An in-depth review and comparison of popular Batch Scheduling Software solutions with pricing and features.
A batch scheduling solution is an application with functionalities to automate IT processes that can be run in processing periods called batch windows. These tools can be used for simple batch processes as well as complex cross-platform workflows.
Batch Schedulers have been in use since 1960 for executing jobs in overnight batch windows. These schedulers were created to work in homogeneous mainframe environments.
They could support some specific platforms and systems. They used to offer limited functionalities when compared to today’s enterprise job schedulers that support batch scheduling.
Table of Contents:
Batch Scheduling Software Market Trends
Advanced job schedulers have batch scheduling and process automation capabilities over a disparate set of OSes. This helps developers and operations teams with automating batch jobs, sharing data, and managing complex dependencies over the enterprise-wide systems and applications.
Enterprise Job Schedulers can be used to automate business processes, IT operations, and data center processes, or to manage IT infrastructure and securely transfer files, among other use cases.
Benefits of Batch Scheduling Tools
Batch Processing helps businesses with handling large and complex multi-part jobs. It offers a dependable and business-forward way to handle such processes.
If your business is expanding then Batch Processing Software is an inexpensive solution when compared to manual efforts. In many cases, it may be the only efficient means of processing bulk workloads and data.
Batch Processing will maximize off-the-clock time as it will let you set the computers to perform functions after working hours when the machine and network resources are more widely available. This will reduce the processing costs. Batch Scheduling Software can be used by businesses of all sizes.
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Enterprise Batch Scheduling software most commonly offers date/time and interval-based scheduling. More advanced schedulers offer features like event-driven scheduling and machine resource optimization.
It can alert you for numerous conditions like a file arriving in a directory that is not still being written to, a new database row entry, or the return value of a PowerShell script. It can also provide extensive reporting and analytics on these processes and their related machines and workloads.
Without the need to have scripting knowledge, you will be able to build and automate workflows with the help of these enterprise batch scheduling software. You will get real-time insights, customizable alerting, and many more such features. These tools are feature-rich and will give you operational peace of mind.
Shortlisted Top Batch Scheduling Software Solutions
Here is the list of popular Batch Scheduling Tools:
- ActiveBatch IT Automation (Recommended)
- RunMyJobs by Redwood
- Tidal Automation
- ManageEngine RMM Central
- JAMS Scheduler
- Activeeon Batch Scheduling
- VisualCron
- BMC
- Turbonomic Application Resource Management
- ConnectWise Automate
- Atera
- Ansible
Comparing the Top Batch Schedulers
Tools | Best for | About Tool | Platform | Deployment | Free Trial |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ActiveBatch IT Automation | Centralized workload automation & batch optimization. | Enterprise Batch Automation Software. | Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac, Web-based, AS/400, mobile app, etc. | On-premises, Cloud-based & Hybrid | Demo and a 30-day free trial. |
RunMyJobs by Redwood | Capabilities that reduce manual intervention. | Workload Automation & Job Scheduling Software. | Web-based | SaaS, On-premises, Cloud-based & Hybrid | Available on request. |
Tidal Automation | Clearly define SLA policies for critical jobs | Workload automation and job scheduling tool | Web-based, Mobile | On-premises, Cloud-based & Hybrid | Free 30-day demo available |
ManageEngine RMM Central | Monitor and Manage Assets on the network | Remote monitoring and management | Mac, Windows, Linux, Web | Desktop, On-Premise, Cloud | 30 days |
JAMS Scheduler | SAP batch job scheduling & workload automation. | Batch Processing Software | Windows, UNIX, Open VMS, Linux, etc. | Cloud-based & On-premise. | 14 days |
Activeeon Batch Scheduling | Workload automation and batch scheduling. | Batch Scheduler suitable for hybrid & multi-cloud environments. | Windows, Mac, Web-based. | Cloud-based | Available |
VisualCron | Automating, integrating, & task scheduling. | Batch Scheduling Software | Windows 32-bit & 64-bit. | On-premise | Available for 45 days. |
BMC | Mainframe batch scheduling. | Job Scheduling and Workload Automations. | Windows, Solaris, Red Hat, CentOS, HP-UX, Ubuntu, mobile app, etc. | On-premise, on the cloud, in hybrid environments. | Available |
Let us review these tools in detail:
#1) ActiveBatch IT Automation (Recommended)
Best for process automation and monitoring capabilities for workloads and IT infrastructure.
