IBM Business Automation Workflow vs Oracle BPM comparison

IBM and Oracle are both solutions in the Business Process Management (BPM) category. IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.7, while Oracle is ranked #14 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM holds a 1.9% mindshare in BPM, compared to Oracle’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 84% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of Oracle users who would recommend it.

IBM Business Automation Wor...

Read 25 IBM Business Automation Workflow reviews

1,825 Views
1,825 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

Oracle BPM

Read 25 Oracle BPM reviews

1,370 Views
1,343 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

IBM Business Automation Wor...

Oracle BPM

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

Oracle BPM and IBM Business Automation Workflow compete in the business process management category. IBM Business Automation Workflow slightly edges out due to its flexibility and comprehensive features that support automation and process adaptation.

Features: Oracle BPM excels with robust integration capabilities, adherence to BPMN 2.0 standards, and seamless integration with Oracle's SOA platform. It offers comprehensive analytics and reporting tools to optimize processes. On the other hand, IBM Business Automation Workflow presents a tightly integrated suite centralizing process management. It includes connectivity with RPA and content management, enhancing automation and operational efficiency.

Room for Improvement: Oracle BPM could improve its user interaction and UI flexibility, and it lacks some advanced features like process mining. There is also a steep learning curve associated with its use. IBM Business Automation Workflow needs enhancements in user-friendliness, UI flexibility, and modularity of processes, which complicate maintenance.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Oracle BPM primarily supports on-premises deployment with limited cloud options, and its customer service has mixed reviews on technical support. IBM Business Automation Workflow is available both on-premises and in hybrid cloud environments, offering more deployment flexibility. Customer service is comparable to Oracle, with variable feedback on support quality.

Pricing and ROI: Oracle BPM is considered expensive with high licensing costs affecting ROI, requiring careful planning to match organizational needs. Pricing varies significantly with market conditions. IBM Business Automation Workflow also incurs high initial costs but is deemed a worthwhile investment due to its features, particularly providing substantial ROI in government sectors by enhancing efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Business Automation Workflow vs. Oracle BPM Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Business Automation Workflow vs. Oracle BPM

September 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

IBM Business Automation Wor...

Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Oracle BPM

Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)

14th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of IBM Business Automation Workflow is 1.9%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle BPM is 1.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Management (BPM) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Business Automation Workflow	1.9%
Oracle BPM	1.9%
Other	96.2%

Business Process Management (BPM)

Featured Reviews

Ateeq Rehman

Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited

Customizable features empower seamless workflow automation

The system is fully customizable, very resilient, and fault-tolerant. We have first-line support from IBM, so there are no issues. We have integrations with different banks, ERP systems, and other human resource management systems by integrating through different systems. It provides many ways to integrate, and we are utilizing it effectively.

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Neilsen Seixas

Owner at NSTEC

Enables robust integration capabilities, facilitating seamless connection with various systems and applications

We utilized Oracle BPM to automate various administrative processes within our organization, specifically focusing on eliminating paper-based workflows related to licensing procedures in our environment. Oracle BPM enabled collaboration between our IT and business teams for effective process management. Utilizing the Oracle VPN, we experienced significant improvements in process efficiency. For instance, a process that previously took forty days before implementation was reduced to just twenty minutes after implementing Oracle BPM. This remarkable reduction in time demonstrates the substantial benefits brought about by the solution. The solution is comprehensive, encompassing modeling, implementation, and runtime capabilities. Additionally, by leveraging this platform, we seamlessly integrated Oracle Portal and Oracle Document Management, providing a complete solution within the Oracle ecosystem. The integration capabilities of Oracle BPM with other systems significantly influenced our workflow. Our workflow was impacted positively by these integrations. Initially, we utilized Oracle BPM alongside other Oracle products such as Oracle Context Manager, Oracle Portal, and Oracle Document Management. Despite using multiple products, they are seamlessly integrated, providing a comprehensive solution for our clients. This solution encompassed document management, workflow control, process execution, and automation, effectively streamlining processes and eliminating bureaucratic hurdles. The transparency and efficiency achieved through this integrated approach were highly beneficial for our clients.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The system is fully customizable, very resilient, and fault-tolerant."

"One of the most valuable features is the way that they are adapting to the market. Initially, it was doing only workflow. Now it has started bringing all the other components like rules within the workflow and then the integration with RPA."

"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."

"No matter what somebody's technical experience level is, the tool can start adding value immediately. Even if that is just an analyst who doesn't have any technical background, they can use some of these no quote accelerators to get things from ideation to deployment in a matter of minutes."

"The product is suitable for knowledge management processes."

"IBM provides long-term support and maintains a traditionally good customer-vendor relationship."

"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."

"The system is fully customizable, very resilient, and fault-tolerant."

More IBM Business Automation Workflow pros

"The Workspace is a full, rich application where most users can find what they want. It shows them a list of their work."

"The processor management system is quite fast and scalable. We have 10 developers using this solution and it supports 25,000 users."

"Currently, we define the tasks, and based on certain decision rules, the tool decides the task priorities and the time frame of the task."

"One of the most valuable features of Oracle BPM is the workflow itself. It is quite intuitive."

