We have provided a comprehensive list and comparison of top Control-M alternatives along with its comparison with top competitor ActiveBatch:
Control-M is a workload automation software that offers functionalities for building, defining, scheduling, managing, and monitoring production workflows.
It will let you embed workflow orchestration in your CI/CD pipeline. It can be integrated with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform to automate the workflows across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Table of Contents:
What is Control-M Used for?
- Control-M provides advanced capabilities for workflow orchestration.
- It can be connected to any application and data source.
- It provides connectivity with all the critical systems of records.
- Control-M provides intelligent predictive analytics and hence you will get proactive SLA management.
- It has features that will let you manage big data workflows in a scalable way.
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Why do we need alternatives to Control-M
Control-M doesn’t offer the features of intelligent resource optimization and machine load management. Because of Control-M’s licensing model, many features are not directly part of Control-M and you have to use an add-on or plugin, e.g. Change Management features and database automation. Control-M is named as such since many components are additional modules (M referring to its module structure).
?Some tools like ActiveBatch offer many features out-of-the-box in their core license.
Also, providing periodic health checks will improve the reliability of the tool and the issues will be resolved proactively. Such features are missing with Control-M, and hence we should look for Control-M alternatives.
Key Capabilities of Workload Automation Software
- Event-driven automation features will give intelligent automation through a wide range of event triggers.
- To provide on-the-go access and keep the 24*7 accessibility to job scheduling, the workload automation software should be accessible through the web and mobile.
- For security and compliance, the tool should allow you to set policies for plans and workflows so that the user will have to fill in the information before performing the operations.
- Cross-platform support of the workload automation tool will make it easier to create dynamic and end-to-end workflows across your environment.
- The tool should have the capacity to integrate with third-party technologies.
- The tool that offers pre-built logic helps with reducing the time and cost related to custom scripting. Hence an integrated jobs library provided by the tools will help you a lot.
- These tools offer a facility for centralized monitoring through various alerts.
- The availability of change management features with a graphical & easy-to-use interface will give you more transparency and better control of workflows.
List of Top Control-M Alternatives
Here is the list of popular Control-M Competitors:
- ActiveBatch (#1 Alternative to Control-M)
- RunMyJobs by Redwood
- Tidal Workload Automation
- Stonebranch
- AutoSys
- CA Automic
- IBM Workload Automation
- JAMS Scheduler
- Activeeon
Comparison of Control-M Competitors
Control-M Alternatives | Our Ratings | Best for | Features | Free trial |
---|---|---|---|---|
ActiveBatch | Centralized workload automation and job scheduling. | Universal orchestration features, Unlimited jobs scheduling | Demo and 30-day free trial available. | |
RunMyJobs by Redwood | Offering all functionalities in a single package. | Offering all functionalities in a single package. | Available on request. | |
Tidal Workload Automation | Rich job and calendaring capabilities. | Time Based Scheduling, Event Based Scheduling, Critical Path Tracking, Integrated Resource Management | Contact forquote, A free 30-day demo is also available | |
Stonebranch | Real-time hybrid IT automation. | Event-based scheduling, Big data management at scale. | Available | |
AutoSys | Complex and business-critical workloads. | Built-in fault tolerance, security & compliance, multi-platform scheduling, etc. | No | |
CA Automic | Service orchestration. | Infrastructure management, Manage complex workloads | No |
Comparison: Control-M Vs ActiveBatch
We will compare the Control-M with our top recommended Alternative i.e. ActiveBatch in this section.