ActiveBatch offers enterprise batch scheduling software with functionalities for automating processes, sharing data, and managing dependencies enterprise-wide. You will be able to build cross-platform workflows for incorporating and managing data across a heterogeneous IT environment.
Features:
- With 30 years of automation expertise and a Leader position in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SOAPs report, we believe Redwood Software for its SaaS experience, enterprise integration expertise and strong global footprint.
- ActiveBatch IT Automation has features of event-driven scheduling including event-based triggers.
- It provides extensive reporting and analytics across dozens of role-based views.
- It has features for Machine Resource Optimization to dynamically scale machine resources and distribute jobs most effectively to minimize slack time and bottlenecks.
- You will be able to do custom Date/time, interval-based, constraint-based, and custom fiscal calendar scheduling.
- It has extensive security, auditing, and revision tracking to meet company and legal compliance.
Verdict: ActiveBatch IT Automation has advanced capabilities for batch scheduling, process automation, and process orchestration. It also offers multiple workload optimizers to make critical workloads more efficient over time.
Price: You can get a quote for pricing details. A demo and 30-day free trial is available on request. Its pricing is usage-based.
#2) RunMyJobs by Redwood
Best for capabilities that reduce manual intervention such as adding conditional logic.
RunMyJobs by Redwood is a platform for workload automation and job scheduling. It has capabilities that boost efficiency in manual tasks and interventions. Branching paths can skip or repeat steps to self-recover from errors. Processes can start based on schedules or react automatically to real-time events like file uploads.
Features:
- Redwood is a 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SOAP Leader.
- RunMyJobs by Redwood keeps a clean core with direct integrations to S/4HANA or BTP and 1000+ out-of-the-box SAP wizards and templates.
- It provides the features of dynamic workload balancing.
- It has powerful process automation capabilities that will let you create complex schedules easily.
- It provides full-time zone support and you can automatically schedule across multiple time zones.
- It has functionalities for publishing the automated processes as microservices or interactive service endpoints.
Also read =>> Best alternatives to RunMyJobs by Redwood
Verdict: RunMyJobs by Redwood provides ready-to-use schedules and flexible patterns. It is a fully hosted infrastructure and can protect the processes and data with full encryption. This business process automation platform will let you automate anything anywhere.
Price: You can get a quote for pricing details. A free trial is available on request.
#3) Tidal Automation
Best for – Clearly defining SLA policies for critical jobs.
With Tidal Automation, you get a job scheduling software that considerably simplifies the task of scheduling with the help of some advanced features. Tidal Automation supports both time-based and event-based scheduling. It can handle all complexities like holidays, daylight saving time, etc. that come with scheduling tasks. You also get a comprehensive dashboard to monitor your scheduling activities 24/7.
Read More => Top JAMS Scheduler Alternatives for 2023
Features:
- Redwood Software was recognized as a Leader positioned furthest for Completeness of Vision in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SOAP report.
- Pre-Built Calendar
- Supports 60+ Integrations of Modern and Legacy solutions
- Integrated Resource Management
- Configurable dashboard
- Manage Job Dependencies Across Applications and Software
Verdict: Tidal Automation is a highly scalable and secure job scheduling tool with an impressive workload automation tool. The platform pairs time and event-based scheduling with impressive proactive monitoring to help you easily accomplish organizational goals.
Price: contact for a quote, a free 30-day demo is available.
#4) ManageEngine RMM Central
Best for Monitoring and Managing Assets on the network.
RMM Central is a great batch scheduling software because of the automation it offers. The tool can be used to automate the process of discovering, managing, and remediating assets found on the network. The software supports local, hybrid, and cloud environments. Plus, you get a plethora of predefined templates to get started immediately with the tool.
Features:
- Multi-tenant grouping
- Asset Discovery
- Real-time network alerts
- Detect and deploy missing patches
Verdict: RMM Central is a great batch scheduling software that stands apart from other tools of its kind because of its advanced network monitoring, asset management, and patch automation capabilities.
Price: Contact for a quote
#5) JAMS Scheduler
Best for cross-platform scheduling capabilities.
