ARIS Cloud vs Appian comparison

Appian and Software AG are both solutions in the Business Process Management (BPM) category. Appian is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.0, while Software AG is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.2. Appian holds a 5.7% mindshare in BPM, compared to Software AG’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Appian users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Software AG users who would recommend it.

Appian

Read 63 Appian reviews

11,416 Views
4,452 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

ARIS Cloud

Read 14 ARIS Cloud reviews

1,567 Views
627 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Appian

ARIS Cloud

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

Appian and ARIS Cloud compete in the business process management platform category. Appian seems to have the advantage with more competitive pricing and support services, while ARIS Cloud offers superior features and usability, justifying its higher cost.

Features: Appian offers a low-code platform for rapid app deployment, featuring mobile readiness and robust integration capabilities. ARIS Cloud provides collaborative process modeling, extensive customization, and advanced reporting tools tailored for diverse process management needs.

Room for Improvement: Appian could enhance its UI customization and scalability, address error handling, and expand offline functionality. ARIS Cloud needs more flexibility for non-technical users, better integration with existing systems, and lower licensing costs to attract smaller businesses.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Appian provides flexible deployment options in public, private, or hybrid clouds, with strong customer support for competitive advantage. ARIS Cloud offers similar deployment models but has been criticized for slower response times, despite capable support for complex issues.

Pricing and ROI: Appian's flexible and competitive pricing model offers substantial ROI due to its efficient deployment and low-code architecture, although it can be expensive for extensive use. ARIS Cloud is perceived as high-cost but justifies its price with comprehensive features and robust performance.

To learn more, read our detailed ARIS Cloud vs. Appian Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ARIS Cloud vs. Appian

July 2025

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Helped 865,384 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Appian

Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Process Automation (8th), Rapid Application Development Software (9th), Low-Code Development Platforms (5th), Process Mining (8th)

ARIS Cloud

Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)

22nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (15th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of Appian is 5.7%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ARIS Cloud is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Management (BPM)

Featured Reviews

Kunal Sharda

Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited

Experience enables seamless automation and elevates process efficiency while embracing innovative technologies

The features of Appian that have proven to be the most beneficial are its capability to create processes and integrate with external systems while ensuring data consistency across all the systems. The latest features of Appian are quite useful around the UI/UX design and the artificial intelligence integrations. Appian is aiding in leveraging AI technologies in multiple ways: one way is for developers, as they make development efficient and quick by enabling developer co-pilots across various phases of the application, which helps design Appian quickly and provides suggestions along the way. Another way is through AI Skills, which can be integrated anywhere in the process model to leverage artificial intelligence for tasks such as extracting data from documents, summarizing information from documents or long paragraphs, and building custom prompts with Appian. Appian also utilizes AI for business users, providing a feature called process each view, enabling business users to create their own dashboards, reports, and gain insights from their data and processes using artificial intelligence. It's multi-fold and always growing.

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BPMexp67

BPM Expert at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

The dynamic and flexible approach, akin to outsourcing, is beneficial for both small and large enterprises

Security is a consideration when migrating to the cloud. It's crucial to address potential risks and include security measures in the contract with the cloud provider. While there haven't been issues so far, acknowledging the risks is essential, especially when dealing with applications like ARIS. With the increasing capabilities and advancements in technology, many current challenges are likely to be resolved in the future. Despite security concerns, utilizing opportunities in the cloud and the internet offers significant advantages. Regarding areas for improvement, security remains a key consideration, especially when deploying ARIS in the cloud. However, this is not solely a product-specific concern but also pertains to the cloud environment. Beyond security, the strength of ARIS lies in its ability to serve as a unified repository for enterprise architecture. Having all information in one place facilitates alignment with the company's vision, strategy, and business objectives. Reducing redundancies across departments is crucial for maintaining service quality and minimizing costs. It ensures that everyone is on the same page, fostering collaboration and preventing discrepancies in information and services. While I currently use Guardis for this purpose, the concept of enterprise architecture is applicable, and ARIS stands as a valuable tool to support business processes and technology alignment within the company.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The setup is easy."

