Love UiPath but hate the shortcomings it has? You're in the right place. As robust as UiPath is, sometimes your business needs a different flavor of process automation sauce.
Maybe it's about cost, or perhaps you're after features that resonate more with your unique workflows. We’re taking a deep dive into big names known for their cutting-edge Robotic Process Automation (RPI) capabilities.
By reading on, expect to gain insights into top-notch tools ready to transform how you handle data entry, document processing, and automate repetitive tasks—all without putting too big of a dent in your wallet.
What's Wrong With UiPath Anyway?
If you're a UiPath user then you already know about its process automation capabilities. Its platform enables the deployment and management of AI-powered automation across enterprises, facilitating significant strides in efficiency and innovation.
However, despite these strengths, organizations may seek alternatives due to various factors such as cost considerations, the need for simpler user interfaces, specific feature requirements, scalability concerns, or a desire for different deployment options.
These factors drive the search for platforms that align more closely with individual business needs, budget constraints, and strategic goals, highlighting the dynamic nature of the automation software market and the diverse needs of its users. Here's some of the more common reasons why people are looking for UiPath alternatives:
Cost
UiPath, while offering robust automation capabilities, can be expensive, especially for small businesses or startups. Organizations may seek more cost-effective solutions that fit their budget better. The Pro Plan on Uipath costs $420/month, which is significant for many business owners. Especially since there's now so much competition in the market, you're better off looking at all your options before making a firm commitment to that much spend on one tool.
Too Complex and Difficult to Use
UiPath has a comprehensive set of features which, while powerful, can also be complex for users with limited technical expertise. Businesses might prefer simpler, more intuitive platforms that require less training.
As one user, Venkat, remarks in a G2 review, the challenges with ease of use can be off-putting for many:
It has a steeper learning curve for complex automation tasks, and there might be occasional challenges with handling specific scenarios or integrations. It's important to note that individual experiences may vary.
Not the Right Features or Integrations
Some organizations might have unique requirements that UiPath does not fully support. They may need automation software that offers specific features or integrations with other tools and services they use.
Not Able to Grow as the Company Grows
While UiPath is designed to be scalable, some businesses might encounter limitations as they expand their automation initiatives. They may look for alternatives that can handle a higher volume of processes more efficiently.
What Features Should I Look For In A UiPath Alternative?
When looking for an alternative to UiPath, consider a range of features that meet your specific business needs, budget, and technical capabilities. Here's some key features and factors to consider:
1. How Easy is it to Use?
Look for a platform with an intuitive user interface and user experience. It should be accessible to users of all skill levels, including those without a programming background, to ensure wider adoption across your organization.
Read through reviews online to determine what others have to say about getting up to speed.
2. Is It Cost-Effective?
Evaluate the pricing model to ensure it fits within your budget. Some platforms offer more flexible pricing options, including subscription-based models, pay-per-use, or tiered pricing structures that can scale with your business.
3. Does it Have Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Capabilities?
Ensure the alternative provides robust RPA capabilities for automating repetitive tasks. This includes support for both attended and unattended robots, as well as the ability to easily integrate with various business applications and data sources. It's one thing to match the Uipath scraping ability, but it's another to incorporated numerous RPA capabilities.
4. Does it Have AI and Machine Learning Integration?
Advanced automation solutions often incorporate AI and machine learning to handle more complex tasks, such as natural language processing, image recognition, and predictive analytics. Look for platforms that offer these capabilities to future-proof your investment.
5. Can it Grow With My Company?
The platform should be able to scale with your business, handling an increasing number of processes and data volume without significant performance degradation.
6. Is It Secure, Flexible and Customizable?
Ensure the platform adheres to industry standards for security and privacy. It should offer features such as encryption, access controls, and audit logs to help you comply with regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, etc.
The ability to customize the platform and automate processes according to your specific business needs is crucial. Look for solutions that offer a high degree of flexibility in process design and customization.
7. Do They Offer Great Customer Support?
High-quality customer support and an active user community can be invaluable resources. Look for platforms with a reputation for responsive support and a vibrant community for sharing best practices and solutions. Look for a support form that's in line with what your team uses. For example, if you need instant responses, seek someone with regular online chat hours rather than a back-and-forth with e-mail support.
The Best UIPath Alternatives to Use for 2024
Companies often find themselves at a crossroads when looking for viable alternatives to UiPath. They might have hitched their wagon to UiPath but are now scouting for other automation platforms that could better align with their evolving business needs or offer different features. Here's some of our top picks for UiPath alternatives:
1. Magical
Magical, while not a full fledged scraper, still offers powerful and simple web scraping capabilities. You can scrape data from any webpage and transfer it into any spreadsheet. Plus you don't need someone from IT to set it up for you.
As user John says on a G2 review:
I work in a high customer volume, online, industry and have to document each and every interaction accurately and in as much detail as possible. In reality, 80% of my documentation is very similar from customer to customer. With the ability to creat text-activated shortcuts, I can cut documentation time down from 10-15 minutes each to around 5or 6 minutes. Magical has been a game changer for me!
