Appian vs vCenter Orchestrator comparison

Appian and VMware are both solutions in the Process Automation category. Appian is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0, while VMware is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.1. Appian holds a 6.6% mindshare in PA, compared to VMware’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Appian users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Appian

Read 62 Appian reviews

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3,299 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

vCenter Orchestrator

Read 50 vCenter Orchestrator reviews

165 Views
127 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Appian

vCenter Orchestrator

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

vCenter Orchestrator and Appian compete in the automation and process management category. Appian seems to have the upper hand with its intuitive interface and strong process automation, particularly appealing for enterprise optimization and faster ROI.

Features: vCenter Orchestrator specializes in workflow automation, third-party application integration, and virtualization features like Distributed Resource Scheduler and HA, focusing on resource management and automation for complex IT environments. Appian offers rapid development with a low-code platform, a user-friendly interface for business process modeling, and strong process automation, making it suitable for enterprise-level applications.

Room for Improvement: vCenter Orchestrator could enhance user-friendliness, ease of workflow creation, and better integration with non-VMware ecosystems, along with addressing high licensing costs. Appian needs improved UI customization, better integration, and enhanced scalability, with its pricing and need for more development resources as additional areas to address.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: vCenter Orchestrator offers versatile deployment with reliable support for established environments. Appian provides flexible deployment across various cloud types, but some users find it limited in customizability. Appian’s adaptable customer service emphasizes regional needs, while vCenter’s support is dependable.

Pricing and ROI: vCenter Orchestrator is considered expensive due to complex licensing but offers substantial ROI in large environments. Appian has more flexible and cost-effective pricing, particularly for cloud deployments, appealing to smaller enterprises with lower entry costs. Both deliver strong ROI based on their strengths.

To learn more, read our detailed Appian vs. vCenter Orchestrator Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Appian vs. vCenter Orchestrator

April 2025

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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

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Management (BPM) (7th), Rapid Application Development Software (5th), Low-Code Development Platforms (4th), Process Mining (6th)

vCenter Orchestrator

Ranking in Process Automation

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of Appian is 6.6%, down from 10.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vCenter Orchestrator is 0.2%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Process Automation

Featured Reviews

Srimanta Pandit

Senior Consultant at Protiviti consulting

Flexible, improves operational efficiency, and reduces the time taken to complete processes

The solution’s turnaround time for development is better compared to other tools. The solution enables fast development. The traceability of the processor is good. There is much more governance and regulations on the processers. The tool reduces the time of the processes by 30% to 40%. The solution’s low-code aspect has greatly impacted the development and deployment speed. One of the major reasons we are using the product is that we can reuse the modules. The developers can reuse all the modules. It enables us to make subsequent developments in less time. The prebuilt modules can be deployed within two to three weeks. The tool is very flexible. Compared to other platforms, the Appian product team was agile in quickly customizing things for us.

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David Villota

EMEA Hosting Engineer at Yanfeng Automotive

Provides automatic monitoring capabilities that save time for users

In my company's IT environment, we use the tool to deploy production environments for products, including live manufacturing systems. The product improves my company's IT automation processes since we can use fewer resources currently. In my company, we need to spend less time considering that vCenter Orchestrator monitors everything. In general, we don't have to be present in our company to do active monitoring. Automatic monitoring is available for everything with vCenter Orchestrator, so we have proactive alerts in our company. The most valuable feature of the product in streamlining our company's workflow stems from the fact that we need to spend fewer resources and less time in general. Our company can spend time on more effective tasks like working with the plans to improve processes and so on, instead of taking care of the systems. The benefits of the product's integration capabilities were useful for HPE. My company has HPE infrastructure, and we are keen to integrate everything into the host, VMware ESXi. It is really important to have an easy integration method that allows for everything to be installed easily in a matter of minutes. I was not involved in the product's setup process. My colleague took care of the product's setup process. From what I know, I can say that the product's setup phase was straightforward. Some custom setups were to be done manually in the tool, but everything was well documented. I recommend the product to those who plan to use it. One of the benefits of the product is that it is a low-cost and stable solution that offers a lot of resources. I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It provides us with real-time data on all connected systems in terms of how they're integrated with each other and how they are performing in a workflow manner."

"It is really simple to create a new app, and I like the data-centric aspect of the BPM tool."

"There is no need to worry about vulnerabilities in the system, because Appian built a secure system."

