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Appian vs Automate comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
Appian enhances profits, reduces process time, achieving break-even in year one, with widespread adoption and demonstrated ROI.
Sentiment score
8.0
Automate saves time and resources, achieving ROI quickly by reducing manual tasks and IT staff needs through automation.
Appian is very efficient, allowing us to build a lot of applications within a financial year, making it cost-effective.
Fortra's Automate has effectively replaced the workload of an entire employee, saving us significant time and money.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Appian's customer support is praised for efficiency and personalization but faces challenges with response times and complex issues.
Sentiment score
7.4
Automate customer service is praised for responsive, effective support despite occasional communication issues, with knowledgeable and helpful staff.
Their customer service is responsive, and the team is very prompt for support.
The technical support is generally good.
Appian has a community where I can put my questions.
They don't always understand the processes I'm trying to implement.
I would rate the technical support as a nine out of ten because it is quite fast and courteous.
They are very responsive and have been able to resolve any issues I have encountered.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Appian is scalable with expert setup, handling cloud configurations well, though hardware and complexity issues may impact performance.
Sentiment score
7.0
Automate offers scalable, cost-effective deployment with support for load balancing and high availability, although scaling complexity exists.
Appian is scalable, but it depends on how you build your applications.
Initially, without much coding, I can easily handle five thousand records.
It is easy to increase one bot or one studio without needing to buy another orchestrator, which can be quite expensive.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Appian is highly stable with 99.99% uptime; issues are mostly linked to development choices, while users commend its reliability.
Sentiment score
7.0
Automate is praised for stability and performance, despite occasional errors, connectivity issues, and recommendations for server improvements.
It depends on how it has been designed and how it has been configured.
It has very robust features, and it is not prone to instability.
The stability of Fortra's Automate is excellent.
 

Room For Improvement

Appian users want better UI customization, mobile flexibility, enterprise features, and integration, with improved scalability and reduced licensing costs.
Users seek improvements in web automation, UI, security, OCR, integration, documentation, stability, AI, cloud functionality, and community access.
I would like to see more enhancement in the user interface to allow more freedom in designing the sites and pages.
If there is a very complex process that includes a lot of data transitioning and memory-centric processes, it consumes a lot of memory.
Integration with Amazon S3 is somewhat lacking.
I would prefer not having to log in to update a ticket; being able to respond via email would be beneficial.
I find that most important features are strong, however, there is a lack of good development for artificial intelligence, such as machine learning.
 

Setup Cost

Appian offers high-value, cost-effective cloud solutions with flexible licensing, competitive in specific regions, and affordable workload-based options.
Automate offers a cost-effective, scalable pricing model with lower costs per bot, unlike UiPath and Blue Prism.
On the pricier side, both Appian and Pega are enterprise-level solutions, placing them on the slightly higher side.
The pricing of Appian is based on the number of users and generally ranges from 70 to 100 USD per user per month.
Competitors are often more expensive than Automate.
It does a lot but also costs a lot.
It offered what we wanted at a good, competitive price.
 

Valuable Features

Appian offers low-code development, intuitive interfaces, and BPMN 2.0 compliance, enhancing application deployment, workflow management, and business process automation.
Automate offers easy task development and integration with AI resources, efficiently handling tasks with strong support for secure transfers.
The zero-code integration feature is remarkable, allowing for ease of data transfer and workflow enhancement.
I can create tables, perform database-related activities, and create multiple tables.
It is easy for me to define the process and create configurable workflows.
Automate's non-reliance on additional orchestrators makes it quite cost-effective.
The most valuable features of Fortra's Automate include its FTP functionality and file manipulation capabilities.
I really like the API functionality; it's a slick aspect of the solution when I'm using it.
 

Categories and Ranking

Appian
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (11th), Process Automation (8th), Rapid Application Development Software (9th), Low-Code Development Platforms (6th), Process Mining (7th)
Automate
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Appian and Automate aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Appian is designed for Business Process Management (BPM) and holds a mindshare of 6.0%, down 6.4% compared to last year.
Automate, on the other hand, focuses on Robotic Process Automation (RPA), holds 1.6% mindshare, up 1.0% since last year.
Business Process Management (BPM)
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
 

Featured Reviews

RAVIRANJAN - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Anabel Marco - PeerSpot reviewer
Automates processes efficiently with cost-effective scaling and robust customer support
Web scraping is quite good since it offers a lot of possibilities. Another important feature for me is its compatibility with MBI, the Power that is ISEQUADO Centers. I appreciate the ability to scale and increase the number of bots or studios without additional expense. Automate's non-reliance on additional orchestrators makes it quite cost-effective.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
26%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

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...
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...
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...
What do you like most about HelpSystems AutoMate?
We use it for specific cases, mainly secure file transfers, which are vital for us. And it works for us.
What is your primary use case for HelpSystems AutoMate?
I am a consultant and I am making a lot of processes in human resources, payroll, certifications, trainings, web scraping, pre-reporting, and many processes that need to be automated on the web. My...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra Automate?
The pricing is quite good compared to its competitors. Competitors are often more expensive than Automate. I would rate the pricing as an eight out of ten.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
HelpSystems Automate, Automate
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hansard Global plc, Punch Taverns, Pirelli, Crawford & Company, EDP Renewables, Queensland Government Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (, Bank of Tennessee
Aldergrove Financial Group, Preferred Health Professionals, Mindbeam Technologies, First Credit Union in British Columbia, Vestcom International, Prime Liberty Benefits, University of Tampa, CNLBancshares, World Precision Instruments, BJ's Restaurants, Globe Pequot Press, Accudata Technologies, Norton Healthcare, Pacific Toxicology Laboratories
Find out what your peers are saying about Camunda, Apache, Automation Anywhere and others in Business Process Management (BPM). Updated: April 2025.
850,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.