AI Indexes
IT AI Index
September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › IT operations and endpoint › September 2026 Edition

Robotic process automation

Asked as “RPA platform”, and as “robotic process automation software”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 51 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each. Added to the September 2026 Edition; its answers are read by the distilled judge (ai-indexes-judge-qwen3-14b-run3), not the claude-opus-5 judge of the earlier categories: how the two compare.
Standing · first-choice share
51Microsoft Power Automate33UiPath06UiPath Community Edition10others

51% of first choices, clear leader.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01Microsoft Power Automate51%6%72endorsed leader
02UiPath33%17%70endorsed leader
03Automation Anywhere4%11%63accepted challenger
Show the three products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
06Blue Prism0%50%24criticized challenger
05SS&C Blue Prism0%26%19criticized challenger
04Zoho RPA0%0%10accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
S05
06
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative70%
Key
01Microsoft Power Automate51%
02UiPath33%
03Automation Anywhere4%
04Zoho RPA0%
05SS&C Blue Prism0%
06Blue Prism0%

What they warned about

Four of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Grok 4.1 Fast, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Blue Prism
50%
12 of 24 labels negative · 10 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“**Avoid** Blue Prism and Kofax unless you have a specific, specialized need they solve.” Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt
UiPath
17%
12 of 70 labels negative · 10 of 12 models
“SMBs should approach UiPath with caution... its licensing fees, Orchestrator costs, and the high salary demands of specialized UiPath developers make its TCO steep.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt
Automation Anywhere
11%
7 of 63 labels negative · 7 of 12 models
“It is also considered expensive, with no public pricing available. It is suitable for enterprise buyers but may not be suitable for smaller organizations.” Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt
SS&C Blue Prism
26%
5 of 19 labels negative · 5 of 12 models
“you should exercise caution... It has a famously steep learning curve and lacks the "citizen-developer" friendliness of modern platforms.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt

What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

78 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 976 links across 268 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · Blue Prism30 answers · 38 citations · 12 models
30 answers · 30 citations · 10 models
25 answers · 27 citations · 12 models
23 answers · 27 citations · 8 models
23 answers · 26 citations · 10 models
23 answers · 23 citations · 8 models
vendor site · G221 answers · 21 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Rework20 answers · 22 citations · 9 models
vendor site · G219 answers · 27 citations · 9 models
19 answers · 21 citations · 9 models
19 answers · 19 citations · 9 models
16 answers · 23 citations · 9 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best rpa platform”, “rpa platform”, “rpa platforms”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
Microsoft parent site
Microsoft Power Automate 51%, Microsoft Power Automate Desktop 2%
53%3142,240,000403,136
UiPath uipath.com
UiPath 33%, UiPath Community Edition 6%
39%20727,1001,854161,995$741071
Automation Anywhere automationanywhere.com
Automation Anywhere 4%, Automation Anywhere Community Edition 0%
4%2036,60030245,595203
Robocorp2%1,3004
IBM parent site
IBM Robotic Process Automation 2%
2%13201,00034,098
Zoho RPA zoho.com0%2914061,216,894$51,031119
SS&C Blue Prism0%10
ElectroNeek0%1403
Make make.com0%104135,00012,939,045439,03176
OpenRPA0%

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 18 sites; 3 of them are among the sites the models cited here (auxis.com, blueprism.com, g2.com). The first result for “best rpa platform” is g2.com.

