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Bonita vs IBM BPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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

Bonita
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
29th
Ranking in Process Automation
27th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (17th)
IBM BPM
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
4th
Ranking in Process Automation
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
113
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of Bonita is 1.8%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM BPM is 4.1%, down from 6.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM BPM4.1%
Bonita1.8%
Other94.1%
Business Process Management (BPM)
 

Featured Reviews

Paparao Nadipineni - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at Evoke
A simple and lightweight college course automation system with third-party integrations
The initial setup is straightforward and can be completed with the environment within an hour. First, take the latest from the git repository and check the git code to the monitor studio and a bar file, a deployable Bonita archive file. Then, take that process to the Bonita server, running at runtime on another server. Finally, deploy and enable it by selecting the proper organization.
Ateeq Rehman - PeerSpot reviewer
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
Automation platforms streamline processes and offer flexibility, but AI integration and version upgrades pose challenges
In the technology world, there is always room for improvement. Technologies evolve day by day, especially with the emergence of artificial intelligence and generative AI models. Although IBM BPM is a substantial product, adopting and integrating new technologies quickly is not easy due to the migration and upgrade paths involved. Every time new versions are released, we face business and production challenges that make rapid adoption challenging. The main concern bothering me today regarding IBM BPM is the integration of AI components.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Bonita is simple and lightweight and is flexible to integrate with third-party systems. The UI is now flexible, whereas it was previously rigid. Any technology can be used as a frontend, including ReactJS, Angular, and others."
"Bonita is user-friendly, and the features are useful."
"I find process management and user interface designing the most valuable features."
"In general, Bonita is a very good solution."
"Process automation with Bonita BPM is really easy."
"The Connector implementation is a great addition to an out-of-box solution providing robust features for the developer to build hassle-free integrations."
"One of the most valuable features is you can create without coding, it is a low code platform."
"Customer Service: Very good, also the commercial team !Technical Support: Perfect ! and the community is a great help also"
"This solution has many valuable features, including: Timer-based escalations and SLA implementation, team filter service to identify and assign to an appropriate set of users based on branch, location, product, scheme, loan amount approval limit, etc., a process portal that provides a single place to access the tasks for different processes, lazy loading of sections, state-of-the-art controls in the user interface, easy and quick implementation of web services, easy and quick implementation of Java integrations, and easy and quick implementation of connecting or calling the database using in-built integration services."
"Setting it up is fairly easy. If somebody has knowledge of the system, he or she will be able to do it fairly quickly."
"We have used a lot of out-of-the-box reporting on the process performance metrics. We have been able to make suggested changes to staff for this role or streamlining by eliminate some activities where people were not requiring a lot of work in the first place."
"The most valuable features are the integration capabilities - BPM can connect with almost any legacy or advanced system - and that you can design and implement UIs."
"The customer service is outstanding."
"It is the Ferrari of BPM tools."
"It is quite a scalable product, as on one of our projects we are running something like 50,000 processes a day and are able to actually handle that efficiently without a lot of hassle."
"This solution has streamlined our operation and improved the TAT of sales, operations, and underwriters."
 

Cons

"There is a considerable learning curve."
"It would be nice to have a wizard to help walk through the development process and create a backbone."
"At times Bonita BPM Studio crashes, intermittently."
"Scalability of the Bonita BPM Community version is low."
"The menus likely would be more intuitive if read in French. Things seem to be under strange headings at times."
"I should be able to park the tasks that are within a process in a kind of container, and dynamically, a super admin should be able to connect these processes. This kind of feature might be helpful."
"The support is mandatory to access all features (Subscription), maybe they can have a different business model."
"The initial setup is not easy compared to other products."
"​The initial setup was complex. It is not always easy to launch a new platform and it needed better coordination with IBM."
"Our developers are complaining that it's too complex to maintain."
"IBM could improve the price. It is far too expensive."
"Better integration with other products in the automation suite."
"When you have to integrate files for enterprise applications."
"The user experience, while it has improved, should continue to improve."
"The initial setup can be tricky because IBM BPM is not based on a popular stack, and it's difficult to hire a developer for this product."
"Integration with web services, especially in the standard version of the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The Enterprise edition is very expensive."
"I am using the free version of Bonita."
"The product's pricing is acceptable. Pricing is yearly."
"Licensing cost for the Enterprise edition comes out to be around 40,000 a year. There is also a Community edition, which is free. Some customers can go for the Community edition, but some of them require the Enterprise edition. Big companies go for the Enterprise edition, which comes with a lot of additional features such as a mobile app."
"Price to service ratio with Bonita BPM is good."
"We are using the Community Version, which can be used free of charge."
"The Community Edition comes free of charge."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"The solution is highly-priced."
"We have a yearly licensing model. It is not expensive. There are no addition costs to the standard license."
"Due to its extensive features and capabilities, the product pricing is more aligned with medium—to large enterprises."
"I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten."
"The price is good but could be a little lower."
"I rate the tool's pricing a seven out of ten."
"It may be cheaper for organizations to pay for the Viewer licenses that are immediately up and running in the cloud, rather than paying for someone to administer publishing to an intranet."
"Starting out with Express can also help reduce the cost for adopting the product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
7%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise72
 

Questions from the Community

How does Bonita compare with Camunda Platform?
One of the things we like best about Bonita is that you can create without coding - it is a low-code platform. With Bonita, you can build the entire mechanism using the GUI, it’s that simple. You c...
Which is better, IBM BPM or IBM Business Automation Workflow?
We researched both IBM solutions and in the end, we chose Business Automation Workflow. IBM BPM has a good user interface and the BPM coach is a helpful tool. The API is very useful in providing en...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM BPM?
Once it is installed, maintaining it is not a big issue.
What needs improvement with IBM BPM?
There are negative aspects, such as IBM BPM being quite heavy and not lightweight, and the licensing cost is higher, which has caused some companies to shift away. IBM BPM is complicated to install...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Bonita BPM
WebSphere Lombardi Edition, IBM Business Process Manager, IBM WebSphere Process Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

With more than 1000 customers in 75 countries, and its ecosystem of more than 120,000 members, Bonitasoft is the largest provider of open-source Business Process Management, Low-code and Digital Transformation software worldwide.
Barclays, EmeriCon, Banca Popolare di Milano, CST Consulting, KeyBank, KPMG, Prolifics, Sandhata Technologies Ltd., State of Alaska, Humana S.A., Saperion, esciris, Banco Espirito Santo
Find out what your peers are saying about Bonita vs. IBM BPM and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
904,680 professionals have used our research since 2012.