Google Cloud Workflows vs HCL Workload Automation
Google Cloud Workflows
cloud.google.comHCL Workload Automation
hcl-software.comSide by side
| Figure | Google Cloud Workflows | HCL Workload Automation |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $0.01/mo | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 6 | 1 |
| Spec score · IT Orchestration Software | 8.8 (#2) | 8.5 (#5) |
| Encryption | Customer-managed Cloud KMS keys can encrypt workflow definitions and execution data at rest. | Fresh installations covered by the documented feature automatically encrypt key product files using AES-256 or AES-128. |
| Integrations | Connectors integrate workflows with Google Cloud APIs and handle request formatting, retries, and long-running operations; examples include Pub/Sub, Firestore, and Secret Manager. | Documented integrations include Jira, ServiceNow, RESTful APIs, JSONata, and IBM Robotic Process Automation. |
| Monitoring | Workflows integrates with Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring for execution logs, volume, error rates, and execution time. | The product includes graphical views, embedded analytics, and customizable dashboards for managing and monitoring jobs and job streams. |
| Security | Workflows runs in a sandboxed environment without code or library dependencies that require security patches, and it can use Secret Manager to store and retrieve secrets. | Fresh installations automatically encrypt key product files at rest using AES-256 or AES-128 cryptography; encryption can be disabled during installation. |
| Support | Google Cloud customers, including free trial customers, receive Basic Support with documentation, community forums, billing assistance, and Active Assist. | HCL’s product documentation page links to HCLSoftware Support, a knowledge base, a community, and a product ideas portal. |
Plans
Google Cloud Workflows
- Always FreeFree
- Always Free external stepsFree
- Always Free internal stepsFree
- Internal steps$0.01 a month
- Pay as you go$0.01 a month
- External steps$0.03 a month
In their own words
Google Cloud Workflows
Google Cloud Workflows is a managed orchestration platform for running Google Cloud services, custom services, and HTTP APIs in a chosen sequence. Workflow definitions use YAML or JSON and can combine ordered steps with conditions, loops, parallel work, and reusable subworkflows. Start an execution manually, through client libraries or REST, or on a schedule with Cloud Scheduler. Connectors link workflows to Google Cloud APIs such as Pub/Sub, Firestore, and Secret Manager, while workflow steps can also call custom or private HTTP and HTTPS endpoints. Reliability features include retries, polling, error handling, callbacks, and waits of up to one year. A single execution can run up to 100,000 steps and last no more than one year. IAM controls access; Secret Manager can store and retrieve secrets. Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring surface execution logs, volume, errors, and duration. Pricing is based on executed steps, including failed and retried steps, while idle workflows incur no charges. The free plan includes 5,000 internal and 2,000 external steps; paid usage starts at $0.01 per month, with rates that vary by step type and volume.
HCL Workload Automation
HCL Workload Automation is software for defining, scheduling, managing, and monitoring critical batch processes. It groups scheduled jobs into job streams and supports dependencies, time constraints, and automatic recovery procedures. Graphical views, embedded analytics, and customizable dashboards help teams follow jobs and streams. Event rules can trigger jobs, respond to prompts, notify users of anomalies, or invoke an external product when conditions occur. Documented integrations include Jira, ServiceNow, RESTful APIs, JSONata, and IBM Robotic Process Automation; HCL says Automation Hub provides over 100 plugins at no additional cost. Tasks can run through local agents, without agents, or through APIs, and the product supports container and hybrid deployments, including Docker, Red Hat OpenShift, and a cloud-native service in a customer-chosen cloud. Pricing is available on request, and HCL advertises a 90-day free trial. From version 10.2, customers need their own WebSphere Application Server Liberty and Db2 licenses to keep using them.