How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best RPA platform for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which robotic process automation software would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top RPA platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best RPA platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a RPA platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which RPA platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5UiPath
Four alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Enate, Microsoft Power Automate, RaftLabs
no first choiceChangedUiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, SS&C Blue Prism
Microsoft Power Automate
Three alternativesMake, OpenBots, Robocorp
no first choiceagainst: Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Microsoft Power Automate, MuleSoft RPA, UiPath
GPT-5.4 miniUiPath
Two alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate
Microsoft Power AutomateChanged
Two alternativesAutomation Anywhere, UiPath
UiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, SS&C Blue Prism
Microsoft Power Automate, UiPath Community Edition
One alternativeAutomation Anywhere Community Edition
no first choiceagainst: Blue Prism
Gemini 3.5 FlashMicrosoft Power Automate
Five alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Make, UiPath, Zapier, iNymbus
Microsoft Power AutomateHeld
Four alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Make, UiPath, Zapier
UiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, SS&C Blue Prism
UiPath Community Edition
Four alternativesMicrosoft Power Automate, OpenBots, OpenRPA, Sema4.ai
Microsoft Power Automate
Two alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Workato
against: UiPath
against: Kryon RPA / Foxtrot RPA, NICE RPA, Pega, SS&C Blue Prism, Softomotive / WinAutomation, Tungsten Automation RPA, UiPath, WorkFusion
Perplexity SonarUiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, Rocketbot
UiPathHeld
Four alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Fortra Automate, Microsoft Power Automate
UiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, SS&C Blue Prism
Microsoft Power Automate
Four alternativesAutomation Anywhere Community Edition, Robocorp, UiPath Community Edition, Zoho RPA
no first choiceagainst: Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, IFTTT, Make, Microsoft Power Automate, UiPath, Zapier
Grok 4.1 FastUiPath
Four alternativesAutomation Anywhere, ElectroNeek, Microsoft Power Automate, Zoho RPA
Microsoft Power AutomateChanged
Four alternativesAutomation Anywhere, ElectroNeek, UiPath, Zoho RPA
UiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, SS&C Blue Prism
Microsoft Power Automate
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere Community Edition, UiPath Community Edition, Zoho RPA
UiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Microsoft Power Automate
against: Automation Anywhere, Laiye, SS&C Blue Prism, UiPath
Mistral SmallMicrosoft Power Automate
Two alternativesUiPath, Zoho RPA
Microsoft Power AutomateHeld
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, UiPath, Zoho RPA
UiPath
Four alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Microsoft Power Automate, Pega
Microsoft Power Automate
Two alternativesAutomation Anywhere, UiPath
no first choiceagainst: BotCity, Robomotion, SS&C Blue Prism
DeepSeek V4 FlashMicrosoft Power Automate
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, UiPath, Zoho RPA
Microsoft Power Automate, UiPathChanged
One alternativeAutomation Anywhere
UiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, SS&C Blue Prism
Microsoft Power Automate
Two alternativesRobocorp, UiPath
UiPath
Two alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate
against: SS&C Blue Prism
against: AutomationEdge, Blue Prism, EdgeVerve, Kofax RPA, NICE RPA, Pega RPA, SynRGY, WorkFusion
Llama 4 MaverickUiPathAutomation Anywhere, IBM Robotic Process Automation, UiPathChangedno first choiceRobocorp
One alternativeMicrosoft Power Automate
no first choiceagainst: Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Microsoft Power Automate, UiPath
Qwen 3.7 FlashMicrosoft Power Automate
Two alternativesAutomation Anywhere, UiPath
UiPathChanged
Two alternativesMicrosoft Power Automate, Zoho RPA
UiPath
Two alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate
against: Blue Prism
UiPath
Four alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Make, Microsoft Power Automate, n8n
no first choice
One alternativeMicrosoft Power Automate
against: Blue Prism, UiPath
against: Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Kofax, Pega Platform
Kimi K2Microsoft Power Automate
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, UiPath, Zoho RPA
Microsoft Power AutomateHeld
Two alternativesAutomation Anywhere, UiPath
UiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, SS&C Blue Prism
Microsoft Power Automate Desktop
Four alternativesElectroNeek, Robocorp, UiPath Community Edition, n8n
Microsoft Power Automate
Two alternativesAutomation Anywhere, SAP Build Process Automation
against: Blue Prism, Nintex, UiPath
against: AntWorks RPA, Camunda RPA Bridge, IBM RPA with Automation Anywhere, Kofax RPA, UiPath
GLM 4.7 FlashXMicrosoft Power Automate, UiPath
Two alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Blue Prism
UiPathChanged
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, SS&C Blue Prism
UiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Microsoft Power Automate
Microsoft Power Automate
Four alternativesArgos Labs, Automation Anywhere, BotCity, OpenRPA
against: Blue Prism, Nintex, UiPath
no first choicenothing named
MiniMax M2.5Microsoft Power Automate
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, ElectroNeek, UiPath
UiPathChanged
Four alternativesAutomation Anywhere, ElectroNeek, Fortra Automate, Microsoft Power Automate
UiPath
Three alternativesAutomation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Microsoft Power Automate
UiPath Community Edition
Three alternativesOpenRPA, UI.Vision RPA, Zapier
no first choiceagainst: Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, UiPath
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 00:02yes99 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-04 23:53yes44 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-04 23:43yes1723 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 01:52yes182 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 00:44yes239 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 00:56yes54 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-04 23:53yes2025 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 01:18yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 01:13yes1532 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 01:05yes1015 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 00:06yes2339 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 01:07yes510 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 00:19no04 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 01:12yes35 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-05 00:31yes1021 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-04 22:08yes184 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 01:12yes228 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-04 23:58yes1410 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 00:37yes1753 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 01:56yes52 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 00:40yes517 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 00:52yes1420 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-04 23:59yes1521 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 00:40yes539 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 01:01yes98 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 01:02yes46 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-04 22:48yes1527 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 00:55yes193 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-04 23:37yes149 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 00:31yes108 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 00:54yes2433 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-04 23:21yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 01:09yes1021 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 01:42yes1432 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 01:34yes1719 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-04 23:14yes1530 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 00:53yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 01:09yes34 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-04 23:55yes1921 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 01:36yes192 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-04 22:56yes229 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 00:51yes159 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-04 22:31yes2024 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 00:45yes53 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 00:57no025 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 01:18yes1016 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 00:17yes1968 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 00:17yes827 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-04 23:41no07 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-04 22:28no09 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-05 00:35yes626 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-04 22:09yes196 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 00:44yes1320 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 01:49no07 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 00:20yes2062 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-04 23:16yes52 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 01:34yes555 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 00:46no020 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-04 23:27yes1551 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-04 22:37yes512 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 00:30yes189 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-04 23:37yes37 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-05 00:24yes1324 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 01:10yes205 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 01:08yes249 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 00:15yes54 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-04 22:49yes2542 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 00:35yes104 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 00:59yes2167 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 00:18yes2421 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 01:33yes2452 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 00:01yes517 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
IBM RPA read as IBM Robotic Process Automation
Microsoft read as Microsoft Power Automate
SAP read as SAP Build Process Automation
Unresolved, counted raw
AntWorks RPA
Argos Labs
Automagica
Automation Anywhere A2019
AutomationEdge
Camunda RPA Bridge
IBM RPA with Automation Anywhere
Kryon RPA / Foxtrot RPA (by Nintex)
MuleSoft RPA
Pega Platform
Power Automate Desktop
Power Platform
Python Auto GUI
Robot Framework with RPA Framework
Skyvern
Softomotive / WinAutomation
SynRGY
Tungsten Automation RPA (formerly Kofax RPA)
iNymbus
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
← Remote supportSaaS management →