MAIA Brain vs Blue Prism — 2026 Comparison Guide

Reconsidering Blue Prism?
Discover What Truly Intelligent Automation Looks Like. At up to 65% lower cost.

An honest, detailed comparison of MAIA Brain and SS&C Blue Prism across every capability that matters to European enterprises. AI-native. Live in 4–6 weeks. EU AI Act ready from day one.

Up to 65%
Lower cost than Blue Prism — on average
4–6
To go live (vs 6–12 months with Blue Prism)
500+
Enterprise integrations out of the box
100%
EU AI Act ready &
on-premise capable

The Plain-English Answer

Blue Prism is one of the most respected names in enterprise RPA. Its security architecture, governance frameworks, and audit capabilities are genuinely excellent — and its track record across Financial Services, Insurance, and Healthcare makes it a credible choice for large regulated organisations with established RPA programmes and dedicated certified development teams. The challenge is everything that comes with that capability: Blue Prism's learning curve is steep, certified resources are scarce and expensive, and deployment timelines are measured in months, not weeks. All production licensing requires a custom enterprise quote with no public pricing, and meaningful functionality — Decipher IDP for document processing, Interact for human-in-the-loop, Decision for AI decisioning, Process Intelligence — all carry separate module fees. MAIA Brain delivers comparable governance, superior AI reasoning, and faster deployment at up to 65% lower total cost of ownership — without the certified consultant dependency that Blue Prism inevitably requires.

MAIA does everything Blue Prism does — and handles every situation Blue Prism cannot
Side-by-Side

How They Compare — In Plain English

We've taken SS&C Blue Prism's own advertised capabilities and compared them honestly with MAIA Brain across 13 criteria relevant to European enterprise automation teams.

What You Need It to Do SS&C Blue Prism MAIA Brain ★ BEST VALUE
Automate repetitive daily tasks Yes — enterprise-grade attended and unattended RPA with strong governance Yes — and handles exceptions autonomously without stopping
Read and understand unstructured documents Partial — Decipher IDP module available at additional cost; configuration required per document type Yes — native document intelligence, any format, included in all plans
Handle unexpected situations without stopping Partial — automation stops and escalates; Interact module enables human-in-the-loop at additional cost Yes — autonomous exception handling with full audit trail
Connect existing software (SAP, Salesforce, Oracle, Microsoft 365) Yes — open API, SAP ERP Accelerators, partner ecosystem integrations Yes — 500+ enterprise connectors including SAP, Salesforce, Oracle and all major enterprise platforms
Multi-language support across European markets Yes — native support for English, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish Yes — native multi-language AI reasoning across all European languages
Configure automation using plain language — no coding required No — Blue Prism requires accredited developers; no low-code or natural language interface Yes — natural language process configuration, no developer dependency
Get smarter over time without reprogramming No — automations execute fixed sequences; changes require certified developer intervention Yes — continuous self-learning from every completed task cycle
Run fully on-premise (data never leaves your environment) Yes — full on-premise and hybrid deployment supported Yes — full on-premise deployment included in all plans
EU AI Act and GDPR compliance built in Partial — strong security and governance; EU AI Act readiness requires configuration and certified resources Yes — EU AI Act ready and GDPR by design from day one
Time to go live No — typically 6–12 months; requires certified developers, accredited partners, and full governance setup Yes — 4–6 weeks including onboarding, configuration and integration
Setup and onboarding included in plan price No — certified Blue Prism developers and implementation partners billed at premium day rates Yes — full onboarding and configuration managed by MAIA team, included in plan
Transparent public pricing No — all production pricing via custom enterprise quote; no public list price published Yes — transparent pricing, published publicly, no minimum enterprise commitment
AI reasoning for autonomous decisions Partial — Decision module provides AI decisioning at additional cost; WorkHQ adds agentic capability Yes — neurosymbolic AI reasoning native across all processes from day one
Cost Advantage

Significantly Less. Everything Included.

Why MAIA Brain typically costs up to 65% less than Blue Prism: Blue Prism does not publish pricing — a significant signal in itself. Enterprise contracts involve annual licensing fees that scale with automation scope, mandatory add-on modules for meaningful AI and IDP capability, and a dependence on certified Blue Prism developers and accredited implementation partners that represents a substantial ongoing cost beyond the software licence itself. MAIA Brain consolidates all of this into a single, transparent, predictable plan.

