IBM Cloud Pak for Automation vs OutSystems comparison

IBM and OutSystems are both solutions in the Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies category. IBM is ranked #22 with an average rating of 9.0, while OutSystems is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.6. IBM holds a 0.5% mindshare in BOAT, compared to OutSystems’s 3.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of OutSystems users who would recommend it.

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

Read 2 IBM Cloud Pak for Automation reviews

454 Views
127 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

OutSystems

Read 55 OutSystems reviews

6,254 Views
2,752 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

OutSystems

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Cloud Pak for Automation and OutSystems based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Cloud Pak for Automation vs. OutSystems Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation vs. OutSystems

December 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 Cloud Pak for Automation

Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies

22nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Process Automation (30th)

OutSystems

Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Mobile Development Platforms (1st), Rapid Application Development Software (4th), Low-Code Development Platforms (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies category, the mindshare of IBM Cloud Pak for Automation is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OutSystems is 3.9%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
OutSystems	3.9%
IBM Cloud Pak for Automation	0.5%
Other	95.6%

Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies

Featured Reviews

SYEDMUJTABA

Vice President - Digital Automation Services at Techvista Systems

Effectively handles parallel instances effectively

I find it quite straightforward, perhaps around 8.5 out of 10 in terms of ease. When we upgraded from the old version of IBM BPM to the new one within IBM Cloud Pak for Automation, we didn't encounter any major issues. There were some minor ones, but they were easy to overcome.The migration process was part of our deployment strategy. We had a plan to migrate two processes per week from on-premises to the cloud. The migration involved taking the instances and migrating them to the new environment. There is an inbuilt feature in IBM Cloud Pak for Automation that facilitates the migration process, although I personally haven't conducted it myself; it's managed by my team. Overall, the setup process was relatively smooth.

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Mohamed Aktharul Ameen

Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services

OutSystems facilitates rapid application development and effective project management

What I find valuable about OutSystems is that it has a very good learning curve for developers. Within two weeks, we can gain knowledge in OutSystems, and it is very easy to learn. With my background being .NET, OutSystems is straightforward to learn, which is beneficial. Developing applications in OutSystems is good, and the flexibility allowed by OutSystems for application development is excellent compared to my experiences with other low-code technologies, where I've faced some challenges. The clean separation of concerns in the architecture provided by OutSystems is a key benefit compared to other platforms. OutSystems integrates with our existing tech infrastructure and provides flexible integration. If we want to integrate with third-party services, OutSystems has SOAP and RESTful services that allow us to consume external services, integrate with external databases such as SQL or Oracle, and includes integration studio for writing custom .NET code. After developing a .NET component, we can reference it in service studio, creating a reference file that makes integration easy. OutSystems officially supports various integrations and also includes an API discovery tool for consuming and exposing services, providing a lot of information about incoming URLs, similar to how we use Postman.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I believe two significant features of IBM Cloud Pak for Automation are the focus on SLA management and the capability to handle parallel instances effectively. Parallel instances, for instance, are valuable when dealing with a large number of users, enabling tasks to be performed concurrently for efficient system operation. The SLA aspect is crucial for tracking and ensuring timely completion of tasks. Additionally, the cloud compatibility of IBM BAW allows for seamless migration from on-premises to the cloud. This version also includes a business rule management system for storing and managing business rules effectively."

"What this product allows us to do is to move from on-prem instances where we are running independent instances of FileNet, Datacap, and ODM. It allows us to leverage container-based resiliency and availability modeling so that we have some visibility across the CP4BA ecosystem. We're now migrating all of our data to be in the Cloud Object Storage, and we can now use some of the features of Azure in terms of how we store and retrieve content for our members and our providers."

"It is a stable solution, and the initial setup is straightforward."

"The most valuable feature of OutSystems with discipline and the development processes. Instead of each developer doing tasks on their own with their own approach, et cetera, the solution would help bring some organization to the development process."

"The solution is all-encompassing and very easy to use with its drag-and-drop feature."

"Speed of delivery: We were able to reduce development time by 30%."

"You can go huge - so it is definitely a scalable solution."

