Top 3 Automation Anywhere Alternatives for RPA in 2024

With ≈3,000 employees and ≈$850M in funding, and a straightforward  RPA pricing model, Automation Anywhere is a popular RPA software provider.

However, according to some online reviews, Automation Anywhere doesn’t seem to be the easiest RPA tool to set up, use, and administrate (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Automation Anywhere seems to lag behind the competitors in terms of ease of use. Source: G2

If an RPA tool’s ease of use is important to you, you could explore three of Automation Anywhere’s alternatives: IBM, UiPath, and Microsoft. According to reviews, these are easier to use than AA’s solution.

This article covers Automation Anywhere’s shortcomings and discusses how competitors are filling in the gap.  

Why are we looking at Automation Anywhere’s RPA alternatives?

With the advent of no-code/low-code RPA , most RPA solutions are now usable by citizen developers with limited coding knowledge. 

Still, some RPA tools are more user-friendly than others. 

In G2’s aggregation of online reviews, the biggest disparity

in rankings between Automation Anywhere (AA) and the competitors is in: 

• Ease of use 
• Ease of setup 
• Ease of administration 

What are users saying about Automation Anywhere’s RPA?

Pros:

Automation: A junior structural engineer has used Automation Anywhere’s RPA to automate his Excel tasks and increase his quality of work. 

Cons:

Ease-of-use: A software development manager found Automation Anywhere “difficult” to set up and use. Or a site account manager found Automation Anywhere’s Automation 360 to have a steep learning curve when it comes to bot setup. In addition to that users whose processes have been improved with AA’s RPA still found the tool difficult to use.

How do we evaluate Automation Anywhere’s alternatives?

• Ease of use: How easy is the tool to use?
• User interface: How simple is the UI?
• Pricing: How simple is the pricing model?

1. IBM 

• Ease of use: IBM’s low-code/no-code programmability enables citizen developers to easily build bots to automate routine and everyday office tasks. Its “ease of bot creation” on G2 is 9% above average. IBM offers a 30-day free trial.

• User interface: Users have found IBM’s UI as user-friendly and easy to navigate (see Figure 7).

• Pricing: IBM has a simple pricing model: $908/month (cloud-based) and $926/month (on-premises). Their packages include both attended and unattended RPA bots, but it’s not specified how many of each.

2. UiPath 

• Ease of use: Users claim UiPath’s RPA is easy to use. Moreover, it seems that the learning curve is manageable and that UiPath delivers on its “no-code” promise.

• User Interface: Users claim UiPath’s interface is simple, the program is scalable, and those with limited programming language can build bots. 

• Pricing: UiPath’s RPA for SME coverage comes in three packages:
  • 1 attended bot + 1 action center: $420/month
  • 1 attended bot + 1 unattended bot + 1 action center: $1380/month
  • 1 attended bot + 4 unattended bot + 4 action centers: $1930/month

Learn more about UiPath’s pricing strategy.

3. Microsoft Power Automate

• Ease of use: Users say that Microsoft Power Automate’s RPA is easy to use (although with a bit of a learning curve). Its no-code capability simplifies different workflow creation (i.e., cloud workflows, automated workflows, etc.) by dragging and dropping tasks.

• User interface: Users are divided over the friendliness of Microsoft’s RPA user interface. While some claim its graphical interface makes for easy programming of tasks through drag and drop, others claim that the UI is not really intuitive to learn and understand, but it’s doable if you spend the time to learn it.

•  Pricing: Microsoft has a complicated pricing model that depends on numerous variables.

Based on some assumptions, we have previously estimated how much Microsoft Power Automate costs. 

For more on RPA

If you want to learn more about RPA, read:

• How Are RPA and Process Mining Different From One Another?
• Screen Recording: The Technology Behind RPA Recorder
• Identify & Prioritize Processes to Automate with RPA

For a more in-depth look into RPA, download our whitepaper:

If you believe your business would benefit from adopting RPA software, we have a data-driven list of RPA vendors.

We will help you choose the best one tailored to your needs: