Appian vs BizTalk Server vs Pega Platform comparison

Appian and Microsoft are both solutions in the Process Automation category. Appian is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.9, while Microsoft is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.0. Appian holds a 6.6% mindshare in PA, compared to Microsoft’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Appian users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Appian

Read 62 Appian reviews

4,331 Views
3,162 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

BizTalk Server

Read 13 BizTalk Server reviews

507 Views
261 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Pega Platform

Read 82 Pega Platform reviews

3,963 Views
3,167 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Appian

BizTalk Server

Pega Platform

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Appian, BizTalk Server, and Pega Platform based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Camunda, BMC, Pega and others in Process Automation.

To learn more, read our detailed Process Automation Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Process Automation

April 2025

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Helped 850,043 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:

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of Appian is 6.6%, down from 10.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of BizTalk Server is 0.7%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pega Platform is 6.3%, down from 11.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Process Automation

Featured Reviews

RAVIRANJAN

Project Manager at Telus Digital

Low-code with good reliability and good workflows

We have a partnership with Appian. We have worked with Appian to deal with issues. They have already incorporated many things into their platform. One of the things we have discussed, which I can highlight, is related to Excel manipulations. They have incorporated their Excel manipulations so it's far better than the earlier version. Earlier, we had to go with a plugin for even a simple Excel or spreadsheet calculation. Now, they have included all those things in their own out-of-the-box functionality. It's definitely a tool and does not require high code language. There could be a scope of enhancement for capturing the variety of use cases. One thing, for example, is Excel manipulation, which they now provide in their out of box functionality, however, that can still be improved.

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Srinidhi S

Software Engineer at Shell

For production environments, messages are easily stored within the MessageBox database and offers multiple deployment methods

Some room for improvement means... it's legacy. It's an on-premises system, requiring physical servers for deployment. This is different from Azure; you don't need any servers with Azure. If you have a subscription, you can do whatever you want. There are unit restrictions based on the environment (like non-production vs. production) in BizTalk. You need physical servers and databases. In Azure, those are not required – it's all in the cloud. Now, we have the option of integrating accounts and the On-Premises Data Gateway to connect on-premises BizTalk with Azure. But the trend is moving towards Azure. Not everyone wants a hybrid model. Companies are still going with hybrid scenarios, but they want both BizTalk and Azure. See, whatever you can do in BizTalk, you cannot do the same things the same way in Azure. One example is tracking. In BizTalk, especially for production environments, messages are easily stored within the MessageBox database. Support can assist in retrieving them directly. It's not as easy to track in Azure – everyone can potentially access it, and even reprocessing is different. Logic Apps have a preview mode. If a Logic App is stuck at a particular action, you can resubmit from there. Microsoft is still making improvements – I don't know when they'll have general availability for these features. However, tracking and message storage are more complex in Azure. We have to use Azure Blob storage for archiving, whereas in BizTalk, it's a built-in feature of the MessageBox DB. If you need to debug at any point, you can do so easily in BizTalk. This is one aspect influenced by the on-premises nature of BizTalk. Since everything is moving to the cloud, Microsoft will also end support for BizTalk Server 2030 – there won't be any further support. I don't think they'll release any new versions. 2020 was the last, and it's been four years. After the end of support, I think companies currently using BizTalk will move to Azure or another cloud-based integration technology.

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Mallik-Kesavaraju

Independent Consultant at Selfemployed

Significantly improves the overall cycle time, and offers robotic automation, and the BPM workflow

The extensive availability of ready-made gadgets in Pega BPM is a double-edged sword. While it offers convenience, it also leads to a steeper learning curve. Our developers and business analysts need to invest significant time and effort to fully understand and utilize the platform's capabilities. In essence, it's a complex product that demands a deep understanding to be used effectively. So, it cuts both ways. This complexity can be both an advantage and a disadvantage, depending on the user's expertise. So, the learning curve is pretty high! So, it's very good if you are a professional user, but you need to be a really good professional user to use this solution effectively.