"The integration capabilities have benefited my customers by providing many connectors out of the box, allowing for the integration of external applications or business applications."

"The most valuable feature of OutSystems is the drag and drop and toolchains in the small AI developing environment. Additionally, the documentation is helpful."

"It provides for faster development and better software releases."

More OutSystems pros

Cons

"I believe there is room for improvement in the user interface, particularly in the Process Portal that customers use to view and manage their tasks. The UI of the Process Portal needs enhancement. Additionally, in the next release, I would like to see improved compatibility with Angular, allowing for direct integration with front-end systems. It would be beneficial to have built-in GUI features based on Angular within the system, rather than developing separate applications externally. This, in turn, would provide a more seamless and enhanced front-end experience."

"One of the challenges we're having is finding vendors who have experience in developing on the cloud. We can find developers on the old platform, but it is leading-edge technology. So, we are having some challenges, and IBM is assisting us to find vendor partners. To be able to leverage all the capabilities of the new platform, we have to upgrade our existing ecosystem of FileNet applications. Upgrading to the new platform while trying to modernize is always challenging because it is like you have a moving target."

"Writing custom code still needs to be done via Integration Studio. This might have been added to the IDE."

"The tool needs to improve the efficiency of its widgets."

"The solution is costly."

"I have difficulty in using several new features. Some of the product's features are tricky to use as well."

"The initial setup of OutSystems is not easy. It is a very heavy application that requires a lot of hardware and software resources."

"The latest version of the app generation tools could be more user-friendly."

"It's difficult to do the component version control. I would like them to add more studying materials."

"The asynchronous processing and multithreading tasks for which the current resources of the platform are very generic and not built for the end-user. Any asynchronous jobs have to be constructed with an end-user dashboard to allow inspection of the status of the activities."

More OutSystems cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM Cloud Pak for Automation is relatively expensive, especially considering it is designed for long-living processes, not for normal automation needs. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the pricing at around 9. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees, but IBM has multiple pricing models that make it expensive in its own way. Different plans are available, but overall, the experience suggests it is a costly solution."

"Its cost is almost the same or comparable to what we pay with FileNet, but I'm not sure what we pay a year. A good part of CP4BA is the CPU-based licensing model. When we're dealing with 50,000 dentists, for example, if we were to use Salesforce, we would be hit with the licensing of 50,000 dentists, whereas when we build out in CP4BA, it is just based on our CPU usage, not on individual licenses."

"OutSystems was open to a deal that worked for both sides."

"It is very high price."

"OutSystems is expensive, and they changed the pricing model in the last couple of years. It's changing too much and it's becoming unstable. They are constantly shifting their prices based on users, courses, and other factors."

"Pricing could be a concern. You have to pay yearly, even after you have completed your development."

"OutSystems is an expensive product. My company has to make monthly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution."

"I believe they are very strict with their pricing platforms, or the pricing policies, and it changes."

"I think the pricing for OutSystems is comparable with similar solutions. I would place it somewhere in the middle. We pay for the bundle and don't pay anything extra in terms of licensing and other fees."

"You should contact OutSystems for more details but my opinion is that it is not for small business budgets."

More OutSystems pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	31

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

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Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?

The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into that platform for good. The business model is to lock in and then keep pumping th...

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What industries do you think OutSystems is most useful for?

I cannot really name an industry in which OutSystems cannot be beneficial. Who does not want to make top-notch applications that work in no time? And OutsyStems does exactly that. The low-code plat...

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How did you decide which OutSystems edition was the best one for you?

We started using OutSystems fairly recently, so we are still on the free version of it. My company is still testing how we like the platform, but so far, we have been satisfied with it and will li...

