Visibility in this ranking can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within the
shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review. The largest vendors in RPA software
cannot hold places 1 to 3. Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category,
wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure ·
editorial process.
The 11 tools, reviewed
#1 ElectroNeek
RPA and AI agents built for MSPs, with a confirmed free trial · United States · electroneek.com
Built for MSPs Confirmed free trial Founded 2019
ElectroNeek is built specifically around how managed service providers sell automation to their own clients, packaging RPA, AI agents and document processing into named bundles rather than a single generic platform — a genuinely different go-to-market from the enterprise-first majors in this ranking.
- Pricing: Quote-only, packaged. Three named packages (AI Agents & Process Management, Document Processing, RPA & Integrations) plus a custom Enterprise tier; exact prices require a sales conversation. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: MSPs and mid-market teams wanting RPA sold as a manageable, resellable package
- Strengths: Visual bot builder; AI agents alongside classic RPA bots; Document processing and IDP.
Where it falls short
ElectroNeek does not publish exact dollar pricing for any of its three named packages, so a real cost estimate still requires a sales conversation despite the confirmed trial.
Wrong for
A large enterprise wanting a single company-wide bot orchestration platform with mature governance tooling, where ElectroNeek's MSP-oriented packaging is a less natural fit than the bigger, more established platforms in this ranking.
Visit ElectroNeek →
#2 TagUI
Free, open-source RPA from AI Singapore, now community-maintained · Singapore · github.com
Fully free Open source Community-maintained
TagUI is the one genuinely free option in this entire ranking with no paid tier lurking behind it: the repository describes it plainly as 'Free RPA tool by AI Singapore' and says the project is open source and free forever. The catch is the maintainer.
- Pricing: Open source. Free, fully open source. No paid tier exists. Free plan: open source.
- Best for: Developers, students or budget-constrained teams wanting genuinely free RPA with no paid tier to eventually hit
- Strengths: Plain-language scripted flows (click, type, read) in 23 languages; Web, desktop app and command-line automation on Windows, macOS and Linux; Image, OCR and screen-coordinate identifiers.
Where it falls short
TagUI lacks the enterprise governance features, centralized bot orchestration, role-based access and audit logging at scale, that a large organization running hundreds of bots typically needs, and it carries no commercial support contract or SLA.
Wrong for
A large enterprise needing commercial support contracts, guaranteed SLAs and centralized governance across hundreds of bots, which is not what a community-maintained open-source tool like TagUI is built to provide.
Visit TagUI →
#3 Laiye
RPA-to-AI-agent automation platform, market leader in China by its own count · China · laiye.com
RPA to AI agent roadmap Confirmed free trial China market leader by self-report
Laiye frames its own product roadmap explicitly as a three-stage evolution — traditional RPA, then RPA plus document AI, then autonomous AI agents it calls Digital Workers — and claims the top share of the agentic process automation market in China. It offers several clearly confirmed 'start for free' pathways and a dedicated free-trial page, which is more self-serve access than several larger Western platforms in this ranking provide.
- Pricing: Not published. Not published; the free-trial path is a download of the Laiye APA Community Edition (Windows 10+), and pricing is handled by the sales team. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Teams in or serving the Chinese market wanting a full RPA-to-AI-agent roadmap from one vendor
- Strengths: Traditional RPA bot building; Intelligent document processing layer; Digital Workers combining RPA with AI agents.
Where it falls short
Laiye's about page gives a founding year, 2015, and a list of offices led by Beijing, but labels none of them as the headquarters, and its go-to-market content is heavily weighted toward the Chinese market, referencing customers like China Mobile and Sinopharm, which makes it a less obvious first choice for a Western buyer than the more globally documented vendors here.
Wrong for
A Western enterprise buyer wanting a vendor with a fully documented US or European legal entity and published dollar pricing, where Laiye's China-market focus and offices-only contact page make procurement diligence harder than with better-documented competitors.
