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Appian vs IBM BPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

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
7.5
Appian enhances digital transformation with quick ROI, boosting efficiency, profits, and resource optimization, achieving tangible benefits within a year.
Sentiment score
6.7
IBM BPM delivers ROI by optimizing workflows, cutting errors, and reducing issuance time, despite initial costs, within a year.
Using Appian is saving us five full-time employees, which is significant since we currently have only four team members.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
They see return on investment in terms of cost savings, time savings, more efficient processes, and more efficient employees.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
Appian is very efficient, allowing us to build a lot of applications within a financial year, making it cost-effective.
Technology Leader of Appian at a retailer with 11-50 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.5
Appian's customer service is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though complex issues occasionally face delays and costs concern some users.
Sentiment score
6.7
IBM BPM's customer service is highly rated for responsiveness, despite occasional delays, with quality varying by location and issue complexity.
I would give Appian's customer support 10 out of 10 due to their next-level support.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Their customer service is responsive, and the team is very prompt for support.
Delivery Manager (Intelligent Business Automation) - Pega at Persistent Systems
The technical support for Appian rates as 10 out of 10 because they have a great support team.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
The customer service is outstanding.
Project Manager at Ora-Tech Systems
We had a contract that provided on-site support, which was very satisfactory.
Compliance Sanctions Senior Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
On a scale from 1 to 10, support deserves a rating of 7 to 8.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Appian effectively scales for large operations, praised for adaptability and integration, though requires careful architecture and cloud deployment caution.
Sentiment score
6.9
IBM BPM is scalable, supports large workloads and complex tasks, but scalability varies by architecture, configuration, and concurrent transactions.
On a scale of one to 10, Appian rates as a nine for scalability.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
Our volume has increased by 20% in the two years since using Appian, and it can handle the increased volume effectively.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Initially, without much coding, I can easily handle five thousand records.
Associate Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The solution has scalability issues; on a scale, I would rate it at eight out of ten.
Project Manager at Ora-Tech Systems
The architecture of the solution offers scalability; we can scale both vertically and horizontally.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
I found IBM BPM to be scalable to a certain level but it struggled with large volumes of concurrent transactions.
Compliance Sanctions Senior Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Appian is stable and reliable, with minor latency issues often tied to external factors or poor design.
Sentiment score
7.2
IBM BPM is generally stable, with on-premises better than cloud, but faces challenges in migrations and occasionally infrastructure-related issues.
We have tested Appian during peak usage and off-peak times, and we have not experienced any issues such as lagging or system disruptions.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
It depends on how it has been designed and how it has been configured.
Delivery Manager (Intelligent Business Automation) - Pega at Persistent Systems
The stability of Appian would rate as nine, as it's a stable environment.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
 

Room For Improvement

Appian users seek enhanced UI flexibility, seamless DevOps integration, better mobile features, improved error handling, and cost-effective pricing.
IBM BPM needs better configuration, improved UI, flexibility, enhanced performance, affordability, cloud capabilities, and easier debugging and maintenance.
It has room to improve for use cases where the users are public facing, where anonymous users could come to a site and run a business workflow or interact with some data.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
Appian can be improved by adding a geo-location tagging feature, which would be really helpful for identifying remitter addresses.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
If there is a very complex process that includes a lot of data transitioning and memory-centric processes, it consumes a lot of memory.
Delivery Manager (Intelligent Business Automation) - Pega at Persistent Systems
IBM BPM also lacks smaller solutions, so I must purchase multiple solutions to start with workflows and applications.
Compliance Sanctions Senior Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Technologies evolve day by day, especially with the emergence of artificial intelligence and generative AI models.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
There are negative aspects, such as IBM BPM being quite heavy and not lightweight, and the licensing cost is higher, which has caused some companies to shift away.
Senior Project Manager at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Appian offers flexible pricing with valuable solutions, costing up to $200,000 annually, yet users seek more competitive rates.
IBM BPM is costly with complex licensing, favored by large enterprises, but impractical for small businesses due to high expenses.
Appian provides value for money, is easy to use, has a straightforward setup procedure, and offers great support from the Appian team.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
On the pricier side, both Appian and Pega are enterprise-level solutions, placing them on the slightly higher side.
Delivery Manager (Intelligent Business Automation) - Pega at Persistent Systems
The pricing of Appian is based on the number of users and generally ranges from 70 to 100 USD per user per month.
Technology Leader of Appian at a retailer with 11-50 employees
SAP is more expensive, but IBM BPM is very expensive.
Compliance Sanctions Senior Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Appian excels in rapid, low-code development, fostering collaboration, agile workflows, and AI-driven innovation with robust support and scalability.
IBM BPM enhances business efficiency with robust process execution, integration, responsive UI, automation, and comprehensive management tools.
The zero-code integration feature is remarkable, allowing for ease of data transfer and workflow enhancement.
Technology Leader of Appian at a retailer with 11-50 employees
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.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
After switching to Appian, it can extract data from MT103, eliminating the need for manual data entry.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
The integration capabilities of IBM BPM are excellent.
Compliance Sanctions Senior Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Coordination across data silos is effective, and IBM BPM can be used for that purpose.
Senior Project Manager at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Appian
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
8th
Ranking in Process Automation
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Rapid Application Development Software (10th), Low-Code Development Platforms (5th), Process Mining (6th), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (11th)
IBM BPM
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
5th
Ranking in Process Automation
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
113
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of Appian is 3.7%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM BPM is 4.1%, down from 7.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM BPM4.1%
Appian3.7%
Other92.2%
Business Process Management (BPM)
 

