HCL Workload Automation vs VisualCron
HCL Workload Automation
hcl-software.comVisualCron
visualcron.comSide by side
| Figure | HCL Workload Automation | VisualCron |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | $274.92/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Spec score · Job Scheduler Software | 8.6 (#4) | 7.8 (#12) |
| Spec score · Workload Automation Software | 8.4 (#8) | 7.7 (#16) |
| Integrations | Documented integrations include Jira, ServiceNow, RESTful APIs, JSONata, and IBM Robotic Process Automation. | The maker lists protocols and services including SFTP, FTP, SCP, SSH, SQL, Amazon S3, Google Drive, OneDrive, Slack, SAP, Azure, Oracle, and MySQL. |
| Intended users | HCL presents the product as an enterprise platform for automating IT and business processes across hybrid environments. | The maker describes VisualCron as an industry-agnostic product used across sectors, with 18% of users in legal and finance. |
| Purpose | The product orchestrates, initiates, runs, and manages digital business processes from legacy environments to cloud. | VisualCron is an automation, integration, and task scheduling tool for Windows environments. |
| Security | Fresh installations automatically encrypt key product files at rest using AES-256 or AES-128 cryptography; encryption can be disabled during installation. | The maker says VisualCron meets security compliance standards including SOC 2 Type 2. |
| Support | HCL’s product documentation page links to HCLSoftware Support, a knowledge base, a community, and a product ideas portal. | Priority technical support is provided by email, and support requests are received 24/7. |
| Trial | An HCL newsletter advertises a 90-day free trial. | The maker offers a free 30-day trial with full functionality. |
Plans
VisualCron
- Essentials Single Server Subscription$3,299 a year
- Advanced Single Server Subscription$4,949 a year
- Pro Single Server Subscription$6,599 a year
In their own words
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.
VisualCron
VisualCron is a paid automation, integration, and task-scheduling tool for Windows environments, deployed on a self-hosted basis. It schedules jobs by time or event and runs scripts through job tasks. File operations include transfer, encryption, compression, and transformation, with protocols such as FTP, FTPS, SFTP, HTTP, and SSH. Listed connections cover SQL, Amazon S3, Google Drive, OneDrive, Slack, SAP, Azure, Oracle, and MySQL. A low-code interface and pre-programmed tasks target users without programming experience, and the feature list describes more than 300 custom tasks. Failed processes can trigger SMS or email alerts. VisualCron includes event triggers, cross-platform execution, and audit logs; the maker says it meets standards including SOC 2 Type 2. A full-functionality 30-day trial is available, but there is no free plan. Annual single-server subscriptions are Essentials at $3,299 a year, Advanced at $4,949 a year, and Pro at $6,599 a year.