2. Blue Prism
Blue Prism, another notable name when rummaging through UiPath alternatives, offers its own spin on RPA solutions where artificial intelligence software isn't just sprinkled on top—it’s baked right into every slice of action. Their technology platform uses natural language processing and optical character recognition so deftly that manual tasks seem like folklore from days past.
This solution provider takes pride in giving government organizations and enterprises alike robust tools for intelligent automation—think AI meeting traditional workflow—and creating smarter operations without taxing resources too heavily or demanding high levels of technical know-how from users seeking professional services within robotics space.
In a G2 review, user Bruno wrote:
Blue prism is an amazing RPA platform for handling big and complex projects. The UML like design makes easy to understand and explain to Stakeholders what the robot is doing and it's also easy to maintain the robot long term.
3. Microsoft Power Automate
Gone are the days when connecting applications was akin to weaving an intricate web by hand—a time-consuming task reserved for those steeped deeply in code-speak. Enter Microsoft Power Automate, a powerhouse bringing low-code automation into everyday office scenarios so you can build digital workflows between apps faster than saying 'process automation software.'
This titan among UiPath competitors is especially handy when looking at automating repetitive tasks across Microsoft power suite and beyond while still keeping things tight-knit enough that nothing slips through cracks during project management endeavors.
In a G2 review, user Ajinkya says:
Many capabilities are available in Microsoft Power Automate, including built-in templates that support all operating systems, workflow automation, and interaction with various apps. Without any coding experience, the user may construct a workflow using this system, and its promise is extremely clear.
Numerous services and apps are integrated with the aid of this technology. Because of its built-in templates and community, any user may utilize it to establish a simple and efficient workflow without having to start from scratch. This ultimately saves time and boosts productivity.
It is very easy to implement flows, and you get good support from Microsoft when you get stuck.
4. Appian
Appian presents a compelling alternative to UiPath with its comprehensive AI Process Platform that is designed to automate, design, and optimize complex business processes from start to finish. Unlike UiPath, which focuses extensively on Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Appian offers a broader scope by unifying data and optimizing operations, catering to organizations looking to improve workflows and achieve operational excellence on a grand scale.
Trusted by some of the world's most innovative organizations, Appian excels in enhancing growth and delivering superior customer experiences through its automation capabilities. This makes Appian an attractive option for businesses seeking a holistic approach to process automation beyond the capabilities of traditional RPA, aiming for a seamless integration of workflows and data across the enterprise.
As one user noted in a G2 review:
Appian is a powerful business process automation tool. Our company has builds under Appian that are used daily. It has allowed our company to implement builds in record times, usually takes 2 months to 15 days. Appian has proved its strength in data integration to external systems such as Salesforce and AWS. Lastly, Appian's process workflow is easy to use and offers a wide variety of smart services.
Appian lacks elastically scalable offerings, especially for builds that have dynamic traffic from customers and internal users. Appian is also quite expensive compared to other competitors in recent times. Lastly, Appian is still quite limited in mobile-app development and deployment. Appian support is average as the issues ticketing system would be better if it can offer live support.
5. Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax)
Tungsten Automation, as an alternative to UiPath, offers several distinctive features designed to enhance business process automation, efficiency, and compliance. Tungsten Automation excels in enabling comprehensive automation solutions that span the entire process lifecycle. This is more focused on automating and editing in Pdfs when compared with most robust tools.
This means from the initial data capture to the final action, every step can be automated, ensuring seamless operations and minimizing manual intervention.
Leveraging the power of AI and machine learning, Tungsten Automation provides intelligent process automation. This includes the ability to handle unstructured data, make decisions based on historical data patterns, and continuously improve processes through learning algorithms.
As user Ashley shares in her G2 review:
This is such an incredible replacement for the more popular PDF editing program. The costs of the competition are astronomical, and this program does absolutely everything I need it to and more, and we don't have to pay either a giant one-time fee or a monthly fee to get it. It now integrates with a major document signature management system making my job even easier when preparing documents for clients. I can edit PDFs, create them, make notes on them, take measurements on plans. This was a significant cost-saving find, and we now have it on every computer in our office.
6. Pega
Pega, as an alternative to UiPath, is recognized for its comprehensive suite of features designed to streamline business process management and automation. Pega's strong suit is its advanced case management capabilities, which allow organizations to manage complex business processes comprehensively.
This feature enables businesses to automate and optimize the workflows associated with individual cases, ensuring efficient resolution and tracking.
At the core of Pega's platform is a powerful business rules engine that allows for the dynamic adaptation of processes in real-time. This capability ensures that business applications can change behavior without needing code modifications, allowing for rapid response to business needs or regulatory changes.
Pega integrates artificial intelligence and decisioning tools directly into its platform, enabling businesses to leverage predictive analytics and machine learning to improve decision-making processes. This can enhance customer engagement, optimize marketing efforts, and streamline operations.