MAIA Brain — What's Included

  • Full AI automation platform — all capabilities, one plan
  • Intelligent document processing — native, any format, no add-on
  • Autonomous exception handling — no Interact module required
  • AI decisioning — built in, no Decision module fee
  • 500+ enterprise connectors — pre-built and ready to deploy
  • Full on-premise deployment — included as standard
  • Onboarding & configuration — managed by MAIA team

Blue Prism — What Organisations Typically Pay Extra For

  • Decipher IDP — separate module fee for intelligent document processing
  • Interact — separate module fee for human-in-the-loop workflows
  • Decision — separate AI decisioning module fee
  • Automation Lifecycle Management (ALM) — separate add-on
  • Process Intelligence — separate process discovery add-on
  • SAP ERP Accelerators — separate module package
  • Certified Blue Prism developer and implementation partner day rates
All production pricing via custom enterprise quote. No public list price published.

Based on comparable enterprise deployments. Individual results vary. Blue Prism pricing based on third-party research and publicly available information as of February 2026. Blue Prism does not publish list pricing; verify directly with SS&C Blue Prism.

Capabilities

Everything Blue Prism Does — MAIA Does Better

Here's a detailed look at how MAIA Brain handles Blue Prism's core use cases — and goes significantly further — across every capability that matters to enterprise operations teams.

Autonomous Exception Handling

AI-NATIVE

When a Blue Prism automation encounters an unexpected situation, it stops and escalates to a human — or, with the Interact module, creates a human-in-the-loop task at additional cost. MAIA Brain reasons through exceptions in real time: understanding context, making a decision, completing the task, and logging every step for full audit. No escalation. No additional module.

vs Blue Prism: exceptions stop automation or require the paid Interact module

Native Document Intelligence

BUILT IN — FREE

Blue Prism's Decipher IDP is a capable document processing module — but it carries a separate licence fee and requires configuration for each document type. MAIA Brain processes any document — invoices, contracts, regulatory forms, correspondence — natively, without template setup or additional module cost. New document formats are understood from the first example.

vs Blue Prism Decipher IDP: separate module fee; configuration required per document type

Natural Language Process Configuration

NO CODE REQUIRED

Blue Prism has no low-code or natural language interface. Every automation must be built by an accredited Blue Prism developer — one of a limited pool of certified resources in the market. MAIA Brain allows business and operations teams to configure complex, multi-step automated processes in plain language, without any developer dependency.

vs Blue Prism: requires accredited certified developers; no low-code or natural language option

Continuous Self-Learning

MAIA EXCLUSIVE

Blue Prism automations execute exactly what they were built to do. When processes change, a certified developer must modify, test, and redeploy. MAIA Brain learns from every completed task — adapting its behaviour based on outcomes, improving accuracy over time, and handling process variations without developer intervention. Your automation improves continuously, automatically.

vs Blue Prism: every change requires certified developer modification and redeployment

EU AI Act Compliance — Built In

EU-READY

Blue Prism's security and governance credentials are genuinely strong — a real strength for regulated industries. MAIA Brain matches this governance standard and goes further: EU AI Act readiness and GDPR compliance are built into the platform architecture from day one, not layered on through configuration. Decision explainability and full audit trails are standard, not add-ons.

vs Blue Prism: strong governance, but EU AI Act readiness requires additional configuration and certified resources

Deployment Without Certified Consultant Dependency

NO BOTTLENECK

Blue Prism's certified developer requirement creates a genuine bottleneck: there are a limited number of accredited Blue Prism professionals in the European market, and they command premium day rates. MAIA Brain requires no certified third-party developers — MAIA's own team manages onboarding, configuration, and go-live as part of your plan. You deploy on your timeline, not theirs.

vs Blue Prism: scarce certified developer pool creates timeline and cost risk
Implementation

Live in Weeks, Not Months

MAIA Brain replaces a complex, consultant-heavy Blue Prism deployment with a structured, supported onboarding in three phases.

01

Process Discovery & Mapping

MAIA's team audits your current automation landscape — including any existing Blue Prism processes — and identifies which automations to prioritise, based on cost, volume, and operational risk. Every discovery session is included in your plan. No certified developer day rates. No accredited partner required.

02

Configuration & Integration

MAIA connects to your existing enterprise systems — SAP, Salesforce, Oracle, Microsoft 365, and 500+ more — using pre-built connectors. Automations are configured in plain language by your team, supported by MAIA's specialists. No Blue Prism accreditation required. No specialist RPA developer headcount needed.

