No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

IBM Business Automation Workflow vs OpenText Process Automation comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

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 Business Automation Wor...
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
13th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OpenText Process Automation
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
26th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of IBM Business Automation Workflow is 1.2%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Process Automation is 1.1%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Business Automation Workflow1.2%
OpenText Process Automation1.1%
Other97.7%
Business Process Management (BPM)
 

Featured Reviews

IsmailEl Dahshan - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at Exact Holding NV
Automation has transformed financial workflows and has improved revenue tracking and compliance
Regarding Watsonx, I am uncertain whether it is fully complied and fully integrated with IBM Business Automation Workflow yet. Currently, we use some AI in Enterprise Content Management, particularly when searching documents. Archiving snapshots would be very beneficial. It would be good to reduce the administration effort required to archive snapshots, as this is a main issue with the product. I would also recommend that IBM engage with customers more deeply. Rather than sending URLs or documentation for customers to solve problems independently, the support team should be more involved in addressing the client's specific issues in a targeted manner, providing clear guidance on what actions need to be taken.
Senthil Natarajan - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Operating Officer at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
The solution enables automation of supply chain and invoice processing with comprehensive integration and workflow capabilities
The main valuable features of OpenText AppWorks are the BPM modules. There is the standard BPM modeler and a case modeler. These are two strong features from the workflow layer. Additionally, the integration capability of the solution is beneficial. With these features, we are able to use OpenText AppWorks for automating supply-chain-related problems, vendor process automations, and invoice automations. We have built almost twenty-plus types of solutions and implemented around three hundred fifty-plus implementations. The solution also allows us to integrate it with our ERP system.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM provides long-term support and maintains a traditionally good customer-vendor relationship."
"After being acquired from Lombardi by IBM, BPA was only workflow-related, and over a period of time it evolved with a lot of capabilities added to the product, like rules, business decision-making, and now a more enhanced toolkit to build applications very rapidly."
"It gives us the ability to create toolkits and use them across many different applications. It allows us to write things one time, instead of having to write a diary for every single different application. We can write at once and reuse it."
"IBM Business Automation Workflow has a flexible pricing mode, but the price is expensive, and the price of the solution reflects the quality of the solution which is very high."
"It helps develop applications very quickly. Once clients get used to it and familiar with the methodology, then they don't feel so locked in. It is able to add this element of agility to our clients' software development lifecycle. That is my favorite thing about it: You're not so locked in as you used to be when developing applications."
"The workflow of BAW's automation is handled inside of BPM, so we can see what state it is at and how things are processing through."
"This is a stable solution that we have been able to use as a distributed system."
"The integration capabilities are excellent, as IBM Business Automation Workflow integrates seamlessly with other IBM products, such as Enterprise Content Management, FileNet, Case Manager, and Operational Decision Management, with many adapters available so we can communicate everything through the same business process management scenario."
"One of the most useful features is the code is customizable, we can make it our own."
"In terms of the scalability and the handling of complexity, the customers are satisfied, and we also have confidence in the solution to achieve whatever implementations are required."
"AppWorks is a very quick development platform with low-coding capability and strong integration with third-party systems."
"Its customer support is reliable and easy to approach."
"From a business perspective, the most valuable aspect lies in the optimization of processes."
"The stability has been perfect over the years; there are no bugs or glitches, it doesn't crash or freeze, it's reliable, and the performance is good."
"The good part of OpenText AppWorks is that all of its components are together in one platform, including integration capability, UI capability, and workflow capability."
"OpenText AppWorks has standard features such as system-to-system and human-to-human integrations, but what I find most valuable in the solution is its monitoring feature that tells you more about your processes, how to restart and how to stop each process, etc."
 

