How does the Microsoft Power Platform
compare
to UiPath?
Spoiler alert
If you are hoping for a silver bullet answer to the above question, unfortunately this series of blog posts will not give you that! In our experience it is definitely a case of “horses for courses”, and both platforms, when used correctly, can lead to amazing outcomes for their users.
Another approach that should not be discounted is that you do not have to choose one platform or the other. You can definitely use both platforms together, which will give you an amazing set of tools in your Intelligent Automation toolbox.
So what will this blog series give me
What we are hoping to do in this blog series is give people a great starting point for their research on what we believe are important considerations when choosing an Intelligent Automation platform.
Before we get started
- This will always be a living, breathing blog series, as both the UiPath and Microsoft platforms are evolving at a rapid pace, sometimes daily.
- Being able to build an automation, run an automation and then manage an automation is no longer a competitive advantage. Rather, this is just permission to play in the Intelligent Automation space.
- There are many surrounding tools and technologies that become vital on any companies Intelligent Automation journey, and hence the full picture needs to be looked at when making a decision.
So where will we start
- It is nearly impossible to perform a like for like comparison, however we will do our best to align the products in a way that allows you to see
what is possible in each area of the platform. - Many of the people we talk to ask the question how does the Microsoft Power Platform compare to UiPath, so we have used the UiPath
products and categories as the starting point and then tried to map the Microsoft Power Platform into these categories to give us a basis of
comparison.
Let’s take a look
We have broken down the comparison into the following sections:
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itCrowdsource and manage your automation pipeline. Turn great ideas from anywhere into great automations everywhere —with more control, faster implementation, and impact you can measure. Why is it importantCapturing automation ideas and building an automation pipeline is a fundamental building block of any Intelligent Automation program. Being able to show to executives which processes can be automated across the business and which ideas will lead to the greatest Return on Investment (ROI) is essential to getting an Intelligent Automation initiative off the ground. Learn More |
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UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itDocument a workflow with ease. Task Capture comes along as you move through a work process you’d like to automate, taking screenshots and gathering data for each step. Then it pulls everything together into a Process Definition Document (PDD) or XAML file—ready for dev teams to start automating. Why is it importantGathering requirements for automation ideas can take significant time and resource. If you can fast track the requirements gathering process by easily recording how a process is being run today, and then easily convert these into requirements documents, then this allows you to deliver automations at a significant cadence. Learn More |
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UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itAI-powered task analysis. UiPath Task Mining automatically identifies and aggregates process workflows, then applies AI to map tasks to automation opportunities. That’s how you build a high-value automation pipeline across the enterprise. Why is it importantBeing able to non-invasively monitor what different users across different departments do on a daily basis allows you to automatically find automation ideas by picking up patterns in their work. Learn More |
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UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itReveal processes by analysing system logs. Use the data from your business applications (like ERP and CRM) to give you a detailed understanding of complex business processes. You’ll know what to automate and how to do it best—and be able to prove impact, too. Why is it importantOne of the expanding features in automation services is process mining technology so that organisations can better understand which tasks to automate. Ideally automation leads to greater savings of time and money, and that is achieved, through automating tasks providing the greatest return on investment (ROI). To this end, process mining enables users to visualise, identify bottlenecks, and gain insights into the various processes being created across your organisation. Learn More |
Microsoft Process AdvisorWhat is itUnderstand and improve your processes. Simplify how you work by discovering workflow bottlenecks through process mining in Power Automate. Why is it importantOne of the expanding features in automation services is process mining technology so that organisations can better understand which tasks to automate. Ideally automation leads to greater savings of time and money, and that is achieved, through automating tasks providing the greatest return on investment (ROI). To this end, process mining enables users to visualise, identify bottlenecks, and gain insights into the various processes being created across your organisation. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itYour automation design canvas. UiPath Studio is advanced automation software that gives everyone, from business users to advanced RPA developers, the right automation canvas to build great software robots—and organizations the right governance tools to manage them all. Why is it importantBeing able to drop into code when you hit a roadblock in a graphical designer gives you the ultimate level of extensibility and allows you to solve even the most complex of problems. The best part? You can wrap up any components you create into an activity and add it back into the platform so that you can reuse it at any time. Learn More |
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UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itWhere Citizen Developers can develop automations. With StudioX, business users get a no-code platform to automate their tasks. Companies have the governance they need. Everyone benefits from more robots doing the repetitive, boring parts of work. Why is it importantA citizen developer is a non-technical user who would like to create simple automations for themselves or their department. This is often referred to as the “bottom up” approach to automation and is a key component to supplement the “top down” approach which is where developers create automations for their organisation. Learn More |