Featured Reviews

Shad Bhowmik - PeerSpot reviewer
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Automated remittance workflows have boosted speed and accuracy but still need geo-tagging improvements
Remittance is a crucial part of my integral operation, so any disruption would majorly impact our clients. After switching to Appian, we never faced any disruption as it is reliable and we can generate data at any point in time, quite faster than other tools in my personal opinion. Regulators can ask for data from us at any time, and with Appian, we download data from our Appian tools to share it with them whenever they ask. I would share a real-life example: a customer's transaction processed more than a year ago. Suddenly the customer came back asking for all the details. In our previous tool, it was quite difficult to generate transaction details from over a year ago; however, while using Appian, we can pull up data using different key search fields, such as a customer's cell phone number, remittance tracking number, or MT103 reference number. We shared it with the customer instantly, and the customer was surprised we could provide all the details in such a short time. It added reputational value for our organization, thanks to Appian.You have pointed out two major things: time-saving and reduction of error, which are key points while processing remittance. Previously, while using another tool, it was quite time-consuming to process remittance, but after switching to Appian, it can extract data from MT103, eliminating the need for manual data entry. The process has become fully automated. Previously we could process only five to ten transactions within an hour, but now, after switching to Appian, we can process about 100 transactions in an hour, making it 10 times faster. In terms of error detection, since Appian extracts data from MT103, the extraction rate is quite good, and the error rate is negligible, lower than 0.001%. We can share accurate, error-free data with the regulator, which is essential for us. Appian benefits us significantly. After receiving an MT103, we check what the remitter is, the amount, if it is under threshold for processing, and if it is from a high-priority remitter or client. Since Appian extracts data from MT103 messages and identifies top-level clients from the database, it can notify us to process their transactions with priority. Due to automated data extraction, there are fewer instances of error. In our previous tool, we reported regulatory data to the central bank manually and often received complaints about invalid purpose codes due to manual data entry. Appian handles this automatically, and after switching, our error rate has dropped significantly, resulting in positive feedback from the Central Bank of Bangladesh regarding our reduced error rates. This has greatly enhanced our organization's reputation. Appian is fully on-premises, and we have our own system.
Ateeq Rehman - PeerSpot reviewer
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
Automation platforms streamline processes and offer flexibility, but AI integration and version upgrades pose challenges
In the technology world, there is always room for improvement. Technologies evolve day by day, especially with the emergence of artificial intelligence and generative AI models. Although IBM BPM is a substantial product, adopting and integrating new technologies quickly is not easy due to the migration and upgrade paths involved. Every time new versions are released, we face business and production challenges that make rapid adoption challenging. The main concern bothering me today regarding IBM BPM is the integration of AI components.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise42
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise72
 

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...
Which is better, IBM BPM or IBM Business Automation Workflow?
We researched both IBM solutions and in the end, we chose Business Automation Workflow. IBM BPM has a good user interface and the BPM coach is a helpful tool. The API is very useful in providing en...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM BPM?
Once it is installed, maintaining it is not a big issue.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
WebSphere Lombardi Edition, IBM Business Process Manager, IBM WebSphere Process Server
 

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
Barclays, EmeriCon, Banca Popolare di Milano, CST Consulting, KeyBank, KPMG, Prolifics, Sandhata Technologies Ltd., State of Alaska, Humana S.A., Saperion, esciris, Banco Espirito Santo
Find out what your peers are saying about Appian vs. IBM BPM and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,768 professionals have used our research since 2012.