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IBM Business Automation Workflow vs WebRatio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 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 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
WebRatio
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
38th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
2
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 WebRatio is 1.2%, up from 0.2% 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%
WebRatio1.2%
Other97.6%
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.
reviewer1485573 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Services Consultant at a consultancy with self employed
Little coding needed and speeds development time but lacks documentation
The maintenance aspect is too heavy. Moving from one version to the other made the solution change, and not in a way that we liked. Typically there are documents about the release of new versions and a set of activities required to migrate from one to the other. This time, it was very messy. There were issues surrounding the management of the release. This could potentially be due to the fact that WebRation, in the past, had started to make some choices regarding the framework and architecture that were changed later. In the past, we'd use a strategy as the environment, as an architectural pattern for the application. Now, it's moving more on the spring framework and this initiated some change that obviously had an impact on our application. It's caused a problem with maintenance. The solution seems to have changed its approach. Now, it's more related to a federative application environment in a monolithic aspect. While the solution was interesting at one point, everything is moving towards the cloud. WebRatio should be moving also in the web approach. Currently, you have to install an environment inside the desktop. The future is the cloud. Normally with a low code environment, there is a VPN notation - maybe a WebML or FML notation. If they can move in to have an environment that has a running machine at the end, it would be great. Obviously, some components on the server-side should be deliberate. Normally it's the model you control that's step-by-step and has a very simple flow. In the digital environment, in the organization, the process is more complex. The quality of the documentation and the community surrounding the product are poor. They need to give users more documentation and build up the surrounding community. As it isn't a well-known product, it's hard to find professionals to work with it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most important aspect is that it helped us focus on the business process perspective."
"This is a low-code software where you can just drag and drop on the user interface. There are also a lot of quality integrations such as TMS."
"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."
"Productivity improvements are notable because processes have been orchestrated and streamlined with IBM Business Automation Workflow."
"The dashboards are helpful because you can display reports directly on your screen."
"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."
"This is a stable solution that we have been able to use as a distributed system."
"The initial setup isn't too complex."
"I chose to settle for an academic solution (WebRatio) that meets my licensing requirements at a very low cost while still providing solid local support via partner."
"The product is low-code, which means you need less knowledge to do tasks and a company can still speed up the development process."
 

Cons

"The monitoring features must be improved."
"The initial setup is actually a really complicated process."
"We have found it tough to get the proper support from IBM."
"There are several areas where improvements could be made including with engagement of OCR capabilities. We currently need to write a lot of customization code and I think if that could be reduced it would improve performance."
"The UI of the solution is not good. They should work to update the solution and make it better and fresher."
"I would like to see more streamlined install and provisioning; preferably containerized IBM BPM would be helpful."
"Requires a lot of customization code writing which could be reduced."
"However, on Windows, I believe considerable administration tasks are required to maintain environment stability."
"The maintenance aspect is too heavy."
"Interfaces are still not very well developed. Scripts on the same web page conflict with each other and this requires careful consideration of the process and application logic, which should not be the case."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."
"There is still a relatively high total cost of ownership to actually implement, support, and stand up solutions."
"Our license is on a three-year term."
"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."
"When you compare with Laserfiche and M-Files, IBM is expensive."
"Licensing varies by use-case."
"The solution has saved us time."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Construction Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
Healthcare Company
5%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise17
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 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...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Business Automation Workflow
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Key Bank, Barclays, Control€xpert, MIR Insurance Brokers, Conqord Oil
Unicredit Leasing, Acer, Gruppo Torinese Transporti, A2A, SET Distribuzone, Dolomiti Energia, AIM Gruppo, IFC CNA_ Amsa
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Business Automation Workflow vs. WebRatio and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.