What is itBoost business productivity to get more done by giving everyone the ability to automate organisational processes. Why is it importantA citizen developer is a non-technical user who would like to create simple automations for themselves or their department. This is often referred to as the “bottom up” approach to automation and is a key component to supplement the “top down” approach which is where developers create automations for their organisation. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath ActivitiesWhat is itUiPath Activities are the building blocks of automation projects. They enable you to perform all sort of actions ranging from reading PDF, Excel, or Word documents and working with databases or terminals, to sending HTTP requests and monitoring user events. There are literally thousands of different activities available for the UiPath platform. Why is it importantHaving access to prebuilt activities allows you to quickly and easily build automations using configuration rather than coding. Learn More |
Microsoft ConnectorsWhat is itA Microsoft connector is a proxy or a wrapper around an API that allows the underlying service to talk to Microsoft Power Automate, Microsoft Power Apps, and Azure Logic Apps. It provides a way for users to connect their accounts and leverage a set of pre-built actions and triggers to build their apps and workflows. There are literally hundreds of different activities available for the UiPath platform. Why is it importantHaving access to prebuilt activities allows you to quickly and easily build automations using configuration rather than coding. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itExtract information from documents, images, etc. Wouldn’t it be great if software robots could understand documents? To extract, interpret, and process data for you, even from PDFs, images, handwriting, and scans? Document Understanding helps your robots do just that. Delegate more of your digital paperwork, with a boost from AI. Why is it importantThis allows you to unlock key data from documents with artificial intelligence. Using the latest artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, you can accurately extract and interpret complex information from any document, giving you the structured data you need to power your business. Learn More |
Microsoft AI BuilderWhat is itAI Builder is a Microsoft Power Platform capability you can use to bring the power of Microsoft AI to your organisation, without the need for coding or data science skills. Why is it importantThis allows you to unlock key data from documents with artificial intelligence. Using the latest artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, you can accurately extract and interpret complex information from any document, giving you the structured data you need to power your business. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath MarketplaceWhat is itPre-built automation components and templates. Why is it importantHaving access to a range out pre built activities or connectors, solutions, templates or machine learning models are all vital building blocks that allow you to deliver automations quickly. Learn More |
Microsoft AppSourceWhat is itGet the right app for your business needs. Why is it importantHaving access to a range out pre built activities or connectors, solutions, templates or machine learning models are all vital building blocks that allow you to deliver automations quickly. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itManage your digital robots. Orchestrator is the heart of your automation management. It gives you the power to provision, deploy, trigger, monitor, measure, track, and ensure the security of every robot in your organization. So now you can manage everything from your browser—or your mobile device. Why is it importantHaving a centralised robot management dashboard where you can easily deploy, secure, and manage your robots at scale. This is vital to help you deliver a high-performance enterprise-wide digital workforce from anywhere. Learn More |
Microsoft Power Automate MonitorWhat is itAs you scale the automations in your business, you may need an easy way to ensure all your desktop flows are running as expected. Monitor all your desktop flow runs in just one location to keep your automations running smoothly. Why is it importantHaving a centralised robot management dashboard where you can easily deploy, secure, and manage your robots at scale. This is vital to help you deliver a high-performance enterprise-wide digital workforce from anywhere. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itEnhance automations with Machine Learning. Struggling to apply AI? AI Center helps you orchestrate all moving pieces of AI: deploy, consume, manage, and improve machine learning models. Insert AI into your business processes with drag-and-drop ease. No data science background required. Why is it importantBeing able to easily integrate your own, pre-built, or a partners, machine learning (ML) models into your automations is key. This allows you to easily consume and use data scientists hard work in your automations. Learn More |
Microsoft AI BuilderWhat is itAI Builder is a Microsoft Power Platform capability you can use to bring the power of Microsoft AI to your organisation, without the need for coding or data science skills. Why is it importantBeing able to easily integrate your own, pre-built, or a partners, machine learning (ML) models into your automations is key. This allows you to easily consume and use data scientists hard work in your automations. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itTest robots and applications. Automate and centralize testing to ensure the quality of every automation and application before they go live. Now you’ll be able to launch resilient robots and highquality software—without testing your patience. Why is it importantTest automation and automated regression testing is a critical puzzle piece. With a rapid regression testing process, automation teams can receive more informative feedback and respond instantly and ensure that they reach their continuous automation goal: Build More. Test Better. Fix (Almost) Never. Learn More |
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UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath Data ServiceWhat is itNo-code data modelling. Ditch the data silos, the security concerns, and one-off data schemas. And give developers simple, easy, productive access to the data, variables, and tools they need across the entire UiPath Platform. Why is it importantData is the new oil and every organisation has data that is the lifeblood of the organisation. Being able to easily access this data in your automations is key to any Intelligent Automation program. Learn More |
