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Appian vs Oracle BPEL 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
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (10th), Rapid Application Development Software (9th), Low-Code Development Platforms (5th), Process Mining (8th)
Oracle BPEL
Ranking in Process Automation
33rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of Appian is 5.9%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle BPEL is 0.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
JI
Support for human tasks despite challenges with protocols and adapters
It depends on your needs. Oracle BPEL is suitable for enterprise-wide systems. However, if you're building something smaller or don't know precisely what you need, it's better to start with something smaller. Oracle is a comprehensive bundle, and buying it exclusively for Oracle BPEL doesn't make sense. I'd rate the solution six out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tech support is quite good."
"The initial setup was seamless. We didn't run into any hardships at all."
"It has created executable requirements and speeds up the SDLC process greatly."
"The application is mobile-friendly, allowing me to use it across any device, whether mobile, laptop, or desktop."
"Low code development: Code can be developed pretty quickly which leads to less turnaround time for automation of business processes."
"It is really simple to create a new app, and I like the data-centric aspect of the BPM tool."
"The low code functionality and being able to get applications faster to customers or to the market are valuable."
"Appian is a stable product and works very well."
"The product has everything we need."
"The solution is very seamless and fast."
"What I find the most valuable about Oracle BPEL is that it saves me time."
"The most valuable feature is the support for human tasks."
 

Cons

"The graphical user interface could be easier to use. It should be simplified."
"Architecture of product and scalabiility issues."
"Occasionally, certain pre-made modules may not be necessary and customers may desire greater customization options. Instead of being limited to pre-designed features, they may prefer a more flexible version that allows for greater customization."
"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."
"The reporting is not as good as in similar products. They could also improve the dashboards."
"We have clients that want to use Office 365, Microsoft Analytics, and Power Apps. Appian just isn't the same as using something specifically designed to cater to the Microsoft Suite."
"There is no UI customization possible."
"It is difficult to set up the on-premise version."
"In the next release, I would like to see REST improved and new technologies for microservices. I'd like to see more containers for separating containers."
"They need to have support for new protocols like GraphQL and possibly some out-of-the-box adapters for SAP and other big systems."
"The solution's integration with SAP should be seamless because some formats are not accepted in SAP but are accepted in Oracle BPEL."
"Some user-defined functions for transformation must be added to the next release of the solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's good value for the price."
"We will have to have a dialogue or negotiate a price for future use. To start with, it is a reasonable price. As we go ahead, we will have to make sure the costs are inline with our expectations as we grow our user base and workloads."
"When it comes to pricing, it's definitely not affordable. However, it really depends on the requirements that you're seeking from the solution."
"It is fully managed, and I don't believe there are any additional expenses."
"The price of this solution is a little high here in Mongolia."
"The license is not very cheap. It's on the expensive side."
"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."
"It's an enterprise tool and can be used by enterprise only. So it's a very expensive tool."
"The product is moderately priced."
"The solution's pricing is moderate and not expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Performing Arts
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
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 Oracle BPEL?
They need to have support for new protocols like GraphQL and possibly some out-of-the-box adapters for SAP and other big systems. It should be better if the SAP adapter were included in the bundle.
What is your primary use case for Oracle BPEL?
We primarily use Oracle BPEL for process automation. It is used for workflows for documents, data transfers, and other processes implemented for our customers.
What advice do you have for others considering Oracle BPEL?
It depends on your needs. Oracle BPEL is suitable for enterprise-wide systems. However, if you're building something smaller or don't know precisely what you need, it's better to start with somethi...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
BPEL Process Manager
 

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
Nacional Monte de Piedad IAP, Bimbo S.A. de C.V., Intelligent Pathways, DVZ Datenverarbeitungszentrum Mecklenburg-Vorpommern GmbH, Arqiva
Find out what your peers are saying about Appian vs. Oracle BPEL and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.