"It has created executable requirements and speeds up the SDLC process greatly."

"It has good integrations. We were looking for out-of-the-box integration with both on-prem and publicly accessible data sources. We needed integration with the cloud, OData, our REST API feed, and then on-prem passthrough to go to a SQL database or on-prem APIs through Azure local deployment, etc."

"Appian also has very flexible local integration."

"It reduces development time in half making us more efficient."

"Call Web Service Smart Service - Web service integrations with other systems are super simple and fast to create, supported by low code menus."

More Appian pros

"The solution's most valuable feature is its good automation features."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is availability."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the workflow creation."

"It is a stable solution...It is a scalable solution."

"The solution is pretty stable and reliable."

"I find that managing all my vCenters from one console is the most valuable feature."

"The most valuable feature is affinity rules."

"The most crucial feature of vCenter is its scalability. We can use it to expand our network, so we don't have to report our client devices. The network configuration features are also helpful because we can migrate entire networks."

More vCenter Orchestrator pros

Cons

"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."

"I would like to see more enhancement in the user interface to allow more freedom in designing the sites and pages."

"Form creation and SAIL proprietary language still basically require programming. The claim a BA type can do everything is hogwash."

"If there is a very complex process that includes a lot of data transitioning and memory-centric processes, it consumes a lot of memory."

"Appian is easy to set up, but JBoss is complex. JBoss is the application server for running Appian."

"Offline capabilities and responsive capabilities could be better. The mobility features of Appian platform are still evolving."

"The reporting is not as good as in similar products. They could also improve the dashboards."

"Appian could improve their customer-facing initiatives."

More Appian cons

"It could be integrated with third-party hypervisors."

"When the SSO certificate needs to be renewed, the upgrading and testing are quite complicated."

"Using this solution requires a lot of experience."

"It is practically difficult at this stage to really comment on the improvisations of V central. But more tech events and PoC cases would help the EA to design better solutions and utilization."

"After the change from perpetual licensing to subscriptions, the cost model changed."

"I would like to see more automation added in the future."

"There are no good manuals or guidelines on integrations. Hence, you need to be asking someone."

"Mainly VMware integrates with other products, but there is no easy way to link with other products from a different vendor. We can integrate with other products from the same vendors fairly well, but if they could make it so integration is easier with other vendors, that would really help."

More vCenter Orchestrator cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost depends on the number of users, although I recommend taking an unlimited license."

"Appian is very flexible in their pricing. In general, Appian's pricing is much, much lower when compared to competition like Pega or other products. Appian also has a flexible licensing model across geographies. Pega usually goes with a single licensing cost—which is a US-based cost—for all global customers, and it's costly. Whereas Appian has a different regional licensing cost model and it can be cheaper, depending on geography. So Appian's licensing is very flexible, and cheaper when compared to other competition."

"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 is calculated on a per-user basis. It might be expensive for small and mid-sized enterprises."

"More flexibility in the licensing model is still needed because initially there were customers who are looking at only one or two use cases of business areas, but now the business areas are changing and there is a larger scope. One license model may not fit everyone. They need to be a little more flexible on the licensing model."

"It is fully managed, and I don't believe there are any additional expenses."

"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."

"It is expensive, but powerful. I would recommend comparing against cheaper licensing products and open source."

More Appian pricing and cost advice

"Our licensing is on a yearly basis. We pay for the license and then we pay the support every year."

"I rate the product price a seven to eight out of ten on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

"vCenter Orchestrator could be more affordable."

"The concept of hyper-convergence is smart. I don't know if it can be applied with less cost to be more affordable for small or medium-sized companies. The cost is a very important factor for it. We are currently depending on SAN storage. However, the hyper-converged solutions are depending on the storage within the hosts, such as vSAN in the VMware. It is a smart solution."

"The licensing module is somewhat complex. Calculating the cost is complicated. Many of our clients are unclear about the billing system and the traffic metering."

"vCenter Orchestrator is an expensive solution."

"The price is reasonable, and one of the reasons that this product was selected."

"We renew the solution's license every one or two years."

More vCenter Orchestrator pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

27%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

23%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Government

12%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

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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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about vCenter Orchestrator?

The stability of the product is very good.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vCenter Orchestrator?

We're running a low-profile budget. This is not our main focus on investment technology, so we're trying to reduce costs due to the change from perpetual to subscription licenses.