User Ruthvik says in a G2 review:
We have been using Pega platform to help automate the finance operations and reduce the time-consuming manual activities and processes. We found it easy to monitor the RPA execution and the consolidated data reports that it presents gives clear insights.
7. WorkFusion
WorkFusion is a notable player in the RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and intelligent automation industry, offering a range of features that position it as a compelling alternative to UiPath. A standout feature of WorkFusion is its AutoML capability, which allows businesses to automate the creation, deployment, and maintenance of machine learning models without requiring deep expertise in data science.
This democratizes the use of AI in automation, enabling organizations to leverage machine learning for process optimization and decision support with less effort.
WorkFusion offers a library of pre-built automation templates for common industry processes, significantly reducing the time and effort required to deploy automation solutions. These templates can be customized and serve as a starting point for businesses looking to automate specific functions such as finance and accounting, HR, or customer service.
As one user shares in their G2 feedback:
My team has found that the User Interface and Actions Library are much more user friendly than some of the other RPA solutions we evaluated. The Actions Library is very powerful, and allows us to create RPA solutions to all of the problems we have faced to date. The ability for the RPA Express platform to evolve and scale up to AI, ML, NLP as your business needs to do so is very good. This ability allows for easier buy-in from Senior Management and shows a clear path for ROI and the overall RPA/AI journey.
8. SAP
SAP, a global leader in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, also offers robotic process automation (RPA) capabilities, making it a potential alternative to UiPath for businesses looking to automate their processes. SAP's RPA solution is part of its larger intelligent enterprise framework, which aims to automate and optimize business processes across various domains.
One of SAP's RPA tool's most significant advantages is its seamless integration with the broader SAP ecosystem, including SAP S/4HANA, SAP ERP, and other SAP cloud solutions. This integration allows for the automation of processes within SAP applications, reducing manual data entry and increasing efficiency within SAP environments.
SAP offers a library of pre-built bots and templates that can be used to automate common business processes across different industries and departments, such as finance, HR, supply chain, and more. This accelerates the deployment of RPA solutions and reduces the time to value for businesses.
As one user remarks in a G2 review:
The user-friendly interface made it simple for me to grasp the tools I need, SAP Build Process Automation offers intriguing advanced features, and the provided documentation has also been really beneficial. The nice aspect of the UI route is that the user does not need programming skills to build the workflows. I have used the UI route for automated testing with Java, Selenium, and Websites. The UI path includes several capabilities such as drag-and-drop workflow development, business application automation, a screen recorder, an integrated debugger, and so on.
9. Nice
NICE, known for its comprehensive suite of software solutions focusing on customer engagement, analytics, and workforce optimization, also offers robust Robotic Process Automation (RPA) capabilities. As an alternative to UiPath, NICE's RPA tool brings unique features to the table, designed to enhance operational efficiency and improve the customer and employee experience.
NICE RPA incorporates advanced analytics to monitor and analyze the performance of automated workflows. This capability enables businesses to identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and opportunities for further automation, ensuring continuous improvement of processes.
A standout feature of NICE's RPA solution is NEVA, a virtual assistant designed to support employees in real-time. NEVA offers guidance, automation assistance, and next-best-action recommendations, helping employees navigate complex processes and ensuring adherence to best practices and compliance standards.
In a Gartner review, one user remarks:
I have been using this tool for past 2 years. Although, Assist Edge is not simple as other automation tool, the feature of having drag and drop activities and capturing user processes automatically are useful for easy automating. It is a useful AI for RPA solution and offers perfect and standard quality of solution to our business problems in the finance and healthcare sectors. It is a stable product, and it is in a strong position in the market.
10. Automation Anywhere
If you're peeking over the fence to see if the grass is greener, Automation Anywhere might catch your eye. As one of the top contenders in robotic process automation (RPA), this platform has carved out its niche by making advanced RPA capabilities accessible through an interface even newbies can get friendly with quickly.
Beyond simplifying complex tasks into something more manageable, Automation Anywhere thrives on empowering users to automate a wide range of processes from data entry and intelligent document processing to full-fledged business development strategies—all without breaking much sweat.
The appeal lies not only in user experience but also how well it plays with others—seamless integration with existing systems makes sure no piece feels left out as businesses strive towards efficient process management.
As user Jibin says in a G2 review:
Due to Automation Anywhere's great scalability, businesses can automate procedures across several divisions and business functions as needed. The tool is more dependable because it is extremely user-friendly and has all the functions that are required.
The Best UiPath Alternatives: The Bottom Line
As you can see, the best UiPath alternatives all have their own strengths, features, and capabilities that will make some more attractive--and others not so much. These alternatives not only challenge UiPath's dominance in the RPA space but also provide organizations with the flexibility to select a solution that best fits their specific process automation requirements, budget constraints, and strategic goals.
And if you're really ready to automate repetitive tasks? Then try the free Magical Chrome extension. Magical can automate tasks such as data entry, messages, and autofill with a click. Try it today and find out why the average Magical user saves 7 hours a week.