Visit Laiye →
#4 Nintex RPA
Attended and unattended bots, now including former Kryon Systems technology · United States · nintex.com
Includes former Kryon technology Confirmed free trial Part of Nintex Automation platform
Nintex's RPA product sits inside its broader Automation platform rather than standing alone, which suits a team that wants bot-building in the same system as its workflow and document automation. Nintex acquired Kryon Systems, and Kryon's old domain now redirects directly into Nintex's own RPA product page — the Kryon technology lives on here rather than as an independent product, which this ranking treats as one listing rather than two.
- Pricing: Quote-only. Quote-only; not published. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Teams already using or evaluating the broader Nintex workflow platform who want RPA in the same ecosystem
- Strengths: Attended and unattended bots; Drag-and-drop bot designer; OCR and machine learning for screen reading.
Where it falls short
Nintex does not publish RPA-specific pricing anywhere on its site, so cost still means a sales conversation, though the RPA trial terms are stated plainly: 30 days free.
Wrong for
A buyer wanting RPA as a fully standalone product with its own dedicated pricing page, rather than one feature inside a larger workflow-automation platform's commercial bundle.
Visit Nintex RPA →
#5 Datamatics TruBot
RPA product inside Datamatics' Intelligent Automation Platform · India · datamatics.com
Part of a broader automation suite Industry templates for BFSI, insurance and healthcare Established outsourcing heritage
TruBot is the RPA component of Datamatics' broader Intelligent Automation Platform, sold alongside a document-processing product, TruCap+, and a BI tool, TruBI, rather than as a fully standalone product. Datamatics itself has a long heritage as a business-process and data-services company headquartered in Mumbai, which shows up in TruBot's industry-specific templates for banking, insurance and healthcare workflows.
- Pricing: Quote-only, bot-count tiers. Four published bundles by bot count (Starter 4 bots, Experience 10, Scale 20, Enterprise 50), each priced through sales. One-month free trial license via download. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Teams wanting RPA bundled with document processing and BI from one established outsourcing-heritage vendor
- Strengths: RPA bot builder; Integration with TruCap+ document processing; Integration with TruBI business intelligence.
Where it falls short
TruBot publishes its plan structure, four bundles from 4 to 50 bots split across attended and unattended servers, but every tier says 'speak to sales', so no dollar figure is available before a sales conversation.
Wrong for
A buyer wanting a published dollar price to compare before talking to sales, since every TruBot plan, from the 4-bot Starter to the 50-bot Enterprise bundle, is priced only through Datamatics' sales team.
Visit Datamatics TruBot →
#6 Tungsten Automation (Kofax) RPA
RPA inside a document-and-workflow automation suite, rebranded from Kofax · United States · tungstenautomation.com
Rebranded from Kofax Private-equity owned Document-capture heritage
Tungsten Automation is Kofax under a new name, a change the company announced in January 2024 while under private-equity owners Clearlake Capital and TA Associates, and its current site leans heavily toward document capture, AP/AR automation and print automation rather than leading with RPA the way it once did.
- Pricing: Quote-only. Quote-only; no pricing or free trial found on the pages checked. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Teams whose automation need spans RPA and document capture together, already in the Kofax/Tungsten ecosystem
- Strengths: Low-code and no-code bot building; Embedded AI and cognitive document capture; Legacy-system integration.
Where it falls short
No pricing page, free trial or community edition could be found anywhere on the current site — every path leads to a demo or sales-contact request, making this one of the least self-serve-accessible vendors in this ranking.
Wrong for
A buyer specifically prioritizing RPA as the lead capability rather than document capture and AP/AR automation, since Tungsten Automation's current positioning and site structure lead with the latter.
Visit Tungsten Automation (Kofax) RPA →
#7 UiPath
The category's largest dedicated platform, with a genuinely free Community Edition · United States · uipath.com
Founded in Romania, now NYSE-listed Free Community Edition 60-day Standard trial
UiPath was founded in Bucharest, Romania in 2005 and still tells that origin story on its about-us page, but it is publicly traded and headquartered in New York today. It combines the deepest bot-building toolset in this ranking, Studio for building, Orchestrator for fleet management, AI-powered document understanding, with a genuinely free Community Edition, an unusually generous entry point for a company of its scale.