See all answers

What needs improvement with vCenter Orchestrator?

After the change from perpetual licensing to subscriptions, the cost model changed. We are considering alternatives since we lost the perpetual aspect, and support is changing.

See all answers

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs Appian

Compared 8% of the time

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VMware Aria Automation vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 54% of the time

VMware Aria Operations vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 22% of the time

VMware Cloud Director vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft System Center Orchestrator vs vCenter Orchestrator

Compared 12% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Appian

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

vCenter Orchestrator

April 2025

Download vCenter Orchestrator product report

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS

No data available

Overview

Appian is a unified low-code platform and solution used by businesses to build enterprise applications and workflows. This product adapts to the needs of clients and the technologies they are already using to combine their data in a single workflow and maximize resources. The platform has four main components through which it transforms the work process for companies of various sizes. They are:

Complete automation: Through complete automation, companies are able to coordinate and manage employees, existing systems, bots, data, and artificial intelligence (AI) in a single workflow. The solution offers a way to centrally manage all third-party automation vendors as well.
Low-code applications: Appian offers the ability to build applications faster with visual development and low-code tools. All applications are ready-made to be suitable for mobile.
Low-code data: Appian lets companies source data from multiple types of sources, eliminating the need for data migration. Through no-code and low-code solutions and industry-standard connectors, the platform also eliminates the need for data silos.
Enterprise ready: The platform offers options for companies to scale their businesses to an enterprise level without complications.

Appian is utilized across a diverse set of industries, including automotive and manufacturing, energy and utilities, education, financial services, telecom and media, transportation, retail, insurance, healthcare, and life sciences. The most frequent use cases of Appian are customer journey, governance, risk and compliance, operational efficiency, supply chain, distributed order management, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) management.

Appian Features

Appian has various features that allow users to create solutions for their businesses. These features can be separated into a few groups according to function, including automation, low-code application development, and integrations and data. Some of the most frequently used features of Appian include:

Robotic process automation (RPA): Users of Appian can assign software bots to perform rules-based tasks that need to be repeated over a set course of time. This can improve efficiency and performance within an organization while saving human resources.
Intelligent document processing: The tool offers a feature for quick and accurate extraction and structuring of data. This can reduce time and costs for organizations because it eliminates the need for outsourcing such services.
AI: Appian utilizes artificial intelligence to enhance applications, workflows, and automation. AI is also used to address complex processes and unique situations.
Business rules: Organizations can automate and simplify work processes while adhering to their operating procedures.
Application development: Appian provides a low-code development feature that allows users to deploy applications over ten times faster than through conventional approaches. This feature not only allows for quick application building, but also applications that run on multiple types of platforms, seamless data integration, and business scalability.
Integrations and data: Appian allows for data integration from a wide array of sources without the need for migration. This contributes to easy access to data across systems, real-time data insights, improved user experience, and accelerated development.

Appian Benefits

The benefits of using Appian include:

The solution ensures seamless organization growth, as it supports various UX patterns, common data schemes, and upgrades, used to facilitate application development on a bigger scale.
Appian can increase process speed and deliver applications considerably faster compared to conventional development.
The platform is easy to use and suitable for complete beginners to build applications and workflows.
Appian offers a variety of design tools that facilitate development and deployment.
Appian offers detailed real-time data insight which allows organizations to access relevant information about their processes as they are developing.
The solution offers clients the ability to move data between the cloud, on-premise, and hybrid configurations.
The platform is easy to optimize, which allows businesses to utilize it according to their personal needs.
Appian offers connectivity across web, mobile, email, voice, and chat, providing a multi-channel experience for companies and their clients.

Reviews from Real Users

A practice leader - digital process automation at a computer software company values Appian highly because the product is easy to develop, low-code, and has a good user interface.

Alan G., an advisory board member at Codecon VR, Appian offers a clear application life cycle, easy to learn documentation, and comes with a fundamentals course.

Appian

VMware vCenter Orchestrator simplifies the automation of complex IT tasks and integrates with VMware vCloud Suite components to adapt and extend service delivery and operational management, effectively working with existing infrastructure, tools and processes.

VMware

Sample Customers

Hansard Global plc, Punch Taverns, Pirelli, Crawford & Company, EDP Renewables, Queensland Government Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (, Bank of Tennessee

Beiersdorf Shared Services

Buyer's Guide

Appian vs. vCenter Orchestrator

April 2025

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