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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

"It's a stable product."

"What I found most valuable in Appian is that it lets you drill down on multiple things through the structure of the reporting and UI side. It's also low-code, yet it results in quick deliverables."

"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."

"It is easy for me to define the process and create configurable workflows."

"I find the BPM the most valuable feature."

"The technical support is excellent."

"Rapid development with low-code makes it easier to quickly get apps implemented and the time to break-even and ROI is much faster."

"Good workflow engines that bridge the gaps of processes."

More Appian pros

"The AS2 communication protocol is one of the most advanced processes."

"BIzTalk's integration with Visual Studio is the most valuable feature of this product."

"The most valuable feature of BizTalk Server is that it will turn XML into flexible transactions."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its integration with the banks. Its messaging and routing capabilities are good."

"Compared to the current solutions I use, like Azure Logic Apps and other cloud services, BizTalk was far better and more reliable."

"I rate the tool's stability a nine out of ten."

"We can handle a large number of messages without any issues, ensuring that everything runs smoothly."

"Essentially, you can do whatever you like with these systems, and you do not have to take care about the scaling because if one server is overloaded, it just forwards the message to the next server, even if it were designated to a specific server. It weeds out the messages according to the load. If you want to scale it, you just add new servers."

More BizTalk Server pros

"We can use the rules as per the class."

"The product helps you to build faster."

"The most important features of Pega BPM are case management and claims management, and soon they'll also be offering claims processing. I also love Pega BPM in terms of performance. It's also one of the very few user-friendly solutions in the market. It may take some time to learn Pega BPM, but once you get a proper handle on it, tracking and managing processes become very easy anytime, anywhere. Pega BPM also has very good documentation you can use to learn the solution. Pega has a community portal that has complete information and explanations, and if you're facing a challenge, you can post your challenge on the community portal and get a resolution at the same time."

"Case Management, as well as Workflow Automation, are Pega's most powerful capabilities."

"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the various workflows."

"It's not too expensive."

"The most valuable feature is the situational layer cake."

"It is a stable product."

More Pega Platform pros

Cons

"My only request is that they decrease the license costs."

"The solution could use some more tutorials to help brand new users figure out how to use the product effectively."

"The tool itself is pretty good, but the main area that we struggled with was the backend. The frontend development is really good, but the backend modeling can be streamlined a little bit. There are good integrations, but tying them through the data layer and then up into the frontend could be improved a little bit. It does read/write on the data source, and you can configure it to just write or just read, but there is a little bit of work involved."

"It would be useful if they could create an academy or forum in the future to help active users answer questions they have about the solution."

"We would like to see more reduced latency. We would like to make sure that the scale-out factor will be much more as workloads come in."

"I would like to see more enhancement in the user interface to allow more freedom in designing the sites and pages."

"What could be improved is more on the front end perspective, like the user interface and the mobile application aspect."

"There could be a scope of enhancement for capturing the variety of use cases."

More Appian cons

"The product's deployment can be quicker"

"The product could be improved in monitoring, managing, and support functionalities."

"Updating things in BizTalk is a headache."

"BizTalk is in the past, Microsoft is not going to evolve it any further or add any new features."

"BizTalk Server is an outdated legacy system that does not support messaging."

"It's an on-premises system, requiring physical servers for deployment. This is different from Azure; you don't need any servers with Azure. If you have a subscription, you can do whatever you want. There are unit restrictions based on the environment (like non-production vs. production) in BizTalk. You need physical servers and databases. In Azure, those are not required – it's all in the cloud."

"BizTalk lacks native cloud support. BizTalk doesn't offer in-built support for cloud. We need to use third-party adapters to connect it to cloud services."

"It's a complex product because you have many degrees of freedom to connect different parts together. Whether it's sensible or not, is up to you, but the machine does allow it. But because of the vast degrees of freedom, it's complex."