JAMS Scheduler is a reliable and efficient tool for running batch processes. You can use this tool for an unlimited number of associated job and file dependencies.
All the processes that are running across your systems will be tracked. JAMS Enterprise Job Scheduler is a tool for integrating complex processes over multiple applications and platforms.
Features:
- JAMS Scheduler has cross-platform scheduling capabilities.
- Offers dedicated integrations with multiple SAP applications and systems.
- It contains all ancillary tools that will help you centrally monitoring the batch processes.
- These tools will also help you with alerting and responding to the issues.
- Its alerting features will let you know about batch job failures as soon as they happen.
- It has features for complete server load balancing. This will off-load the jobs that are not too busy. These capabilities will ensure the efficient use of resources.
Verdict: JAMS Scheduler is a good tool for workload automation and job scheduling, especially SAP applications and systems. You can use this software for all the critical IT processes. It provides a single console for running jobs securely and consolidating job monitoring.
Further Reading => Most Popular Linux Job Schedulers to Look For
Price: JAMS Scheduler offers a free trial for 14 days. You can get a quote for its pricing details.
Website: https://www.jamsscheduler.com/solutions/batch-processing/
Check our JAMS Scheduler Detailed Review
#6) Activeeon Batch Scheduling
Best for workload automation and batch scheduling.
Activeeon is an open-source tool for workload automation and batch scheduling. It offers functionalities to automatically fetch additional resources, migrate data, synchronize processes, optimize the utilization of resources, etc.
It has a user-friendly workflow interface. It offers connectors for the most common data sources such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.
Further Reading => Top Alternatives to SAP Native Scheduler
Features:
- Activeeon can be integrated with the existing data sources like ERP, BPM, etc.
- You will be able to automate “Retry on error”. It will alert on errors.
- You can monitor execution and resource utilization.
- It has features for workflow versioning.
- It will control auto-scaling according to the scheduler queue.
- It provides a granular and rich job planner that will let you set up recurring jobs and workloads.
Verdict: Activeeon Batch Scheduling Software is an open-source tool for job scheduling that will improve user adoption and will let you keep control over your automation. It can be integrated within any environment and connect to all resources.
Price: Activeeon can be tried for free. You can get a quote for its pricing details.
Website: https://www.activeeon.com/solutions/job-scheduling/
#7) VisualCron
Best for automating, integrating, & task scheduling.
With VisualCron you will be able to manage the complete work process from a central console. It has tasks for everything. It contains more than 300 custom tasks for various technologies.
VisualCron has customer-driven development and hence can provide solutions as per your features requirements. It supports the Windows platform.
Features:
- VisualCron Job Scheduling Software has features for event-driven scheduling.
- It will provide notifications about errors and delays.
- VisualCron offers automation solutions for general automation, tasks scheduling, batch/exe execution, MFT, ETL, etc.
- It has architectures for tasks, triggers, and connections.
Verdict: VisualCron has an easy to use interface and no programming skills are required for creating tasks. You will be able to automate advanced tasks. It can handle errors automatically and will help you with eliminating human errors. VisualCron offers the solution at an affordable price.
Price: VisualCron offers a free trial for 45 days. The solution is available in two editions i.e. Basic and Pro.
Website: https://www.visualcron.com/Job-Scheduling-Software.aspx
#8) BMC
Best for automating big data workflows.
Control-M is a job scheduling and workload automation software by BMC. It offers functionalities for integrating, automating, and orchestrating the application workflows.
Control-M Self-Service is the solution offered to manage batch services on any mobile device. BMC has many other solutions such as Control-M for Databases.
Suggested reading =>> Top Control-M Alternatives
Features:
- You can embed workflow orchestration into your CI/CD pipeline.
- Through native integrations, you will be able to automate big data workflows.
- Continues ongoing support for the widest variety of legacy mainframe execution.
- It can be deployed on-premise, in the cloud, or hybrid environments.
- BMC Control-M will let you automate conversions through the existing schedulers and scripts.
Verdict: BMC Control-M is a platform for viewing, automating, and managing batch workflows and file transfers, especially on mainframe systems. It can be accessed through web and mobile apps.
Price: You can get a quote for its pricing details. A free trial is available for the tool.
Website: https://www.bmc.com/it-solutions/job-scheduling-workload-automation.html
#9) Turbonomic Application Resource Management
Best for resource management.
