# Robotic process automation: what AI models recommend, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "RPA platform" and as "robotic process automation software", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Added to the October 2026 Edition on October 4, 2026; its answers are read by the distilled judge (ai-indexes-judge-qwen3-14b-run3), not the claude-opus-5 judge of the earlier categories. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/operations/robotic-process-automation/

**Standing:** Microsoft Power Automate leads with 51% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 51 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Power Automate | 51% | 6% | 72 |
| 2 | UiPath | 33% | 17% | 70 |
| 3 | Automation Anywhere | 4% | 11% | 63 |
| 4 | Zoho RPA | 0% | 0% | 10 |
| 5 | SS&C Blue Prism | 0% | 26% | 19 |
| 6 | Blue Prism | 0% | 50% | 24 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: UiPath; alternatives Automation Anywhere, Enate, Microsoft Power Automate, RaftLabs
- GPT-5.4 mini: UiPath; alternatives Automation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Microsoft Power Automate; alternatives Automation Anywhere, Make, UiPath, Zapier
- Perplexity Sonar: UiPath; alternatives Automation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, Rocketbot
- Grok 4.1 Fast: UiPath; alternatives Automation Anywhere, ElectroNeek, Microsoft Power Automate, Zoho RPA
- Mistral Small: Microsoft Power Automate; alternatives UiPath, Zoho RPA
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Microsoft Power Automate; alternatives Automation Anywhere, UiPath, Zoho RPA
- Llama 4 Maverick: UiPath
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Microsoft Power Automate; alternatives Automation Anywhere, UiPath
- Kimi K2: Microsoft Power Automate; alternatives Automation Anywhere, UiPath, Zoho RPA
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Microsoft Power Automate, UiPath; alternatives Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism
- MiniMax M2.5: Microsoft Power Automate; alternatives Automation Anywhere, ElectroNeek, UiPath
- GPT-6 Luna: Microsoft Power Automate; alternatives UiPath
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Automation Anywhere, UiPath; alternatives IBM Robotic Process Automation, Microsoft Power Automate

## Sources the answers cite

78 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- blueprism.com: 30 answers, 38 citations
- 2hatslogic.com: 30 answers, 30 citations
- aimultiple.com: 25 answers, 27 citations
- auxis.com: 23 answers, 27 citations
- kanerika.com: 23 answers, 26 citations
- datamation.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- learn.g2.com: 21 answers, 21 citations
- resources.rework.com: 20 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://2hatslogic.com/blog/top-rpa-tools-compared (30 answers)
- https://datamation.com/artificial-intelligence/top-15-robotic-process-automation-rpa-companies (23 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-robotic-process-automation-software (21 answers)
- https://auxis.com/learn/rpa/top-rpa-tools (20 answers)
- https://blueprism.com/guides/robotic-process-automation-rpa/best-software (20 answers)
- https://layer3labs.io/guides/rpa-software-and-vendors-compared (19 answers)
- https://aimultiple.com/rpa-software (16 answers)
- https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tools/best-rpa-tools/126144681 (15 answers)
- https://resources.rework.com/tools/automation/best-rpa-software-2026 (15 answers)
- https://axis-intelligence.com/best-rpa-tools-2025-expert-rankings-guide (14 answers)

## Warned against

- Blue Prism: 12 of 24 labels negative. "Avoid Blue Prism and Kofax unless you have a specific, specialized need they solve." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- UiPath: 12 of 70 labels negative. "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: 7 of 63 labels negative. "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: 5 of 19 labels negative. "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)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.