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Comparisons

IBM BPM vs IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

Compared 27% of the time

Appian vs IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

Compared 23% of the time

Pega Platform vs IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

Compared 18% of the time

ServiceNow Orchestration vs IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

Compared 17% of the time

Nintex Process Platform vs IBM Cloud Pak for Automation

Compared 15% of the time

More IBM Cloud Pak for Automation Competitors

Microsoft Power Apps vs OutSystems

Compared 8% of the time

Mendix vs OutSystems

Compared 8% of the time

ServiceNow vs OutSystems

Compared 8% of the time

Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs OutSystems

Compared 7% of the time

Appian vs OutSystems

Compared 7% of the time

More OutSystems Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Process Automation

December 2025

Download IBM Cloud Pak for Automation product report

Buyer's Guide

OutSystems

January 2026

Download OutSystems product report

Overview

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation offers design, build, run, and automation services to rapidly scale your programs and fully execute and operationalize an automation strategy.

IBM

OutSystems is a platform for low-code application development that unites design, code, and deployment to simplify development so any business can create innovative solutions in a timely manner. There are various use cases an organization can employ with OutSystems, including:

Customer portals: Through OutSystems, companies can easily create customer portals and mobile applications and deploy them faster in comparison to manual coding. The platform offers businesses the opportunity to develop secure, scalable, and customized applications that support their and their customers' needs.
Internal apps: Using this solution, companies can also build internal applications and portals which can be used for their workforce. Using these, organizations can overcome their internal app backlog, bridge gaps between systems, and facilitate their work process.
Core systems: Custom software for running a business can also be developed using OutSystems. The tool shortens the time for developing core systems and delivers them flexible and personalized to each business' needs.

OutSystems offers faster development and deployment times than hand-coding while delivering unique and personalized solutions to its customers. The main focus of OutSystems is high-performance low code which enables businesses to create functional products that answer their needs. It offers clients the ability to develop enterprise-grade applications with a high level of security.

The product stands out from its competitors as it offers:

Serious applications
Serious productivity
Serious scalability

It ensures its clients that the applications built using this platform are as scalable as hand-coded ones while increasing workspace productivity and evolving applications’ capabilities.

OutSystems Features

OutSystems has various features through which users can develop and deploy highly efficient applications and other products. Some of the features include:

Monitoring: The tool has a feature that allows real-time monitoring of the usage of applications and their performance. All insights are reported to companies via the intuitive interface.
APIs: OutSystems is completely scalable through application programming interfaces.
Security: The product offers its users a high level of enterprise security for their applications as well as for their data.
Mobile: Every application created on OutSystems can be deployed for mobile. The product also provides the option to monitor the performance of applications to detect any issues.
DevOps automation: The product facilitates and shortens the development time of applications through various automation which help users create apps without the help of developers, as well as providing developers with additional resources.
Agile development: Every company that seeks to perform agile development can benefit from the native support this tool provides.
Debugging engine: OutSystems has an integrated debugging engine that can be utilized in the development and deployment processes, shortening the time it takes for developers and businesses to look for issues.
Multilingual support feature: Customers can benefit from support in multiple languages, ensuring their questions are answered understandably.

OutSystems Benefits

The solution offers a wide array of benefits to companies that utilize it in their application development. Some of these benefits include:

Visual development at high speed provides increases productivity for both businesses and users.
The option to integrate applications to a large number of systems without additional complications.
The product adds automation to all levels of development, including front end, back end, and integration, facilitating the delivery of complex applications.
Artificial intelligence (AI) validation ensures the high quality of applications.
The tool offers connectivity with more than 400 systems and existing technologies, allowing companies to save money they would otherwise have to invest in new software.
The multi-platform solution decreases costs for organizations by removing the need for third-party software.
It offers whole-team cross-functional collaboration, which can increase the technological knowledge in a company and raise the overall business expertise.

Reviews from Real Users

Harikrishnan R., a technical lead at Netlink Software Group America Inc, likes OutSystems because the tool helps with validation, offers good features, and is reliable.

An owner at a consultancy thinks OutSystems is versatile with great scalability and great technical support.

OutSystems

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Randstad, Warner Brothers, HP, Intel, ING, Banco Popular, Thrivent Financial, Bacardi, Kent State University, Bacardi, FICO, ING, Vodafone, AbbVie, Estafeta, Siemens, Vopak

Buyer's Guide

IBM Cloud Pak for Automation vs. OutSystems

December 2025

Free Report: IBM Cloud Pak for Automation vs. OutSystems

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