More BizTalk Server cons

"If it could also be integrated with robotics, it could help with a lot of things, even if we don't have APIs, we could still talk to other applications. If it could invoke a bot, for example."

"I would like to see Pega BPM improve the user experience."

"Lack of stronger cloud support is somewhat inconvenient for users and implementation."

"PegaRULES need to improve its JVM. It needs to enhance the operation speed and memory size."

"First-time customers will find its licensing tricky. The technical support team for this solution could be faster in resolving tickets."

"PEGA claims that they provide a LOW-CODE-PLATFORM which is easy to use - even for "citizen developers" (i.e. business employees). If you really want to use all the features out of this platform, you definitely need a lot of experience and a lot of training."

"The main problem with Pega is that it is quite complex, so it is very difficult for the developer to learn."

"I believe that Pega's strategy when it comes to the UX part is not that great currently as compared to the other emerging BPM tools in the market."

More Pega Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We will have to have a dialogue or negotiate a price for future use. To start with, it is a reasonable price. As we go ahead, we will have to make sure the costs are inline with our expectations as we grow our user base and workloads."

"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 of the solution is reasonable and is paid annually. The price of the solution depends on how many users use the solution. It can range from $50,000 to $200,000. For example, for 20,000 users the price can be approximately $200,000."

"The solution offers a monthly subscription model. That's what we use. I recall it being about $90 a month. They do have different tiers."

"The cost is a bit higher than other low-code competitors, OutSystems and Mendix. The price needs to be more competitive."

"The tool is quite costly."

"It's an enterprise tool and can be used by enterprise only. So it's a very expensive tool."

"The license is a bit expensive and the pricing model is sometimes confusing for new users or business users. It is difficult for them to know what volume of usage they will have to be able to purchase the best-suited license at the beginning."

More Appian pricing and cost advice

"It was not cheap, but it was affordable."

"Based on the knowledge, it is relatively cheaper than Azure Identity Services and cloud services in general."

"BizTalk Server is cheap. I would rate its pricing a two out of five."

"The cost will depend on the client's requirements."

"BizTalk Server is not freeware. There's a significant licensing cost involved. Be sure you will actually utilize its features fully."

"The solution is expensive."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis. Because of our special relationship, all the training certifications are free of cost. All our employees can do Pega certifications at zero cost. It is all on Pega."

"The price of Pega BPM falls on the higher side of the spectrum if I were to compare it with other solutions in the market."

"It's a user-based license where, as you scale the numbers of users, the price increases."

"In terms of the pricing for Pega BPM, other solutions may be cheaper, but it doesn't matter if Pega BPM has a higher price tag because what's important is that it's the best solution, and that is what people look for. If I would rate the pricing for the solution, I'd give it three out of five. You have to pay extra for additional features in Pega BPM."

"Pega is expensive."

"They're very cagey in giving out prices, and it is very difficult to find out the real price any organization is going to get. It is almost never their list price, if you can find it, and there are a lot of factors that go into the whole pricing."

"Its pricing is on the higher side, but they have come up with different plans and different small products that can be used by smaller organizations that don't have that much money to spend. They have different pricing packages depending on the number of users or depending upon the number of cases created in the production or live environment."

"The price of Pega BPM is in the middle range compared to other solutions."

More Pega Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

27%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

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...

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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. The...

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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 i...

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What do you like most about BizTalk Server?

The tool's most valuable feature is its integration with the banks. Its messaging and routing capabilities are good.

See all answers

What needs improvement with BizTalk Server?

BizTalk is deployed on-premise. Deployment methodologies are vast in the cloud area. Whereas, if we want to update ev...

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What advice do you have for others considering BizTalk Server?

When I started my career with BizTalk, people told me the vendor would sunset BizTalk Server, but it didn't happen. H...

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Is Pega BPM easy to work with and can beginners utilize this software?

You do need some preparation to be able to use all functions of Pega BPM. However, all users of this platform are in ...

See all answers

Have you encountered any issues while using Pega BPM and were you assisted by the company?

