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Appian vs ServiceNow Now Platform 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
6.2
Large enterprises benefit from ServiceNow's platform ROI, while smaller companies may struggle to justify the cost without full use.
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
7.2
ServiceNow Now Platform offers effective, knowledgeable support, praised for expertise, though sometimes varies with regional availability and support level.
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
They generally know what they are talking about.
Associate director at Accenture
 

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
7.8
ServiceNow Now Platform is scalable, customizable, and adaptable, supporting thousands of users with effective integration and minimal performance issues.
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
Users can build and modify the platform according to their needs.
Associate Director at KPMG India
It is easily scalable and very powerful in this direction.
Product Owner at a computer software company with 51-200 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
8.1
ServiceNow Now Platform is praised for stability, impressive uptime, AI automation performance, and reliable cloud support with integration assistance.
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
I haven't had any situations where it would be unavailable for our calls, so I don't have complaints there.
Product Owner at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
ServiceNow Now Platform has improved it since then.
Assistant Manager at Wipro Limited
 

Room For Improvement

Appian users seek enhanced UI flexibility, seamless DevOps integration, better mobile features, improved error handling, and cost-effective pricing.
ServiceNow's platform needs enhancements in licensing, UI, mobile capabilities, integration, automation, customization, and pricing to improve user experience.
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
Historical data isn't as easily available as expected and it requires buying additional licenses for more features.
Senior IT consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It lacks support for rollbacks in case of complex customer processes.
Associate Director at KPMG India
The user interface could be modernized and made more attractive for users.
Product Owner at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Appian offers flexible pricing with valuable solutions, costing up to $200,000 annually, yet users seek more competitive rates.
ServiceNow's pricing is high but justified by functionality, with costs varying by user count, modules, and features used.
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
ServiceNow Now Platform is an expensive product.
Senior IT consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
ServiceNow Now Platform falls within the more expensive tier of a product.
Product Owner at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

Appian excels in rapid, low-code development, fostering collaboration, agile workflows, and AI-driven innovation with robust support and scalability.
ServiceNow Now Platform excels in reliability, automation, and integration, offering robust incident management and user-friendly, scalable solutions.
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 most valuable features are the ease of use, stability, and the ability to change or upgrade seamlessly.
Senior IT consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The text-to-code feature is particularly useful for turning natural language instructions into recognizable code on the ServiceNow platform, aiding both implementation teams and customers.
Associate Director at KPMG India
It is extremely powerful and very much customizable, which allows for quick building of solutions around it.
Product Owner at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Appian
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
11th
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
5th
Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (10th), Process Automation (6th), Process Mining (7th)
ServiceNow Now Platform
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
14th
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
9th
Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies
14th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No-Code Development Platforms (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Appian is 6.5%, down from 9.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow Now Platform is 1.8%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Appian6.5%
ServiceNow Now Platform1.8%
Other91.7%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

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.
Mayur Patil - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager at Wipro Limited
Has supported day-to-day operations through reporting, ticketing, and automation features
I am still using ServiceNow Now Platform. I have worked with Qualys in one of my customers, but not much. I wanted to know whether there is any module of Rubrik in ServiceNow Now Platform. I am an end user and do not work with the solution provided for ServiceNow Now Platform separately. I work with ServiceNow Now Platform. I have not worked with app development capabilities. Regarding the integration capability of ServiceNow Now Platform, I can say it is compatible with most of the technologies for my connectivity with other systems. I cannot comment on analytics insights, as I have not worked on it, so I cannot say it improved my service efficiency. I do not remember if I have worked with something different for the same purpose. My overall rating for this review is eight out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
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 Business15
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise34
 

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 do you like most about ServiceNow Now Platform?
The integration with other tools is pretty good.
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Now Platform?
I do see some negative sides and room for improvement. I think there may be some integration with AI and a smart way of reporting, reporting mechanisms, and automation mechanisms on the inputs from...
 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
No data available
 

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
experian, beachbody, health partners
Find out what your peers are saying about Appian vs. ServiceNow Now Platform and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.