Features | Control-M | ActiveBatch |
---|---|---|
Job Scheduling | Control-M has job scheduling but charges based on the number of Jobs you create. | ActiveBatch provides unlimited jobs in its license. |
Workflow Mapping and Low-Code Orchestration | Control-M has these features but to orchestrate IT processes, you will need another licensed product of BMC. | ActiveBatch offers the universal orchestration features |
Managed File Transfer | Control-M requires an additional module for this feature. | It is included in ActiveBatch. |
Database Automation | Control-M will require its plugin Control-M for Databases. | ActiveBatch offers the functionalities for database automation. |
Change Management | Control-M doesn’t have this feature built-in, you will need another plugin. | ActiveBatch contains change management features. |
Runtime Monitoring, Conditional Alerting, and Auto-Remediation | Control-M doesn’t have this feature built-in. | ActiveBatch offers this feature and will let you monitor & track KPIs related to IT and business process service level performance |
Event-Driven Automation | Control-M offers this feature partially as for the database triggers, you will need another plugin. | ActiveBatch offers event-driven automation. |
IT DevOps | Control-M has this feature partially but you may require additional plugins. | ActiveBatch offers this feature to assist IT-developers. |
Super REST API Adapter | Control-M offers a REST API Adapter, but it requires more manual configuration. | ActiveBatch offers a Super REST API Adapter that will let you connect to any application, server, or service that gets added to your company. |
Intelligent Resource Optimization & Machine load management | Control-M doesn’t have this feature. | This feature is included in ActiveBatch. |
Support | Control-M doesn’t provide health checks. | ActiveBatch provides proactive support. Their experts will do periodic health checks. |
What is similar? | All-in-one operations monitoring, hybrid cloud management, Low-Code drag-and-drop GUI, Jobs Library (Jobs-as-Code). | ActiveBatch also has these features. |
#1) ActiveBatch (#1 Alternative to Control-M)
Best for centralized workload automation and job scheduling.
ActiveBatch is workload automation and enterprise job scheduling software. It offers functionalities for developing, optimizing, and orchestrating automated processes. We can use this single platform for various use cases such as Managed File Transfers, Data Warehouse, IT Process Automation, Business Process Automation, etc.
ActiveBatch is a feature-rich platform and some of its significant features are event & schedule-driven triggers, a job step library, low-code GUI, dynamic resource allocation, security, change management tools, etc.
Features:
- Redwood Software, a 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SOAP Leader, delivers automation fabric solutions for mission-critical business processes.
- ActiveBatch licensing includes unlimited jobs, the most features out-of-the-box, and a proactive support model with all implementations.
- It offers a lot of drag-and-drop actions and a robust Job Step library.
- It will provide proactive support and an in-app knowledge base.
- ActiveBatch Job Scheduler has functionalities of load balancing, scheduling, dependency checking, reporting, and notifications.
Verdict: ActiveBatch is a tool for creating end-to-end workload automation seamlessly. Its REST API adapter will give you future-proof automation, as you will be able to connect ActiveBatch to any tool that will be added to your organization.
Price: You can get a quote for the pricing details of ActiveBatch. Its pricing is usage-based.
#2) RunMyJobs by Redwood
Best for offering all functionalities in a single package.
RunMyJobs by Redwood is a SaaS workload automation and job scheduling solution. It provides all the required functionalities in a single package. RunMyJobs by Redwood is unlike BMC’s Control-M, which has separate tools, audits, endless workarounds, and high license fees.
Features:
- Positioned furthest in Completeness of Vision in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™for Service Orchestration and Automation Platforms (SOAPs) report, we believe Redwood Software empowers IT teams to speed up automation design and deployment for mission-critical business processes.
- Keeps a clean core by avoiding customization and integrating with S//HANA and other SAP platforms without special software or infrastructure.
- RunMyJobs by Redwood’s automation and orchestration software is a validated solution by SAP for complete compatibility.
- It has capabilities for centralizing the orchestration of automation for SAP, Oracle, etc.
- It will let you publish the automated processes as microservices or interactive service endpoints.
Verdict: RunMyJobs by Redwood offers a better solution for business process automation and orchestration and will eliminate your team’s wastage of time managing repetitive manual tasks. RunMyJobs by Redwood’s solution will bring down the TCO of automation by up to 50% if compared to Control-M.