"The most productive aspect of Appian lies in its ability to develop interfaces, particularly user interfaces. Creating user interfaces is highly productive, when these interfaces are integrated with the original database. In such cases, using record types proves to be a very efficient method of handling data. The synergy between interfaces and record types enhances productivity."

"It reduces development time in half making us more efficient."

"The most valuable features of Appian are the VPN engine, it is fast, lightweight, and easy to set up business rules. Business teams can do it by themselves. That is a very good feature."

"Another advantage of this tool is its reports and records. You can maintain dashboards, layouts. If you with a Java solution, it takes six months time. If you use this tool, you can finish in one or one and a half months' time."

"What stands out are the speed of the product, the quick, easy development, and visual diagramming."

"Appian is easy to install and set up, and it does not come out with your audit. It has accessible process orchestration and process management. With Appian, the time to market is much faster."

"Form building capabilities and well thought out process modelling are key points to this product."

More Appian pros

"In terms of UX design, somebody who has not had experience with ARIS will be able to use it very easily."

"ARIS Cloud offers easy query writing for retrieving information and includes a user-friendly Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) part that aids risk managers effectively."

"Signavio is more intuitive, allowing users with no prior knowledge to navigate and understand its functionality more readily."

"It's very easy to collaborate with. It's very user-friendly"

"In terms of using the cloud version, if you're somebody who, like myself, has got a lot of experience and understands measures and notations and things, basically it's unrestricted. You can do so many things. You can do your Archimaze, you can do BPMN. There's lots of stuff you can do in there and if you're a good field person and you cause yourself re-using things or whatever, then it's very nice, it's very easy to use."

"The solution's most valuable feature stems from its being very easy to use, making it a very user-friendly tool."

"This solution has improved the way our organization does training."

"It has proved that it also works in complex circumstances."

More ARIS Cloud pros

Cons

"I would like to see more features for enterprises. They would also benefit from adding documentation and training on their site."

"The UI of Appian is more internal. Recently, there has been an addition of an external user portal for the customer-facing stuff. It's still coming out."

"The product’s pricing could be improved from the developers' perspective."

"The graphical user interface could be easier to use. It should be simplified."

"We have clients that want to use Office 365, Microsoft Analytics, and Power Apps. Appian just isn't the same as using something specifically designed to cater to the Microsoft Suite."

"Native mobile capabilities or hybrid mobile app capabilities are very limited. Things like offline sync, offline storage, access to smartphone device features, etc. are not supported by the Appian platform yet."

"Appian could improve their customer-facing initiatives."

"It needs better integration with our existing application ecosystem."

More Appian cons

"There is room for improvement in the support."

"If you have multiple tiers of approvals into that update of the policy, or the process design itself, it takes ages to prepare those internal flows within the system."

"It seems that there could be innovations in fostering spontaneous cooperation between departments and individuals. This extends to case management and finding new paradigms for enhancing such cooperation. While some approaches, like basic case management tools, have been tried in the past, they may not have met expectations entirely. However, ongoing efforts in administrative science are focused on these areas. Companies with innovative ideas can contribute to progress, possibly involving concepts related to trust, even within the context of web 3. There are intriguing developments in how economic and business organizations can be formed. When it comes to learning about these concepts, starting with simple examples and gradually moving to more complex ones is advisable. Begin with the basics, excluding unnecessary details that might hinder understanding. Over time, you can delve into more intricate aspects, such as Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, to gain a deeper understanding of these technologies."

"Initial setup is rather complex. You have to find a way to isolate the complexity, and find common ground."

"It would be very helpful if this solution were more open and could integrate with other solutions like ServiceNow."

"The support team of ARIS Cloud has certain shortcomings where improvements are required."

"The trial version of this solution does not give you enough time to learn how to use it, so it should be extended to one year."

"The stability was poor due to frequent outages."

