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IBM BPM vs Oracle BPEL 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

IBM BPM
Ranking in Process Automation
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
112
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (7th), Application Infrastructure (6th)
Oracle BPEL
Ranking in Process Automation
31st
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 October 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of IBM BPM is 6.0%, down from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle BPEL is 0.7%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM BPM6.0%
Oracle BPEL0.7%
Other93.3%
Process Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Ateeq Rehman - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
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

"This solution is very stable."
"We made the transformation to agile. Altogether with BPM, it is the total package."
"The solution is stable."
"IBM BPM is easy to deploy."
"IBM BPM is stable."
"Technical support is pleasant to work with and always available."
"IBM BPM should become cloud-native. It should also add a cloud deployment feature."
"I would say that I like its GUI designer the best."
"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."
"The solution is very seamless and fast."
"The product has everything we need."
 

Cons

"The initial setup process is complex for basic users."
"Performance in the development environment space. I know that they have been taking it off the desktop version and putting on the web, and it is not 100% yet."
"The setup was quite complex because the solution was cutting-edge at that time and IBM invested considerably in the implementation, likely at a loss to themselves."
"The people working on the front desk are having some problem with managing the documentation. For instance, they get a picture, and if the picture comes rotated 90 degrees, together with a picture that is not rotated, they have some problems dealing with that, technically. There are some minor aspects that on the usability side that are still lacking. That has to do with FileNet, too, I'm talking about the suite together."
"Some of the features are not enough for my business. We need to build custom user management for the many end users affected by BPM."
"The engine itself tends to accumulate a lot of data that needs to be cleaned up, and that's the kind of thing that keeps it from, in some scenarios, scaling as much as it needs to. And then, when you're building solutions, if you're not careful to keep the screens from being associated with too much data, if you're going to just do things the way that a lot of people would just assume that they can do, without having experience of having made those mistakes before, it will accumulate a lot of data, and that will cause it to perform very badly."
"Importing and exporting between multiple environments is more difficult with other tools."
"There is a lot of room for improvement of the dashboards."
"Some user-defined functions for transformation must be added to the next release of the solution."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a yearly licensing model. It is not expensive. There are no addition costs to the standard license."
"I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten."
"The product is expensive considering the hardware and software costs."
"The cloud and license of the subscription model for IBM BPM can be complex. There are a lot of alternatives to choose from."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a ten."
"The pricing is quite high, I would rate it two out of five."
"Due to its extensive features and capabilities, the product pricing is more aligned with medium—to large enterprises."
"The solution is highly-priced."
"The solution's pricing is moderate and not expensive."
"The product is moderately priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
28%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Performing Arts
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise71
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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 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

WebSphere Lombardi Edition, IBM Business Process Manager, IBM WebSphere Process Server
BPEL Process Manager
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
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 IBM BPM vs. Oracle BPEL and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.