"The benefit from the tool is we can develop it quickly and easily use it for middleware services. We can publish the services so other applications can consume them. This is providing us some reusability and a type of security."

"We have more than 800 distinct applications in our IT landscape. We had enough scalability and okay development cycles, and it has been enough to cover our backup operations and order management systems."

"It has developmental accelerators, which allow for virtually any customization needs which you may require."

"The support is good."

More Oracle BPM pros

Cons

"Every client is moving to the cloud. We are still a little behind with IBM, but we are catching up from my point of view."

"Integrating the solution with existing systems can be complicated and it needs careful planning and execution."

"Requires a lot of customization code writing which could be reduced."

"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."

"In terms of improvement, it could be less complex."

"If the issue needs escalation to level two or level three, it can take time on a case-by-case basis."

"While everything is integrated into one platform, I'd like guidelines on when and how to use ODM. This applies not only to implementation but also to automation processes. Additionally, proper instructions should be provided when installing on the cloud."

"Code management lacks merging capabilities. If parallel development requires merging, improvements in this area would be beneficial."

More IBM Business Automation Workflow cons

"Oracle BPM is hard to configure."

"You have to maintain it manually."

"Oracle BPM could probably be improved with respect to the cost. When you are using this product, it'll be a bit costlier for the ROA. I think they should do some discounts on these products, especially for the licenses."

"It could have easier administration. It takes time to configure and deploy."

"The time it takes to get from deployment to production could be faster."

"Though Oracle BPM is a stable solution, it's very heavy, so this is one area for improvement. If Oracle can make the components of Oracle BPM lighter, and if the deployment for the solution could be easier, that would make Oracle BPM better."

"There is room for improvement in the pricing structure."

"Existing APIs in the product need to be fine-tuned, made more robust and flexible for adoption."

More Oracle BPM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While it can be quite costly, it offers significant benefits for users."

"The product is expensive."

"The solution has saved us time."

"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."

"Licensing varies by use-case."

"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."

"When you compare with Laserfiche and M-Files, IBM is expensive."

More IBM Business Automation Workflow pricing and cost advice

"I don't have information on the exact cost of Oracle BPM because a different team handles that, but it's pretty high. Oracle products are very costly. I would rate pricing for Oracle BPM three out of five. Though the pricing is high, the solution has a lot of features."

"The pricing is very expensive."

"We received the product packaged into the Oracle database solution."

"The licensing model is good."

"The pricing is significantly high, particularly for Brazil where fluctuations in the exchange rate between the dollar and the real can further increase the cost of Oracle licenses."

"It's pried high, this solution is expensive."

"As with all Oracle products, the licensing over VMware is an issue."

"The licensing for this product is very costly. We pay for a yearly license to use Oracle BPM."

More Oracle BPM pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

34%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Wireless Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	16

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	10

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...

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What do you like most about IBM Business Automation Workflow?

It performs the basic tasks that are required for the BBM solution as part of the overall integration with ECM or enterprise contact management.

See all answers

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.

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What do you like most about Oracle BPM?

The solution provides extensive functionalities.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle BPM?

The licensing is expensive. It needs to be more affordable, especially in the Kenyan market.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Oracle BPM?

Oracle BPM should ensure its product is aligned with current technology by keeping up with advancements like AI. There are delays in offering the latest technology, so there is a need to be more re...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 28% of the time

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Compared 20% of the time

Apache Airflow vs IBM Business Automation Workflow

Compared 10% of the time

Appian vs IBM Business Automation Workflow

Compared 9% of the time

AWS Step Functions vs IBM Business Automation Workflow

Compared 5% of the time

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SAP Signavio Process Manager vs Oracle BPM

Compared 24% of the time

Camunda vs Oracle BPM

Compared 18% of the time

IBM BPM vs Oracle BPM

Compared 13% of the time

Apache Airflow vs Oracle BPM

Compared 10% of the time

Bizagi vs Oracle BPM

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Business Automation Workflow

October 2025

Download IBM Business Automation Workflow product report

Buyer's Guide

Oracle BPM

October 2025

Download Oracle BPM product report

Also Known As

Business Automation Workflow

Oracle Business Process Management

Overview

IBM Business Automation Workflow combines business process management and case management capabilities in one workflow solution. It integrates the capabilities of business process and case management into a single workflow offering. It unites information, process, and users to provide a 360-degree view of work to drive more successful optimized business outcomes. IBM Business Automation Workflow on Cloud provides the same capabilities that are offered in the IBM Business Automation Workflow offering, all within a ready-to-use, cloud-based environment that is hosted in IBM Cloud data centers and managed by IBM.

IBM

The Industry's Most Complete and Unified BPM Solution A complete solution for all types of processes that provides a unified process foundation, user-centric design, and social BPM interaction. Reduces complexity and risk and increases business efficiency, visibility, and agility.

Oracle

Sample Customers

Key Bank, Barclays, Control€xpert, MIR Insurance Brokers, Conqord Oil

State Revenue Office Victoria, New South Wales Health, REDISA, Panduit, Total E&P Indonesie

Buyer's Guide

IBM Business Automation Workflow vs. Oracle BPM

September 2025

Free Report: IBM Business Automation Workflow vs. Oracle BPM

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