More ARIS Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license is not very cheap. It's on the expensive side."

"The pricing can be a little confusing to customers."

"The tool is quite costly."

"It is expensive, but powerful. I would recommend comparing against cheaper licensing products and open source."

"More flexibility in the licensing model is still needed because initially there were customers who are looking at only one or two use cases of business areas, but now the business areas are changing and there is a larger scope. One license model may not fit everyone. They need to be a little more flexible on the licensing model."

"The price is high."

"If you're doing an enterprise-wide digital transformation, Appian is worthwhile, but not for just one or two use cases because the license costs are higher."

"You can't really test the software properly without actually buying the license first."

More Appian pricing and cost advice

"There is a student version of this solution that can be used for free."

"The licensing model of ARIS Cloud is leaner and more beneficial to the customer. The new license model is great. With the on-premise, you needed to subscribe to many more types of licenses. Now there are licensed bundles available on the cloud."

"The cloud deployment is not more expensive. In the cloud, you pay for what you use, and there's no need for maintaining infrastructure or additional personnel, making it cost-effective. On-premises deployment, on the other hand, involves infrastructure costs and maintenance expenses."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which do you prefer - Appian or Camunda Platform?

Appian is fast when building simple to medium solutions. This solution offers simple drag-and-drop functionality with easy plug-and-play options. The initial setup was seamless and very easy to imp...

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Is Appian a suitable solution for beginners who have no additional preparation?

Appian is actually pretty big on educating its users, including with courses that reward you with certifications. There is a whole section on their company’s website where you can check out the edu...

See all answers

Is it easy to set up Appian or did you have to resort to professional help?

We had some issues when we were setting up Appian. It was quite surprising, since this is a low-code tool which, in its essence, means it is meant for business users and inexperienced beginners. So...

See all answers

What do you like most about ARIS Cloud?

The solution's most valuable feature stems from its being very easy to use, making it a very user-friendly tool.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ARIS Cloud?

The price of ARIS Cloud is relatively high and not every firm can afford it, especially if the company is not mature enough to require such extensive process modeling and optimization.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ARIS Cloud?

It would be beneficial for ARIS Cloud to add more customization options, such as having a landing page. Improving the importation script from Microsoft Visio ( /products/visio-reviews ) would also ...

See all answers

Comparisons

ServiceNow vs Appian

Compared 11% of the time

Salesforce Platform vs Appian

Compared 9% of the time

Camunda vs Appian

Compared 9% of the time

OutSystems vs Appian

Compared 9% of the time

Pega Platform vs Appian

Compared 7% of the time

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IBM Blueworks Live vs ARIS Cloud

Compared 19% of the time

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs ARIS Cloud

Compared 17% of the time

ARIS Architect and Designer vs ARIS Cloud

Compared 12% of the time

Salesforce Platform vs ARIS Cloud

Compared 9% of the time

Visio vs ARIS Cloud

Compared 8% of the time

More ARIS Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Appian

August 2025

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Buyer's Guide

ARIS Cloud

August 2025

Download ARIS Cloud product report

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS

Process Live, ARIS Simulation, ARIS Aware, ARIS Connect

Overview

Appian is a unified low-code platform and solution used by businesses to build enterprise applications and workflows. This product adapts to the needs of clients and the technologies they are already using to combine their data in a single workflow and maximize resources. The platform has four main components through which it transforms the work process for companies of various sizes. They are:

Complete automation: Through complete automation, companies are able to coordinate and manage employees, existing systems, bots, data, and artificial intelligence (AI) in a single workflow. The solution offers a way to centrally manage all third-party automation vendors as well.
Low-code applications: Appian offers the ability to build applications faster with visual development and low-code tools. All applications are ready-made to be suitable for mobile.
Low-code data: Appian lets companies source data from multiple types of sources, eliminating the need for data migration. Through no-code and low-code solutions and industry-standard connectors, the platform also eliminates the need for data silos.
Enterprise ready: The platform offers options for companies to scale their businesses to an enterprise level without complications.