Cons

"The setup and installation process could be made easier."
"The monitoring features must be improved."
"IBM Business Automation Workflow can improve UI flexibility and integration. Additionally, the solutions from IBM have to provide a paperless solution, allowing for digital versions of documents."
"Sometimes, we feel like we are not getting the full features of the content management capabilities."
"The initial setup is actually a really complicated process."
"However, on Windows, I believe considerable administration tasks are required to maintain environment stability."
"The solution's technical support could use improvement. The IBM BPM platform, at least from a cloud perspective, still requires using IBM support, which is not very responsive."
"Code management lacks merging capabilities. If parallel development requires merging, improvements in this area would be beneficial."
"AppWorks could be improved by including BPM simulation."
"A room for improvement in OpenText AppWorks is its user interface. It should have mobile compatibility because right now, you still have to make two applications with a user interface for Android and a user interface for iOS, so if OpenText AppWorks can provide one UI that can be used across all devices, that would make the solution better. An additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of OpenText AppWorks is a better UI in terms of the look and feel. Another feature I'd like to see in the next version of the solution is mobile compatibility because, at the moment, you have to make your application mobile-ready or compatible with mobile devices because there's no provision for it in OpenText AppWorks."
"OpenText AppWork's low-code capabilities can be enhanced by integrating them with AI offerings like Aviator."
"There is room for improvement in the pricing structure."
"AppWorks is pretty expensive."
"The solution needs to continue to enhance the low-coding feature within the product itself."
"From an enterprise point, their pricing is a little bit crazy because they don't have a SaaS model."
"There could be some improvements with the low code design part. It could be more customizable and more user friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM Business Automation Workflow has a flexible pricing mode, but the price is expensive. The price of the solution reflects the quality of the solution which is very high. The technical support is an additional cost."
"Our license is on a three-year term."
"When you compare with Laserfiche and M-Files, IBM is expensive."
"It is on the expensive side, but it provides excellent supportability and an ecosystem that is proven to be a great fit for our organization."
"Nowadays, clients are looking at pricing as one of the major factors. For IBM products, they always think it is expensive for them. We are still educating our clients on the IBM FlexPoints licensing."
"While it can be quite costly, it offers significant benefits for users."
"The solution has saved us time."
"Licensing varies by use-case."
"The price is on the higher side."
"The licensing cost varies based on several factors, such as the size of the customer and the domain URL."
"AppWorks is pretty expensive."
"Pricing for OpenText AppWorks, specifically in the Indian market, is reasonable, but I'm not aware if it's still reasonable outside of India. The licensing cost is based on the number of licenses and the number of users. OpenText AppWorks has different licensing options."
"There is a user-based perpetual license."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Business Process Management (BPM) solutions are best for your needs.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Construction Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
Healthcare Company
5%
Insurance Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise17
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Large Enterprise3
 

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 Business Automation Workflow?
The price of IBM Business Automation Workflow is on the higher side compared to the features it offers.
What needs improvement with IBM Business Automation Workflow?
Regarding Watsonx, I am uncertain whether it is fully complied and fully integrated with IBM Business Automation Workflow yet. Currently, we use some AI in Enterprise Content Management, particular...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OpenText AppWorks?
From an enterprise point, their pricing is a little bit crazy because they don't have a SaaS model. They have to go with a perpetual model, which makes it look crazy initially. But over a period, i...
What needs improvement with OpenText AppWorks?
They can improve the UI capability. Recently, they launched a low-code platform, called entity modeling, which they can enhance further. It would be beneficial if OpenText ( /products/data-express-...
What is your primary use case for OpenText AppWorks?
We primarily use OpenText AppWorks ( /products/opentext-appworks-reviews ) for automating supply chain-related problems, vendor process automations, and invoice automations. We have our own product...
 

Also Known As

Business Automation Workflow
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Key Bank, Barclays, Control€xpert, MIR Insurance Brokers, Conqord Oil
Red Deer County, DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance, Bangkok Airways, PBS, CIZ (Netherlands Ministry of Health), The Dutch Ministry of Defence, Mercer
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Business Automation Workflow vs. OpenText Process Automation and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.