Appian vs Hyland OnBase comparison

Appian and Hyland are both solutions in the Business Process Management (BPM) category. Appian is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.9, while Hyland is ranked #17 with an average rating of 7.7. Appian holds a 5.7% mindshare in BPM, compared to Hyland’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Appian users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Hyland users who would recommend it.

Appian

Read 63 Appian reviews

12,251 Views
4,778 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Hyland OnBase

Read 13 Hyland OnBase reviews

3,080 Views
339 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Appian

Hyland OnBase

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

Appian and Hyland OnBase are key players in the business process management and enterprise content management space. Appian appears to have the upper hand with its rapid deployment and low-code development, facilitating quicker ROI, while Hyland OnBase offers strong security features and flexibility.

Features: Appian offers rapid deployment and low-code development for quick implementation. Its strong process design and seamless integration capabilities are praised, alongside its mobile-readiness. Conversely, Hyland OnBase provides robust security with audit trails and excels in flexible business content management, noted for its stability and scalability across industries.

Room for Improvement: Appian struggles with interface flexibility and requires enhanced DevOps integration and mobile customization options. Hyland OnBase needs user experience improvements, better dashboards, and lacks strong OCR capabilities. Improving localization support would also be beneficial.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Appian supports diverse cloud options, offering public, private, and hybrid solutions, but its technical support is stretched due to its expanding user base. Hyland OnBase predominantly provides on-premises deployment with limited cloud flexibility. While responsive, its customer service faces challenges with complex issues.

Pricing and ROI: Appian offers cost-effective solutions with rapid deployment leading to fast ROI, typically within a year, although it remains pricier compared to other products. Hyland OnBase, despite being more costly, is considered a solid investment with its ECM standards. Its transition to microservices may lower costs and improve its pricing strategy.

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

Buyer's Guide

Appian vs. Hyland OnBase

July 2025

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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)

12th

Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Process Automation (7th), Rapid Application Development Software (10th), Process Mining (8th)

Hyland OnBase

Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)

17th

Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Content Management (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of Appian is 5.7%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Hyland OnBase is 0.4%, up from 0.3% 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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Srinivas Rao Kagitha

Senior Onbase Developer & Administrator at HTC Global Services (INDIA) Private

Offers good dashboards and reports but fails to offer better migration features

The migration is a bit difficult in the tool. Whenever we make certain changes to workflow or other stuff, migrating the code from one environment to another is a bit tedious. The tool has an option for export and import, which is not robust. Most of the time, we need to do things stuff manually. For example, if we make any changes in the existing life cycle or any queues, we have to move those changes manually. There is no robust way to migrate code from one environment to a lower environment, like prod. When it comes to the product's technical support, the turnaround time is a bit longer than expected. The issue may be because there are a number of issues or a large number of customers who are reaching out to the support team for help. I believe that the solution's technical team can provide a solution more quickly.

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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

"Process Modeling enables creation of business process workflows. You can create complex business workflows in a visual manner, and it is also easy to debug/monitor."

"SAIL (Self-Assembling Interface Layer), a scripting language provided by Appian. It is the equivalent of JS and CSS. It allows creation of complex UIs which are also responsive. With SAIL, we have a single language for both the UI logic and its appearance. UI components can be built as reusable components and used in multiple UI interfaces."

"It has very flexible adaptation and the ability to save and automate processes."

"Appian's most valuable features are the quick time it takes to develop for the market. It's easy and faster than other BPM solutions."

"Appian's most valuable feature is that we can create end-to-end process workflows with minimum turnaround."

"Process culture is making noise inside the organization because now, everybody knows that their time is being monitored."

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

"Appian is a stable product and works very well."

More Appian pros

"I like the cloud and its integrability."

"Hyland OnBase is valued for its security, especially for those in the finance domain who require data confidentiality."

"We found the setup process to be okay since they do offer a troubleshooting guide."

"The solution's most valuable features are integration and flexibility."

"The retention module is one of the most valuable features. Whatever we scan onto the system can be identified and we are notified when the records are due to be disposed."

"The solution is very developed and we are not taking full advantage of its functionalities."