Appian is utilized across a diverse set of industries, including automotive and manufacturing, energy and utilities, education, financial services, telecom and media, transportation, retail, insurance, healthcare, and life sciences. The most frequent use cases of Appian are customer journey, governance, risk and compliance, operational efficiency, supply chain, distributed order management, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) management.

Appian Features

Appian has various features that allow users to create solutions for their businesses. These features can be separated into a few groups according to function, including automation, low-code application development, and integrations and data. Some of the most frequently used features of Appian include:

Robotic process automation (RPA): Users of Appian can assign software bots to perform rules-based tasks that need to be repeated over a set course of time. This can improve efficiency and performance within an organization while saving human resources.
Intelligent document processing: The tool offers a feature for quick and accurate extraction and structuring of data. This can reduce time and costs for organizations because it eliminates the need for outsourcing such services.
AI: Appian utilizes artificial intelligence to enhance applications, workflows, and automation. AI is also used to address complex processes and unique situations.
Business rules: Organizations can automate and simplify work processes while adhering to their operating procedures.
Application development: Appian provides a low-code development feature that allows users to deploy applications over ten times faster than through conventional approaches. This feature not only allows for quick application building, but also applications that run on multiple types of platforms, seamless data integration, and business scalability.
Integrations and data: Appian allows for data integration from a wide array of sources without the need for migration. This contributes to easy access to data across systems, real-time data insights, improved user experience, and accelerated development.

Appian Benefits

The benefits of using Appian include:

The solution ensures seamless organization growth, as it supports various UX patterns, common data schemes, and upgrades, used to facilitate application development on a bigger scale.
Appian can increase process speed and deliver applications considerably faster compared to conventional development.
The platform is easy to use and suitable for complete beginners to build applications and workflows.
Appian offers a variety of design tools that facilitate development and deployment.
Appian offers detailed real-time data insight which allows organizations to access relevant information about their processes as they are developing.
The solution offers clients the ability to move data between the cloud, on-premise, and hybrid configurations.
The platform is easy to optimize, which allows businesses to utilize it according to their personal needs.
Appian offers connectivity across web, mobile, email, voice, and chat, providing a multi-channel experience for companies and their clients.

Reviews from Real Users

A practice leader - digital process automation at a computer software company values Appian highly because the product is easy to develop, low-code, and has a good user interface.

Alan G., an advisory board member at Codecon VR, Appian offers a clear application life cycle, easy to learn documentation, and comes with a fundamentals course.

Appian

ARIS is the market-leading solution for professional business process management and modeling. Whether you want to document the "as-is" state of your operations for quality or certification reasons or design the "to-be" in terms of continuous improvement in your transformation program, ARIS is the best choice for establishing a single source of truth regarding all process excellence topics in your organization. It is for any organization looking to digitally transform their business, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution. ARIS helps you to make the most out of your processes with Process Mining, Risk & Compliance Management, RPA and much more.

What makes the difference?

The most comprehensive platform for process excellence in the market

Easy to use

Covers business & IT architecture from all angles

Full flexibility and >100 diagram types

Customer-driven development based on best practices

Strong partner ecosystem

ARIS is the market-leading solution for any organization and ideally suited to digitally transform the organization, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution.

Software AG

Sample Customers

Hansard Global plc, Punch Taverns, Pirelli, Crawford & Company, EDP Renewables, Queensland Government Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (, Bank of Tennessee

Tesco, Weifu, Airbus, Siemens, Proximus, Alicorp, Sekerbank, Bancor, Philips,Sky, Emirates NBD, Dubai Municipality, Suva, U.S. Army, Australia Post, Westfalen Weser Energie - ARIS serves customers across all industries and of every size worldwide. Companies trust ARIS as the market leader for process excellence with more than 30 years of experience in the market and 10 million users worldwide, from 1 user companies to the Fortune 500.

Buyer's Guide

ARIS Cloud vs. Appian

July 2025

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