03

Live, Learning & Improving

MAIA goes live in 4–6 weeks. It handles exceptions autonomously, learns from every completed task, and improves accuracy with every cycle — delivering increasing value over time without the need for ongoing certified developer engagement or annual recertification.

Honest Advice

Which Platform Is Right for You?

We believe in straightforward advice. Here is an honest assessment of when each platform makes the most sense — based on your organisation's situation, not our preference.

Consider Staying With Blue Prism If…

  • Your certified Blue Prism development team is embedded and productive
  • You are in a highly regulated industry where Blue Prism's governance architecture is contractually specified
  • You have a long-term Blue Prism contract that cannot be exited mid-term
  • Your automation scope is stable, well-defined, and rarely encounters exceptions
  • Your IT security team has approved Blue Prism's specific compliance certification framework

MAIA Brain Is Likely the Better Fit If…

  • Certified Blue Prism developer availability or cost is restricting your automation roadmap
  • Your deployment timeline needs to be measured in weeks, not months or years
  • You need AI reasoning, not just rule-based RPA, for complex business processes
  • Document intelligence across varied, unstructured formats is a core requirement
  • EU AI Act compliance must be built in — not configured later with additional modules
  • Total cost of ownership — including licences, modules, and consultants — is a primary concern
Customer Experience

"Blue Prism's governance architecture is genuinely impressive — we understood why so many banks rely on it. But the certified developer dependency meant our automation roadmap was always constrained by resource availability. With MAIA Brain, our operations team configures processes themselves, exceptions are handled automatically, and we went live in six weeks rather than six months."

C
Chief Operating Officer, European Insurance Group
Representative scenario

Compliance and security standards

Common Questions

Questions Buyers Ask Before Switching from Blue Prism

Answers to the questions we hear most from organisations evaluating MAIA Brain against their existing or planned Blue Prism investment.

Yes. Blue Prism does not publish list pricing — all production use requires a custom enterprise quote, typically accompanied by significant annual licence fees, add-on module charges for Decipher IDP, Interact, Decision, Process Intelligence, and ALM, plus substantial certified consultant fees for implementation and ongoing development. MAIA Brain delivers comparable automation governance and significantly stronger AI reasoning at up to 65% lower total cost of ownership, with onboarding and configuration managed by MAIA's team at no additional charge.
Yes, and considerably more. MAIA Brain handles enterprise RPA, process orchestration, intelligent document processing, and human-in-the-loop workflows — all Blue Prism's core capabilities — while also offering native AI reasoning, autonomous exception handling, and continuous self-learning. Blue Prism's WorkHQ platform introduces agentic capabilities, but the underlying architecture remains certificate-dependent and consultant-heavy. MAIA Brain delivers agentic AI natively, from the first day of deployment.
MAIA Brain is typically live in 4 to 6 weeks. Blue Prism enterprise deployments commonly require 6 to 12 months — involving accredited Blue Prism developers, significant configuration of the Blue Prism environment, and careful governance framework setup. MAIA's team manages the full onboarding process — process discovery, configuration, integration, and go-live — included in your plan, with no additional certified developer day rates.
No. Many organisations begin using MAIA Brain alongside existing Blue Prism deployments during a phased transition. You can start with a single department, the highest-cost processes, or the automations most frequently broken by exceptions. Once the operational improvement and cost reduction are visible, most teams choose to expand MAIA progressively — at a pace that matches their roadmap and allows existing Blue Prism contracts to run their course.
Yes. MAIA Brain is built with EU AI Act readiness and GDPR compliance from the ground up. On-premise deployment is standard — your data never leaves your environment unless you actively choose cloud hosting. MAIA provides built-in decision explainability, full audit logging, and access controls meeting both GDPR and EU AI Act requirements. Blue Prism has strong security and governance — a genuine strength — but its compliance architecture requires significant configuration, certified resources, and separate add-on modules for full audit capability.
Blue Prism is an enterprise-grade RPA platform with exceptional security credentials and a proven track record in regulated industries. Its strength lies in precise, governed execution of defined automation sequences. But it was architected in the pre-AI era: every automation requires certified developers, every exception escalates to a human, and the platform does not learn from experience. MAIA Brain is an intelligent AI agent built for the era of autonomous business operations — it reasons, adapts, handles exceptions, and improves with every task, without a certified developer in the loop.
Next Step

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That Blue Prism Never Could?

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