"The product's initial setup phase is not difficult."

"Its most valuable aspect is its flexibility"

More Hyland OnBase pros

Cons

"The reporting is not as good as in similar products. They could also improve the dashboards."

"Something I would like to see improved is an SQL database connection."

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

"There are four areas I believe Appian could improve in. The first is a seamless contact center integration. Appian does not have a contact center feature. The second is advanced features in RPA. The third would be chatbot and email bot integration—while Appian comes with chatbot and email bot, it's not as mature as it should be, compared to the competition. The fourth area would be next best action, since there is not much of this sort of feature in Appian. These are all features which competitors' products have, and in a mature manner, whereas Appian lacks on these four areas. I see customers who are moving from Appian to Pega because these features are not in Appian."

"Appian could improve their customer-facing initiatives."

"There should be more flexibility for the developers to choose the look and feel of the UI. They should have a better ability to design their widgets and customize them with different colors, shapes, and sizes. That is a limitation that could be improved upon."

"Form creation and SAIL proprietary language still basically require programming. The claim a BA type can do everything is hogwash."

"Lacks integration with other products."

More Appian cons

"The application could potentially be more open-source, allowing integration with more solutions."

"Software malfunctioning usually occurs when we receive documents from external sources."

"For user experience, they would have to do more with the interface. It is not easy to work with and is a little messy. It is getting better, but it is not yet good enough. Other products are comparatively doing better in terms of the user interface. I have been hearing about Box, which is very easy to use and learn for the users. OnBase has to work on this aspect. It should have BPM capabilities. We compete with tools that provide the BPM feature and support those standards. They can do better in terms of the pricing model. It is a really expensive tool in Latin America. They should have different prices for different regions."

"An area for improvement would be the training - getting our people up to speed on how to use it required more training than we expected due to the complexity of the solution."

"We found the size of images to be a restriction, though this may have been due to the API used rather than the Hyland application."

"The solution’s initial setup is a little difficult."

"The migration is a bit difficult in the tool."

"I find OnBase's monolithic architecture to be expensive, and adopting microservices could be beneficial."

More Hyland OnBase cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"The licensing will be on a monthly basis. We are estimating that cost to be around $2000 to maybe $3,000 per month. We don't foresee any costs above that."

"I think that if somebody is really serious at looking at business value, then by all means, the product is well worth the value. You get representative business value for the price that you pay for the product, and for the implementation of the product."

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

More Appian pricing and cost advice

"They can do better in terms of the pricing model. It is a really expensive tool in Latin America. They should have different prices for different regions."

"The tool's price is high."

"OnBase is reasonably priced."

"The solution costs around $6,000 per month."

"There are a number of different types of licenses. There are concurrent licenses, individual licenses and imaging licenses."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Government

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software 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 Hyland OnBase?

The solution is very developed and we are not taking full advantage of its functionalities.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Hyland OnBase?

I find pricing to be on the higher side due to its monolithic architecture. I would rate it six out of ten. Transitioning to microservices, allowing users to pay for only what they use, could reduc...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Hyland OnBase?

I believe the reporting features need improvement, as other competitors in the market provide better analytics. Hyland is working on a new platform (HXP) to integrate features from all products, ad...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Appian

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Hyland OnBase

July 2025

Download Hyland OnBase product report

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS

OnBase

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

Hyland OnBase is acclaimed for its robust document management, automating workflows, and improving organizational efficiency across various industries. Praised for its ability to manage records compliantly, especially in regulated sectors like healthcare and finance, the tool also integrates smoothly with other enterprise systems. Users benefit significantly from streamlined processes, reduced manual tasks, and enhanced data accuracy, boosting productivity and customer satisfaction.

Hyland

Sample Customers

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

Honda France Industries, Hill County Texas, Hylant Group, ING Lease France, State of South Carolina, Syracuse University, Swindon College, Rhode Island Department of Human Services, Rochester Institute of Technology, Moen, Odense University Hospital

Buyer's Guide

Appian vs. Hyland OnBase

July 2025

Free Report: Appian vs. Hyland OnBase

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