
Best for third-party bots | Contact Us |
| Pegasystems |
|
|
Best for DPA | Platform Trial |
| AntWorks |
|
|
Best for incorporating NLP | Request Demo |
| Nintex RPA |
|
|
Best for ML | Pricing Page |
| ServiceNow |
|
|
Best for customization | Demo page |
| MuleSoft RPA |
|
|
Best for company coverage | MuleSoft Automation Pricing |
| AutomationEdge |
|
|
Best for variety | Pricing page |
| Keysight’s Eggplant |
|
|
Best for Flexibility | Try Eggplant page |
How To Select An RPA Software Tool
The market for RPA software is based on the emerging technology of user-programmed automation software. This is a new field with constant and rapid advances. The churning field of vendors is well-armed with complex marketing jargon about the wonders that RPA can achieve.
To help cut though the hype, examine these four factors when selecting a solution.
1. Depth of Product Roadmap
The challenge of RPA is that, while these bots are well-suited for simple, routine tasks, moving beyond the “easy wins” requires an RPA solution with versatility and depth. Does the vendor have a product roadmap that looks likely to handle all the growth in your business?
Does the solution include process mining, an RPA tool that points out gaps and inefficiencies in the workflow that automation can address? Will the RPA solution integrate with your legacy applications?
2. User Interface
If a given RPA solution is advanced and has deep use of artificial intelligence, the dashboard UI used to program it is typically complex. It often requires software developers to program the RPA bots.
If, however, you want a simpler user interface, you can find it. The RPA industry speaks of “robot design for citizens,” meaning nontechnical staffers can set up bots. But with this level of simple UI, you’re often sacrificing some level of advanced functionality in bot capability.
3. Attended or Unattended
Once programmed, an unattended RPA robot does its work without human assistance. Many of the RPA bots in use are unattended; set them up to do a simplistic job, and let them keep repeating.
An attended bot is also known as a “human-in-the-loop” bot. These unattended bots work in close partnership with staffers; for instance, offering real-time suggestions to a call center agent to close the sale.
4. Level of AI and ML in the RPA Platform
The confusion in the RPA market is particularly deep around the issue of artificial intelligence and machine learning. A simple RPA automation does not need AI to perform a series of routine repetitions. And yet the long-term promise of RPA is that these basic bots will use AI and ML to develop into “super performers,” accomplishing a dazzling array of complex tasks.
Consequently, RPA vendors are always touting their products’ depth of AI and ML usage. The degree to which any RPA solution incorporates AI and ML “under the hood” is often hard to fully know, and it will change with time. It may be built in but be limited.
Therefore, buyers need to ask probing questions about each vendors’ AI capability. Is it reality or marketing?
Bottom Line
While still an emerging technology, robotic process automation interoperates closely with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and intelligent automation of all types. As these related technologies develop, RPA will offer correspondingly more benefit.
From UiPath to Keysight’s Eggplant, a company should be able to find what works for it in its industry.
To learn more about RPA: Top RPA Certifications