- Pricing: Free tier + published entry tier + quote-only enterprise. Community: free forever. Basic: from $25/month (up to 5 Basic + 5 Plus + 1 Pro user, 2 robots, hosted in UiPath's European region; UiPath says an updated plan is coming). Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Teams wanting the deepest bot-building tooling and the most mature RPA ecosystem
- Strengths: Studio low-code bot builder; Orchestrator for fleet management; Attended and unattended bots.
Where it falls short
UiPath's Basic paid tier is capped at 2 robots and a handful of users and is hosted only in UiPath's European cloud region, which limits how far a small team can grow before hitting a full sales conversation for the Standard or Enterprise tiers, both quote-only.
Wrong for
A very small team or solo automator wanting to grow past a handful of bots without eventually facing a quote-only enterprise sales process, since UiPath's free and low-cost tiers are capped fairly low.
Visit UiPath →
#8 Automation Anywhere
Cloud-native automation platform with a free Community Edition for students and developers · United States · automationanywhere.com
Free Community Edition Cloud-native control room Agentic App Store
Automation Anywhere states it created RPA in 2003, making it one of the category's original vendors, and it now runs as a fully cloud-native platform rather than an on-premises-first one. Its Cloud Community Edition is explicitly marketed as free, full-featured automation for students and developers, positioning it alongside UiPath as one of only two major platforms in this ranking with a genuinely free way to build a real bot.
- Pricing: Free tier + quote-only enterprise. Not published in dollar tiers; a Cloud Community Edition is free (small businesses limited to 5 machines and 100 document pages a month). Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Individuals, students and small teams wanting free, full-featured cloud automation to start
- Strengths: Agentic App Store marketplace (formerly Bot Store); Document Automation with generative AI extraction; Unattended and attended bots.
Where it falls short
No dollar pricing is published anywhere on the site beyond the free Community Edition; every paid tier requires a sales conversation, which makes budgeting difficult without direct vendor contact.
Wrong for
A buyer wanting to compare an exact published enterprise price against competitors without a sales call, since Automation Anywhere's paid tiers are entirely quote-only.
Visit Automation Anywhere →
#9 Microsoft Power Automate
Cloud workflows plus true desktop RPA, priced transparently per bot · United States · microsoft.com
Published per-bot pricing Deep Microsoft 365 integration 30-day free trial
Power Automate is the most transparently priced platform in this entire ranking, publishing exact monthly figures per bot rather than routing every serious buyer through a sales call: $150 a month for an unattended desktop bot, or $215 including a Microsoft-managed Azure VM to run it on.
- Pricing: Published per-user and per-bot pricing. Free 30-day trial. Premium: $15/user/month (yearly), includes attended desktop RPA. Process: $150/bot/month (yearly), unattended desktop flows. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Teams already on Microsoft 365 or Azure wanting RPA priced clearly per bot rather than by quote
- Strengths: Attended and unattended desktop bots; Cloud flow orchestration; AI Builder.
Where it falls short
Power Automate's desktop RPA capability is less mature and less deeply tooled than UiPath's or Automation Anywhere's dedicated Studio environments, and its pricing, while published, can still add up quickly once multiple unattended bots and the process-mining add-on, $5,000 a tenant a month, are combined.
Wrong for
A team running mostly non-Microsoft systems with complex, high-volume bot orchestration needs, where a dedicated platform like UiPath or Automation Anywhere offers deeper tooling than Power Automate's desktop RPA layer.
Visit Microsoft Power Automate →
#10 IBM RPA
AI-driven RPA with a published starting price and a no-cost 30-day trial · United States · ibm.com
Published starting price 30-day free trial, no credit card AI-driven document handling
IBM is unusually transparent for an enterprise vendor of its size, publishing a concrete indicative starting price near $981 a month for both its cloud and on-premises RPA offerings, and backing it with a genuine no-cost, 30-day trial that requires no credit card to start. That combination of published pricing and a real trial is rare among the largest names in this ranking.
- Pricing: Published starting price (indicative). Cloud (SaaS): starting around $981/month. On-premises: starting around $981/month, indicative, varies by country and tax. Requires Windows OS. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Enterprises already using IBM's broader automation stack, or wanting a rare concrete published enterprise price
- Strengths: Attended and unattended bots; Studio build environment; OCR.
