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Appian vs IBM WebSphere BPMS vs Pega Platform 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of Appian is 4.5%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM WebSphere BPMS is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pega Platform is 5.2%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Pega Platform5.2%
Appian4.5%
IBM WebSphere BPMS0.8%
Other89.5%
Process Automation
 

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.
CB
Software Engineer at Wipro Technologies
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.
reviewer4848291 - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Head of Digital, Process Automation at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Pega is a low-code platform that enables organizations to build, automate, and optimize business processes and customer experiences through AI-powered decisioning and workflow automation.
Here are the key areas where Pega Platform could be improved: 1. User Interface (UI) & User Experience (UX) Customization Limitations: The UI layer is tightly coupled with the platform, limiting flexibility for custom front-end development. Constellation Architecture: While it improves consistency, it restricts advanced UI customizations compared to older section-based designs. Learning Curve: Non-technical users find the UI unintuitive despite the low-code promise. 2. Integration & Extensibility Limited Out-of-the-Box Integrations: Users report challenges integrating with non-relational databases and legacy systems. Robotics Integration: Pega RPA (formerly OpenSpan) is not seamlessly integrated with BPM, creating silos in automation. 3. AI & Decisioning AI Capabilities Need Maturity: Users expect more advanced, native AI features without relying on external tools. CDH & Decision Hub: While powerful, these components require deep expertise to configure effectively. 4. Cost & Licensing High Licensing Costs: Pega is often seen as expensive, especially for small and mid-sized enterprises. Lack of Flexible Pricing Models: Calls for subscription-based or usage-based pricing to improve accessibility. 5. Performance & Scalability Scalability Concerns: Some users report performance degradation with large user bases or complex workflows. Upgrade Complexity: Platform upgrades can be time-consuming and disruptive if not planned well. 6. Documentation & Community Support Insufficient Learning Resources: Especially for advanced features, documentation is limited and community support is not as strong as competitors. Talent Availability: Finding skilled Pega professionals remains a challenge in many regions. 7. Low-Code/No-Code Experience Not Fully No-Code: Despite branding, some tasks still require technical intervention, and the drag-and-drop interface can be restrictive 2. Conflict Management: Simultaneous development by multiple users can lead to rule conflicts.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product has a very good mobile app."
"Recently, we added Appian Process Mining, Appian Portals, and now Appian RPA."
"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."
"Appian's most valuable feature is that we can create end-to-end process workflows with minimum turnaround."
"I find the BPM the most valuable feature."
"It has very flexible adaptation and the ability to save and automate processes."
"The technical support for Appian rates as 10 out of 10 because they have a great support team."
"The most valuable features are the low coding and low code data."
"The UI capabilities of the solution are great. The speed of delivery is good."
"IBM WebSphere BPMS provides significant return on investments, especially in the BAW component."
"We like the feature in which we can trace back instances."
"The most valuable feature of IBM WebSphere BPMS is the systematic framework it provides for building different systems."
"This product is flexible in its ability to integrate processes and it can be extended and integrated with other software."
"The most valuable feature is the situational layer cake."
"Pega is a local platform that has evolved from a BPM perspective. This allows teams using this solution to address complexities without having deep knowledge in a specific development area."
"Can do a lot of things with minimum time and cost."
"The solution offers excellent workflows."
"It is easy to use, easy to understand, easy to implement and easy to enhance and we can do it as a Cloud. Also it is very user friendly."
"The tool reduces our costs."
"One of the key advantages of PegaRULES is its out-of-the-box capabilities, which eliminate the need to build certain functionalities from scratch. For instance, features like "get next" in process flows allow for the seamless continuation of a flow without the requirement of additional activity creation. This serves as an illustration of how existing components can be leveraged rather than starting from scratch. It provides a solid foundation, to begin with, and allows for enhancements at a higher level, making it a beneficial starting point."
"It's not too expensive."
 

Cons

"If that had more DevOps capabilities, it would be an excellent product."
"I would like to see more enhancement in the user interface to allow more freedom in designing the sites and pages."
"On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate Appian a 7.5."
"Appian is a great tool for internal use cases where the users are company employees, but 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."
"It is also not easy to learn. Training tutorials could be improved."
"Appian has a few areas for improvement, which my organization raised with the Appian team. One is the Excel output which is limited to fifty columns when it should be up to two hundred or three hundred columns."
"We'd like improved functionality for testing new devices."
"It would be nice if you could create your own customized apps when the business needed them.​"
"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."
"There is a need for more capabilities in low-code and no-code development to increase efficiency and make implementation simpler."
"The user interface could be improved, and although integration opportunities are good, they could be improved further."
"The previous versions had good training documents but the updated versions need to improve the documentation."
"Lack of stronger cloud support is somewhat inconvenient for users and implementation."
"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."
"The cost of licensing could be improved."
"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."
"Robotics could improve, as my learning curve in robotics has been challenging."
"The local development approach is good in Pega, however, cost-wise, it's getting expensive. That needs to be addressed."
"There are some UX shortcomings within the solution. However, it's my understanding that they have addressed them and in the next three months they will come out with a new updated version. They will be moving away from HTML5."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's an enterprise tool and can be used by enterprise only. So it's a very expensive tool."
"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."
"Licensing of Appian is less expensive when compared to other BPMs in the market."
"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 cost depends on the number of users, although I recommend taking an unlimited license."
"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 cost is calculated on a per-user basis. It might be expensive for small and mid-sized enterprises."
"I'm sure it is cost-effective, but right now, we're just toying around with it. So, I don't have any hard numbers."
Information not available
"The licensing model from Pega BPM is too complex and is more expensive than other solutions, such as SAP. The overall price of the solution depends on the use case."
"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."
"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."
"They have both on-premise and cloud licensing. If you are a small to medium company, go for the cloud option because that eliminates a lot of the setting up of your DevTest and performance environments, multiple environments, because you can buy that from Pega with the cloud option. So your setup time really goes down. If you're a large company, then you're better off putting it within your company. You have other skill resources within your company to create environments."
"Pricing is good."
"The price of Pega BPM is in the middle range compared to other solutions."
"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."
"It is cost-effective for medium enterprises. It is cheaper than ServiceNow."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
No data available
Financial Services Firm
25%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise44
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise69
 

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...
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...
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...
What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere BPMS?
Looking forward, IBM WebSphere BPMS could add more adapters to integrate with SAP or Salesforce integrator in upcomin...
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 fe...
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 perf...
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 ...
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...
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...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
WebSphere BPMS
Pega BPM, Pegasystems, SmartBPM, PegaRULES
 

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
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, Temporal Technologies and others in Process Automation. Updated: January 2026.
881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.