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Appian vs IBM WebSphere BPMS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

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 Process Automation
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (9th), Rapid Application Development Software (10th), Low-Code Development Platforms (3rd), Process Mining (7th)
IBM WebSphere BPMS
Ranking in Process Automation
27th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of Appian is 5.8%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM WebSphere BPMS is 0.3%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Appian5.8%
IBM WebSphere BPMS0.3%
Other93.9%
Process Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Kunal Sharda - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
CB
Developers gain flexibility to build custom controls with numerous integration options
Looking forward, IBM WebSphere BPMS could add more adapters to integrate with SAP or Salesforce integrator in upcoming releases. Regarding AI-driven process optimizations, we have not implemented these features with IBM WebSphere BPMS. In recent versions, IBM has introduced some generative AI features, and we plan to migrate to the newer versions within approximately one year.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Write to Data Store Entity - Saving data in SQL databases is done easily using entities. Entities (CDTs in Appian terminology) define relationships and target schema tables via XSD files."
"Technical support is helpful."
"There is no need to worry about vulnerabilities in the system, because Appian built a secure system​."
"The low code functionality and being able to get applications faster to customers or to the market are valuable."
"The technical support for Appian rates as 10 out of 10 because they have a great support team."
"Appian has many valuable features, the first being the ease of development—rapid development. Second, the process of learning the product and tool is faster when compared to its peers in the market. It's closer to low-code, and while it's still not very easy, it's more low-code than other products in the industry. Appian has a good user interface, a seamless model user interface, which comes without additional coding. It can also integrate with multiple systems."
"It's a stable product."
"I find the BPM the most valuable feature."
"The UI capabilities of the solution are great. The speed of delivery is good."
"This product is flexible in its ability to integrate processes and it can be extended and integrated with other software."
"We like the feature in which we can trace back instances."
"IBM WebSphere BPMS provides significant return on investments, especially in the BAW component."
"The most valuable feature of IBM WebSphere BPMS is the systematic framework it provides for building different systems."
 

Cons

"Appian could be improved by making it a strict, no-code platform with free-built process packs."
"Lacks integration with other products."
"The documentation needs to be improved."
"One room for improvement is the ease of UI UX development, like in OutSystems and Mendix."
"While Appian is generally flexible, it's rigid in some ways. It takes longer to do something that isn't available out of the box."
"It needs better integration with our existing application ecosystem."
"What could be improved is more on the front end perspective, like the user interface and the mobile application aspect."
"It is difficult to set up the on-premise version."
"The solution lacks acceptable stability."
"Looking forward, IBM WebSphere BPMS could add more adapters to integrate with SAP or Salesforce integrator in upcoming releases."
"Sometimes there are tasks that failed without any reason."
"The user interface could be improved, and although integration opportunities are good, they could be improved further."
"There is a need for more capabilities in low-code and no-code development to increase efficiency and make implementation simpler."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is high."
"The cost is calculated on a per-user basis. It might be expensive for small and mid-sized enterprises."
"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 depends on the number of users, although I recommend taking an unlimited license."
"It's an enterprise tool and can be used by enterprise only. So it's a very expensive tool."
"The pricing can be a little confusing to customers."
"The price of this solution is a little high here in Mongolia."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise41
No data available
 

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 needs improvement with IBM WebSphere BPMS?
Looking forward, IBM WebSphere BPMS could add more adapters to integrate with SAP or Salesforce integrator in upcoming releases. Regarding AI-driven process optimizations, we have not implemented t...
What is your primary use case for IBM WebSphere BPMS?
IBM WebSphere BPMS allows users to build workflows and dashboards. It is a developer-friendly product. The product features a great UI interface that is mobile-friendly, tab-friendly, and desktop-f...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM WebSphere BPMS?
Understanding the benefits and improvements that come with using the product is essential. IBM WebSphere BPMS is performing excellently, and I do not see any significant areas requiring improvement...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
WebSphere BPMS
 

Overview

Information not available
 

Sample Customers

Hansard Global plc, Punch Taverns, Pirelli, Crawford & Company, EDP Renewables, Queensland Government Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (, Bank of Tennessee
Schahin Group, Korean Credit Card Company, Versicherungskammer Bayern, Biogrid Australia
Find out what your peers are saying about Appian vs. IBM WebSphere BPMS and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.