Where it falls short
IBM's RPA product requires a Windows environment, and the published starting price is explicitly indicative rather than a firm quote, varying by country and tax, so the real number still needs confirmation before budgeting against it.
Wrong for
A team running primarily non-Windows infrastructure, or one wanting the widest third-party integration ecosystem rather than IBM's own stack, where a more platform-agnostic vendor fits better.
Visit IBM RPA →
#11 SS&C Blue Prism
The RPA pioneer, now owned by SS&C Technologies after its UK company was acquired · United States · blueprism.com
Coined the term RPA Now US-owned via SS&C Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader 2025
Blue Prism, originally a Warrington, UK company whose team is credited with coining the term robotic process automation in 2012, was acquired by SS&C Technologies in 2022 and now operates as SS&C Blue Prism, a subsidiary of the US financial-software group rather than an independently traded business.
- Pricing: Quote-only. Quote-only; no pricing tiers published. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Enterprises wanting Blue Prism's long-standing digital-workforce methodology inside SS&C's broader financial-software portfolio
- Strengths: Digital workforce and Robotic Operating Model methodology; AI Agents and AI Gateway; Chorus and WorkHQ orchestration.
Where it falls short
SS&C Blue Prism publishes no pricing anywhere on its site, so cost still means a sales conversation, although the trial terms are public: up to 30 days of the full product, plus a free locally installed Learning Edition.
Wrong for
A buyer specifically prioritizing an independently owned vendor, or one wanting transparent published pricing before a sales conversation, since Blue Prism is both now-subsidiary-owned and fully quote-only.
Visit SS&C Blue Prism →
Questions and answers
What is the best RPA software in 2026?
ElectroNeek ranks first of 11, best for mSPs and mid-market teams wanting RPA sold as a manageable, resellable package. TagUI is second (developers, students or budget-constrained teams wanting genuinely free RPA with no paid tier to eventually hit) and Laiye third (teams in or serving the Chinese market wanting a full RPA-to-AI-agent roadmap from one vendor). Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands, wherever the category has them.
What's the difference between RPA and workflow automation tools like Zapier or n8n?
RPA bots operate an application's user interface directly — clicking, typing and reading the screen — which is necessary when the system being automated has no usable API.
Is there a free RPA tool?
Yes. UiPath and Automation Anywhere both publish a genuinely free Community Edition for individuals and small teams, not just a time-limited demo.
What happened to Blue Prism?
Blue Prism, the UK company whose team is credited with coining the term 'robotic process automation' in 2012, was acquired in 2022 by SS&C Technologies, a US financial-software company, and now operates as SS&C Blue Prism.
What happened to Kryon Systems and WorkFusion?
Kryon Systems was acquired by Nintex; its old domain now redirects directly into Nintex's own RPA product page, and it no longer operates as a separate vendor.
How much does RPA software cost?
Microsoft Power Automate publishes the clearest per-bot pricing in this category: $150 a month for an unattended bot, or $215 a month including Microsoft-managed hosting. IBM publishes a rare concrete enterprise starting price near $981 a month.
Is UiPath a European company?
UiPath was founded in Bucharest, Romania in 2005, and its own about-us page still tells that origin story.
Can I run RPA on Linux or only Windows?
Most of the enterprise platforms in this ranking, including IBM's RPA product, are built primarily for Windows-based desktop automation, which reflects how much legacy business software still runs on Windows.
What's the difference between attended and unattended bots?
An attended bot runs alongside a human on their own machine, triggered on demand to help with part of a task the person is still doing, a call-center rep pulling up account data mid-call, for example.
Is Kofax (Tungsten Automation) still an RPA vendor?
Kofax rebranded to Tungsten Automation, and its current site positions the product primarily around document processing, AP/AR automation and print automation rather than leading with RPA branding.
How often is this ranking updated?
Whenever a fact underneath it changes: a pricing update, an acquisition like SS&C's purchase of Blue Prism or Nintex's purchase of Kryon, or a vendor repositioning away from RPA entirely, the way WorkFusion did.