Turbonomic Application Resource Management is the platform for application resource management and network performance monitoring. It will give you visibility on how the changes in the infrastructure will impact the performance of data warehouses.
Turbonomic Application Resource Management is the platform that keeps the complete visibility of the application stack. Resource relationships and the risks to the performance will be understood at every layer by Turbonomic.
Features:
- The complete stack from apps to hardware will be understood by the Turbonomic.
- It will help you with application-driven prioritization. It provides a quick view of the performance of top business applications and top business transactions.
- Turbonomic will help you to quickly understand the existence of performance risks.
- It provides Analytics and prescribed actions.
Verdict: Turbonomic keeps the understanding of the complete application stack. Your business applications & its components get the resources from each tire of the application stack and Turbonomic can interpret it well.
Price: You can request a price quote. A demo is available on request.
Further Reading => Have You Tried these SAP Job Schedulers
#10) ConnectWise Automate
Best for automating simple tasks as well as complex processes.
ConnectWise Automate is the solution for IT Automation. It offers the functionalities for streamlining the desktop & server management. It has out-of-the-box script functions. It has features of automated time entries.
ConnectWise Automate provides functionalities for managing multiple devices. It will help you with proactive maintenance and self-service options for the end-users.
Features:
- ConnectWise Automate has features that will let you automate agentless SSH-enabled and Telnet-enabled devices.
- It can be used for the automation of simple tasks as well as complex processes.
- It has features for patching, monitoring anything from anywhere, and for discovery.
Verdict: Along with automating the endpoints, ConnectWise Automate will let you delegate tasks such as updating custom data fields, emailing scheduled reports, and generating random passwords.
Price: You can get a quote for the pricing details of ConnectWise Automate. A free trial is available for the tool.
#11) Atera
Best for Enterprise companies, IT automation and scripting.
Atera provides tools for IT automation. It will let you automate the processes by creating a set of rules to execute the repeated processes on the schedule. You can apply IT automation profiles to company servers per device, or per workstation. With a simple configuration, you can apply these profiles.
Features:
- IT automation profiles can be used for creating a system restore point, deleting temp files, deleting Internet history, and rebooting.
- You can also use these profiles for shutdown, defragment (all disks), run checkdisk (all disks), run Scripts, etc.
- Various formats are supported by Atera such as MSI, Bash files, CMD, and PowerShell®.
- Atera has features for PowerShell, Shared Script Library, Automation Scripts, Patch Management, etc.
Verdict: Atera is the platform for IT automation and scripting that has various capabilities such as remote management, monitoring & alerts, patch management, etc. It follows the “Pay per Technician” pricing model that makes the price predictable and will support your growth.
Price: Atera offers the solution with three pricing plans. These prices are for annual billing. A free trial is available for all the plans.
#12) Ansible
Best for automating application deployment, configuration management, and continuous delivery.
Red Hat Ansible is the platform that has all the capabilities required to implement automation across your enterprise. With this platform, Red Hat is providing a solution that is a combination of OpenShift Container Platform and Ansible automation Platform. It is an agentless platform and is suitable for anyone to use.
Features:
- Ansible Automation Platform provides features for automated inventory management, centralized automation execution, job scheduling, and scheduled & centralized jobs.
- Ansible has features to automate the deployment of apps and management of systems.
- You can use Ansible to automate Infrastructure, Applications, Networks, Containers, Security, and the cloud.
Verdict: Ansible is simple to use and doesn’t require the knowledge of coding skills. It is a powerful platform that can be used for app deployment, configuration management, and workflow orchestration.
Price: Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is available in two editions such as Standard and Premium. You can get a quote for its pricing details. A free trial is available for the platform.
Conclusion
There are many Batch Scheduling Tools available in the market. To help you with the selection of the right one, we have shortlisted the top 10 Batch Scheduling Software.
ActiveBatch Enterprise Batch Scheduling Software is our top recommended solution. Its cross-platform job scheduling capabilities will improve your business processes.
Most of the above-listed tools follow a quote-based pricing model and offer a free trial. We hope this article will guide you to choose the right Batch Scheduling Software.
Research Process:
- Time Taken to research and write this article: 26 Hours
- Total Tools Researched Online: 30
- Top Tools Shortlisted for Review: 10