Price: You can get a quote for pricing details. A free trial is available on request. RunMyJobs by Redwood provides pay-for-what-you-use pricing plans.
#3) Tidal Workload Automation
Best for its rich job and calendaring capabilities.
Tidal Automation is an easy-to-use enterprise workload automation platform that will help you with orchestrating complex IT workflows. You will be able to build the workflows easily and at a fast rate. No custom scripting will be required. It can be used to orchestrate the workloads running on on-premise servers, in the public cloud, private cloud, multi-cloud, hybrid, or as a SaaS.
Features:
- Redwood Software was recognized as a Leader positioned furthest for Completeness of Vision in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for SOAP report.
- This solution provides a single interface to centrally schedule, automate, and manage processes over multiple systems, applications, platforms, databases, middleware, and infrastructure.
- It provides the features of role-based security management through comprehensive LDAP and Active Directory integrations.
- It provides reporting features that will give you insights into the enterprise-wide scheduling environment.
- It will give you advanced high availability.
- It provides disaster recovery capabilities.
Verdict: Tidal Workload Automation is a scalable platform and can be used to run over 1 million jobs per day with few servers. It can be used to automate anything, anywhere.
Price: You can get a quote for pricing details.
#4) Stonebranch
Best for real-time hybrid IT automation.
Stonebranch is an IT automation platform that supports event-based automation. It can be run on-premise or in the cloud. You will be able to manage end-to-end automation over public, private, and multi-cloud environments.
Further reading =>> Stonebranch Competitors
It offers five key solutions for IT automation, Workload Automation & Job Scheduling, DevOps Automation, Managed File Transfer, Cloud Service Automation, and Big Data & Hadoop Automation.
Features:
- Stonebranch can be integrated into any platform or application.
- It is a perfect solution for businesses that require always-on availability.
- With Stonebranch you will have centralized control of your entire enterprise. Its user interface is self-service enabled.
- Its reports will provide real-time guidance, SLA monitoring, and updates for all your operations.
Verdict: Stonebranch is a hybrid IT automation tool with capabilities of Workload automation, Cloud automation, DevOps automation, Big Data automation, Enterprise job scheduling, etc.
Price: You can get a quote for pricing details.
Website: Stonebranch
#5) AutoSys
Best for complex and business-critical workloads.
AutoSys is a workload automation solution for complex workloads. It will improve the visibility and control of processes over platforms, ERP systems, and the cloud. It can be deployed completely or partially in the private or public cloud, on-premise, or in a hybrid environment.
Features:
- AutoSys has functionalities for managing the dependencies between Hadoop and traditional jobs.
- It provides native support for both SOAP and REST web service protocols.
- It has features to optimize resource utilization through dynamic workload placement over physical, virtual, and cloud resources.
Verdict: AutoSys is a platform with the capabilities of multi-platform scheduling and built-in fault tolerance. It provides extreme scalability and extensive application support. It provides security and compliance by allowing you to define access permissions at any level.
Price: You can get a quote for pricing details.
Website: AutoSys
#6) CA Automic Automation
Best for service orchestration.
CA Automic Automation is a service orchestration and automation platform for managing complex workflows across business apps, ERP systems, and platforms. It will help you with streamlining big data pipelines. You can enable self-service for data scientists and offer strong governance and a massive scale of data flows.
If you want effective digital business automation, then Automatic Automation is a perfect solution that can provide agility, speed, and reliability.
Features:
- CA Automic provides features of infrastructure management that will make it easier for developers and operations to create, deploy, and run applications.
- Developers can code the automation artifacts that can get promoted across various environments.
- It has functionalities to orchestrate complex & hybrid workloads end-to-end over multi-clouds.
- It provides features to end-to-end automate the business process across SAP and non-SAP systems.
Verdict: Automic Automation provides consumable services to IT and business teams. It can be used for managing complex workloads from microservices to the mainframe. It simplifies the deployment of business services across multi-clouds. It installs the patches with zero downtime.