Microsoft AI BuilderWhat is itAI Builder is a Microsoft Power Platform capability you can use to bring the power of Microsoft AI to your organisation, without the need for coding or data science skills. Why is it importantThis allows you to unlock key data from documents with artificial intelligence. Using the latest artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, you can accurately extract and interpret complex information from any document, giving you the structured data you need to power your business. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itAutomation analytics. UiPath Insights is an RPA analytics solution that tracks, measures, and forecasts the performance of your entire automation program—so you can propel your automation journey to the next level. Why is it importantHaving full visibility into your automation program in terms of where a process is, how long has it been there for, what happened in the process and most importantly what benefits you are getting out of the automations is a vital part of the Intelligent Automation journey. Learn More |
What is itMake informed, confident business decisions by putting data-driven insights into everyone’s hands. Why is it importantHaving full visibility into your automation program in terms of where a process is, how long has it been there for, what happened in the process and most importantly what benefits you are getting out of the automations is a vital part of the Intelligent Automation journey. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itYour digital workers – attended, unattended, and hybrid. UiPath software robots are intelligent, reliable, flexible, and eager to take on a huge range of tedious tasks. They’re also easy to build and manage, so you can launch an entire robot workforce to quickly deliver efficiencies, higher performance, and high ROI. Why is it importantA digital worker or software bot is an automated team member trained to carry out a business process just like any employee, only faster and without mistakes. Learn More |
What is itStreamline repetitive tasks and paperless processes with Microsoft Power Automate – so you can focus your attention where it’s needed most. Why is it importantA digital worker or software bot is an automated team member trained to carry out a business process just like any employee, only faster and without mistakes Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath AppsWhat is itYour low-code automation app builder. UiPath Apps is a cloudbased low-code application development platform that enables you to build and share enterprise-grade custom applications that deliver engaging user experiences. Using UiPath Apps, you can quickly build custom business applications that connect to data in any underlying cloud or on-premises system using the power of automation. Why is it importantBeing able to easily integrate your own, pre-built, or a partners, machine learning (ML) models into your automations is key. This allows you to easily consume and use data scientists hard work in your automations. Learn More |
What is itTurn ideas into organisational solutions by enabling everyone to build custom apps that solve business challenges. Why is it importantWork isn’t a place you go anymore, it’s a thing you do. People want to work Anywhere. Anytime. Any place. Unleash the full potential of your automations by giving them an intuitive user-friendly interface. Connect with all your apps and systems, using a low-code builder. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath AssistantWhat is itMeet your robot co-pilot. UiPath Assistant is a desktop launchpad for automations. It gives everyday individuals easy access to selected automations that help them with their day-to-day tasks. Why is it importantImagine the business impact if every employee could rely on a software robot to help with daily work. So people could work faster and more collaboratively. With unrivalled accuracy. And fully focus on innovative tasks that make them happier and maximise the impact on your business. Learn More |
What is itEasily automate anything from your desktop Why is it importantThis is a user-friendly, low-code application that empowers coders and non-coders alike to optimise their workflows by automating repetitive and time-consuming manual tasks in Windows 10. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath Action CenterWhat is itWhere robots check in with you for direction Why is it importantAutomation is all about people and how we help people do more, with less. When an automation includes decisions that a human should make – like approvals, escalations, and exceptions – being able to assign a task to a human makes it easy and efficient to hand off the process from software bot to human. And back again. Learn More |
Microsoft Approval FlowsWhat is itApproval flows can help you automate sign-off requests and combine human decision-making with background automation to help business users focus on their core tasks. Why is it importantAutomation is all about people and how we help people do more, with less. When an automation includes decisions that a human should make – like approvals, escalations, and exceptions – being able to assign a task to a human makes it easy and efficient to hand off the process from software bot to human. And back again. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath ChatbotsWhat is itConverse with your robots. Why is it importantChatbots allow you to respond rapidly to your customer and employee needs – at scale. Learn More |
Microsoft Power Virtual AgentsWhat is itEasily build chatbots to engage conversationally with your customers and employees—no coding required. Why is it importantChatbots allow you to respond rapidly to your customer and employee needs – at scale. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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What is itLearn RPA skills with free online training. Why is it importantKnowledge is power and having access to free learning enables companies to accelerate adoption of technology by upskilling their professionals. Learn More |
Microsoft LearnWhat is itMaster core concepts at your speed and on your schedule Why is it importantKnowledge is power and having access to free learning enables companies to accelerate adoption of technology by upskilling their professionals. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath CertificationWhat is itDemonstrate your RPA expertise. Why is it importantMany people say that they can do things but certifications prove someone’s expertise has met a global standard. Learn More |
