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Automation Integration · head to head

Automation Anywhere vs Orkes

Automation Anywhere logo

Automation Anywhere

Automation Integration

Enterprise automation software

From
$200/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Orkes logo

Orkes

Automation Integration

Commercial Conductor, now the maintainer of the workflow engine Netflix archived

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Orkes has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Automation Anywhere no enterprise pricing tiers published; contact sales required for commercial deployment pricing; Orkes netflix archived the Conductor repository in December 2023 and Orkes took over maintenance, so the large-company backing that justified many original adoptions no longer exists.
  • They diverge on capability: Automation Anywhere covers Desktop RPA, Orkes covers JSON workflow definitions.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Automation Anywhere and Orkes actually diverge.

Attributes where Automation Anywhere and Orkes differ
AttributeAutomation AnywhereOrkes
Starting price$200/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsDesktop, WebLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud
Founded2003Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Automation Integration).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Automation Anywhere

  • Desktop RPA
  • Cloud RPA
  • No-code automation
  • Intelligent process automation
  • Analytics
  • Monitoring
  • Scalability
  • 500+ connectors

Only in Orkes

  • JSON workflow definitions
  • Polyglot workers
  • Visual workflow builder
  • AI and LLM tasks
  • Human tasks
  • Event handlers
  • RBAC and secrets
  • Hosted or self-hosted

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Automation Anywhere

  • Workflow Automationnot Orkes
  • Data Integrationnot Orkes
  • Process Automationnot Orkes
  • App Integrationnot Orkes
  • API Connectivitynot Orkes

Orkes

  • A microservices estate that needs orchestration across services written in different languages without a shared SDKnot Automation Anywhere
  • A team already running Conductor OSS that wants a supported distribution now that Netflix has stopped maintaining itnot Automation Anywhere
  • An AI platform composing agent steps, model calls and vector lookups as versioned workflow definitionsnot Automation Anywhere
  • A business process needing human approval steps interleaved with automated service callsnot Automation Anywhere

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Automation Anywhere

  • No enterprise pricing tiers published; contact sales required for commercial deployment pricing
  • Cloud Community Edition is free but limited compared to enterprise offerings

Orkes

  • Netflix archived the Conductor repository in December 2023 and Orkes took over maintenance, so the large-company backing that justified many original adoptions no longer exists.
  • Enterprise pricing is entirely unpublished, and the only free option is explicitly a prototyping sandbox whose limits can change at any time, so there is no supported low-cost entry point.
  • Self-hosting Conductor OSS in production means operating the engine plus its persistence and indexing dependencies, typically Postgres or Cassandra with Elasticsearch, which is a substantial platform commitment.
  • JSON workflow definitions are language agnostic but verbose and awkward to test, and teams accustomed to defining workflows in code find them a step backwards in developer experience.
  • Orkes is a small company whose commercial future is tied to a single open source project it also maintains, which concentrates both vendor and project risk in the same place.

Pricing, plan by plan

Automation Anywhere

$200/month
  • CommunityFree
    • Community version
    • Limited use
  • Enterprise$200/month
    • Full RPA capabilities
  • Premium$500/month
    • Advanced features
    • Priority support

Orkes

Free
  • Developer EditionFree
    • All Conductor OSS features plus enterprise capabilities
    • Sandbox for prototyping only
    • Rate limits and resources may change without notice
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Availability SLA up to 99.99%
    • Orkes-hosted or customer-hosted deployment
    • Dedicated technical account manager

Which should you pick?

Choose Automation Anywhere if

  • You need desktop rpa.
  • You work on Desktop, Web.
  • You also want cloud rpa.
Automation Anywhere review

Choose Orkes if

  • You need json workflow definitions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want polyglot workers.
Orkes review

Questions people ask

Is Automation Anywhere or Orkes better?
Neither clearly leads. Automation Anywhere starts at $200/month and Orkes at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Automation Anywhere or Orkes?
Orkes has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $200/month for Automation Anywhere and Free for Orkes.
Does Automation Anywhere or Orkes run on more platforms?
Automation Anywhere runs on Desktop, Web. Orkes runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
Can I use Orkes for free?
Yes. Orkes has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Automation Anywhere starts at $200/month.
What is Automation Anywhere best used for?
Automation Anywhere is most often used for workflow automation, data integration, process automation, app integration. Of those, workflow automation and data integration are not what Orkes is typically brought in for.
What can Automation Anywhere do that Orkes cannot?
Automation Anywhere covers Desktop RPA, Cloud RPA, No-code automation, Intelligent process automation. Orkes covers JSON workflow definitions, Polyglot workers, Visual workflow builder, AI and LLM tasks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Automation Anywhere: How much does Automation Anywhere cost?

Automation Anywhere provides a Cloud Community Edition available free with full-featured automation access. Enterprise and commercial deployment pricing is not publicly disclosed and requires contact with the sales team for a custom quote.

Source
Orkes: Does Netflix still maintain Conductor?

No. Netflix archived its repository in December 2023. The open source project continues at conductor-oss under Apache 2.0, maintained by Orkes.

Automation Anywhere: Does Automation Anywhere offer a free version?

Yes, Automation Anywhere offers the Cloud Community Edition as a free option with full-featured automation access for learning and development purposes. Commercial and enterprise use requires different licensing arrangements.

Source
Orkes: Is there a free production tier?

No. The Developer Edition is a sandbox that the vendor states is unsuitable for production. Self-hosting Conductor OSS is the free production route.

Orkes: What does Enterprise cost?

Nothing is published; it is quoted by deployment and support requirements.

Orkes: How does it compare with Temporal?

Conductor uses declarative JSON workflow definitions and external workers; Temporal defines workflows in code. Temporal has the larger community.

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