RPA isn't a monolith. UiPath, Power Automate and AutoHotkey solve the same problem at three wildly different price points.
What each is built for
UiPath — enterprise robotic process automation. Visual designer, attended + unattended bots, orchestrator dashboard. Best at: complex multi-system flows touching SAP, Oracle, legacy desktop apps. $420+/mo/bot.
Power Automate Desktop — Microsoft's free RPA tool (yes, free) bundled with Windows 10/11. Best at: anything in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem (Excel, Outlook, Teams, Dynamics). Free for personal use, $15/mo per user for cloud flows.
AutoHotkey — open-source scripting language for Windows. Lightning-fast, ugly syntax, no visual designer. Best at: keyboard shortcuts, window automation, batch keystrokes. Free forever.
Speed (1000 Excel rows + browser form submit)
- AutoHotkey: 8 minutes
- Power Automate Desktop: 19 minutes
- UiPath: 22 minutes
AutoHotkey wins because there's no orchestrator overhead or visual rendering. Each keystroke fires directly.
Cost over 1 year (single bot, 8 hours/day)
- AutoHotkey: $0
- Power Automate: $180 (cloud flows tier)
- UiPath: $5,040+
Learnability
Power Automate Desktop and UiPath are drag-drop — non-developers can build basic flows in a week. AutoHotkey is a programming language — your operations team will not learn it without dev support.
When to use which
- AutoHotkey if: developer-led team, repetitive keyboard/window work, no budget
- Power Automate if: Microsoft 365 shop, citizen developers building their own, mid-budget
- UiPath if: enterprise with 20+ bots, mainframe/SAP/Oracle in scope, has procurement budget
We mostly recommend Power Automate Desktop to startups (free, capable) and UiPath only to enterprise clients with existing RPA programs.
Hire a UiPath developer → · Hire Power Automate →
Need this built for you?
Hire a vetted Nexora expert. Escrow-protected. Fixed price. From $65.
Browse automation services →