My company has been using this tool for years and the only issue we have had, if you can call it that, was while sett...

See all answers

When you consider the features and benefits of Pega BPM, would you say this product is fairly priced?

Pega BPM can be considered overpriced for some; it all depends on the size of your company and the requirements of y...

See all answers

Comparisons

OutSystems vs Appian

Compared 13% of the time

ServiceNow vs Appian

Compared 11% of the time

Salesforce Platform vs Appian

Compared 10% of the time

Camunda vs Appian

Compared 9% of the time

Bizagi vs Appian

Compared 4% of the time

More Appian Competitors

SEEBURGER Business Integration Suite vs BizTalk Server

Compared 16% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs BizTalk Server

Compared 16% of the time

Camunda vs BizTalk Server

Compared 15% of the time

IBM Sterling B2B Integration Services vs BizTalk Server

Compared 11% of the time

SAP Process Orchestration vs BizTalk Server

Compared 6% of the time

More BizTalk Server Competitors

ServiceNow vs Pega Platform

Compared 19% of the time

Camunda vs Pega Platform

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs Pega Platform

Compared 6% of the time

IBM BPM vs Pega Platform

Compared 5% of the time

OutSystems vs Pega Platform

Compared 5% of the time

More Pega Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Appian

April 2025

Download Appian product report

Buyer's Guide

BizTalk Server

May 2025

Download BizTalk Server product report

Buyer's Guide

Pega Platform

April 2025

Download Pega Platform product report

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS

No data available

Pega BPM, Pegasystems, SmartBPM, PegaRULES

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

Connects systems both inside and across organizations, exchange data and orchestrate business processes across multiple systems.

Microsoft

Pega Platform facilitates business process management, case management, and workflow automation for industries like banking, insurance, and healthcare. It supports digital transformation and customer service enhancements with its low-code capabilities and seamless integrations.

Pega Platform enables users to create efficient systems for case management, financial operations, and digital transformations. It provides tools for client onboarding, quoting, claims processing, customer experience improvements, and content management. Pega's low-code approach allows for the automation of complex processes, making it suitable for enterprises looking for adaptability and rapid deployment. While it offers strong real-time analytics and decision automation, users acknowledge challenges in user interface, integration, and performance aspects. High costs and a learning curve need attention, and enhancements in AI features and cloud services are desired.

What are the key features of Pega Platform?

Easy Implementation: Quick setup for fast project kick-off.
Seamless Process Adaptation: Adapts processes efficiently as business needs evolve.
Fast Prototyping: Enables rapid model creation and testing.
Unified Architecture: Streamlines operations across the platform.
Low-Code Environment: Facilitates swift application development.
Scalability: Supports growth and high-demand scenarios.
Real-Time Analytics: Provides immediate insights into operations.
Decision Automation: Automates standard decision-making processes.
Reusable Components: Encourages efficiency in development through component reuse.

What benefits do organizations find with Pega Platform?

Rapid Deployment: Quick launch of new processes saves time and resources.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces costs through automation and streamlined workflows.
Customer-Centric Solutions: Enhances customer experiences through integrated systems.
Improved Productivity: Automation frees up employee resources for other tasks.
Reliable Performance: Consistent platform performance ensures business continuity.

In banking, Pega Platform automates loan processing, accelerates customer onboarding, and manages compliance. Insurance companies benefit from streamlined claims processing and policy management. Healthcare sectors use the platform for patient engagement and care coordination, enabling organizations to adapt quickly to changing industry requirements.

Pega

Sample Customers

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

Centrebet, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, QualCare, Wªrth Handelsges.m.b.H, DTEK, Allscripts, United BioSource, Hogg Robinson

The State of Maine, ANZ, Coca-Cola, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), ME, New South Wales, OptumRx, Texas Department of Transportation, UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement

Find out what your peers are saying about Camunda, BMC, Pega and others in Process Automation. Updated: April 2025.

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