It is a massively scalable platform that has the capacity to scale up to 100000 agents and 100 million jobs.
Price: You can get a quote for pricing details.
Website: CA Automic
#7) IBM Workload Automation
Best for batch and real-time hybrid workload management
IBM Workload automation provides the functionalities for systematic enterprise-wide workload processing. It supports the plan as well as event-based triggers for hybrid applications as well as platforms. It manages and organizes the jobs and job streams in workflow folders by a line of business.
Features:
- IBM Workload Automation has a powerful and intuitive dashboard.
- It simplifies the deployment and management through a new streamlined container architecture.
- It provides the features of self-service automation, advanced monitoring, and ready-to-use integrations.
- IBM Workload Automation offers the new plugin New Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) that will help you with scheduling, monitoring, and controlling the execution of EJB JAR files.
Verdict: IBM Workload Automation will simplify operations, optimize workload management, and improve business agility. It is a platform that provides advanced rerun flexibility, hybrid workload automation, and ready-to-use integrations. It supports on-premise, private cloud, or public cloud deployment. It will help you with batch and real-time hybrid workload management.
Price: It offers a free trial of 30 days. The price starts at $94.95 per 1000 jobs per month.
#8) JAMS Scheduler
Best for job scheduling and workload automation capabilities.
JAMS Scheduler is a workload automation software. It can be used for batch processes on Windows, Linux, UNIX, iSeries, SAP, Oracle, SQL, ERPs, etc. We can use this enterprise workload automation solution for all critical processes. It can help you to schedule simple batch processes as well as orchestrate multi-step, multi-platform workflows.
With this centralized solution, your jobs will get run securely. You can monitor the jobs through a single console. It is a solution for IT operations, Application Managers, and Developers.
Features:
- You will be able to automate batch processes that can be run on any server, on-premise, in the cloud, or hybrid.
- Developers will be able to build smart automation into their applications.
- The tool provides the features of defining, triggering, monitoring, and auditing jobs.
- It will alert you in case of workflow failure so that you will be able to remediate it immediately.
- It can automate scripts, ERP processes, ETL, File transfers, and Business Intelligence.
Verdict: JAMS Scheduler will let you run jobs in series as well as in parallel. You can repeat the same job with a series of input variables. It has features to include if/then logic. It is being used by 1000 customers from various industries. It is suitable to be used for any enterprise’s needs. It can be used in various ways as the business needs change. It is a robust and reliable platform.
Price: You can get a quote for pricing details. A free trial is available for 14 days.
Check our JAMS Scheduler Detailed Review
#9) Activeeon
Best for comprehensive resilient workflows and pipelines at scale.
Activeeon is a job scheduling, IT orchestration, and workload automation solution. It has features of error management, notifications, docker support, file handling, and connectors. It can be used for automating and scheduling workloads at any scale. It can orchestrate the AI model lifecycle production. It is a robust platform and suitable for any business needs and load.
Features:
- Activeeon can be used for workload automation at any scale and on any infrastructure.
- It will help you with deploying, automating, and scaling machine learning workflows.
Verdict: Activeeon is a unified and cross-platform automation solution to manage and control all processes. It will help you with managing the workloads with available resources on complex architecture. You will be able to set up elastic policies.
Price: You can get a quote for pricing details.
Conclusion
For future-proof workload automation, businesses prefer to invest in the workload automation tool that offers features like low code drag-and-drop GUI, infinite extensibility, and unparalleled reliability. The tool will be reliable if provides proactive support and a knowledge base.
Considering all these points and the cons of the Control-M, ActiveBatch is our top recommended solution for workload automation.
We hope this article on Control-M Alternatives will help you to choose the right solution for your business.
Research Process:
- Time is taken to research and write this article: 26 Hours
- Total tools researched online: 23
- Top tools shortlisted for review: 9