Microsoft CertificationWhat is itMicrosoft has certification paths for many technical job roles. Why is it importantMany people say that they can do things but certifications prove someone’s expertise has met a global standard. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath Video TutorialsWhat is itWatch video content for developers. Why is it importantTutorial videos are the go-to instructional method for teaching a process or providing step-by-step instructions on how to do something. Learn More |
Microsoft Video TutorialWhat is itWatch video content for developers. Why is it importantTutorial videos are the go-to instructional method for teaching a process or providing step-by-step instructions on how to do something. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath MeetupsWhat is itJoin community events worldwide. Why is it importantContinuous interactions to learn and connect helps fuel new ideas. It encourages open conversations, shared practices, and new collaborations which allows you to keep up-to-date to trends, best practices, and product offerings. Learn More |
Microsoft MeetupsWhat is itJoin community events worldwide. Why is it importantContinuous interactions to learn and connect helps fuel new ideas. It encourages open conversations, shared practices, and new collaborations which allows you to keep up-to-date to trends, best practices, and product offerings. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath ForumWhat is itAsk questions, find solutions, and share knowledge. Why is it importantHaving access to a community where you can find solutions, ask questions, help others and stay up to date is a key part of your Intelligent Automation journey. Learn More |
Power Users CommunityWhat is itAsk questions, find solutions, and share knowledge. Why is it importantHaving access to a community where you can find solutions, ask questions, help others and stay up to date is a key part of your Intelligent Automation journey. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath Community BlogWhat is itRead the latest news and tutorials. Why is it importantHaving easy access to the latest news and tutorials is vital to your success on your Intelligent Automation journey. Learn More |
Power Platform BlogWhat is itRead the latest news and tutorials. Why is it importantHaving easy access to the latest news and tutorials is vital to your success on your Intelligent Automation journey. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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UiPath DocumentationWhat is itBrowse developer docs, install instructions, and release notes Why is it importantDocumentation is the home for learning for developers and technology professionals. Learn More |
Microsoft DocumentationWhat is itMicrosoft Power Platform documentation. Why is it importantDocumentation is the home for learning for developers and technology professionals. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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Find a UiPath PartnerWhat is itBrowse our RPA business partner listings. Why is it importantPartners are vital in assisting customers to ensure that they are successful on a technology platform. Having access to the skills and knowledge needed is a key part of the Intelligent Automation journey. Learn More |
Find a Microsoft PartnerWhat is itFind a Microsoft certified solution provider. Get help identifying and implementing Microsoft solutions. Search for experienced certified partners near you. Why is it importantPartners are vital in assisting customers to ensure that they are successful on a technology platform. Having access to the skills and knowledge needed is a key part of the Intelligent Automation journey. Learn More |
What is itGartner Magic Quadrants offer visual snapshots, in-depth analyses and actionable advice that provide insight into a market’s direction, maturity and participants. Magic Quadrants compare vendors based on Gartner’s standard criteria and methodology. Each report comes with a Magic Quadrant graphic that depicts a market using a two-dimensional matrix that evaluates vendors based on their Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute. Why is it importantAnalyst reviews provide you a culmination of research in a specific market, giving you a wide-angle view of the relative positions of the market’s competitors. Learn More |
What is itThe Forrester Wave is a guide for buyers considering their purchasing options in a technology marketplace. To offer an equitable process for all participants, Forrester follows a publicly available methodology, which they apply consistently across all participating vendors. Why is it importantAnalyst reviews provide you a culmination of research in a specific market, giving you a wide-angle view of the relative positions of the market’s competitors. Learn More |
UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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4.5 / 5 (250 reviews)
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3.7 / 5 (31 reviews)
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UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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8.8 / 10
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8.0 / 10
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UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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4.6 / 5 (4,934 reviews)
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4.6 / 5 (28 reviews)
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UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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4.6 / 5 (561 reviews)
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4.6 / 5 (8 reviews)
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UiPath Product | Microsoft Product |
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4.6 / 5 (358 reviews)
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4.4 / 5 (50 reviews)
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In summary
From the above you can see that both platforms have some really great features and functionalities but it is definitely a case of “horses for courses”.
If I had to summarise the main differences in 4 words they would be:
- Extensibility
- Maturity
- Breadth
- Complexity
So where to next
As always there is a huge difference between theory vs. practice. Theory assumes an outcome, while practice allows you to test the theory and see if it is accurate.
With the above in mind in the next few blog posts we are going to pick a scenario and build them out using these two great platforms and share our
learnings with you.
Until next time.
tomorrow for your people
and your organisation,
we’re ready to start today.
Contact us now