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IBM WebSphere BPMS vs Temporal 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 WebSphere BPMS
Ranking in Process Automation
28th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Temporal
Ranking in Process Automation
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Process Automation category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere BPMS is 0.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Temporal is 7.5%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Automation
 

Featured Reviews

CB
Developers gain flexibility to build custom controls with numerous integration options
Looking forward, IBM WebSphere BPMS could add more adapters to integrate with SAP or Salesforce integrator in upcoming releases. Regarding AI-driven process optimizations, we have not implemented these features with IBM WebSphere BPMS. In recent versions, IBM has introduced some generative AI features, and we plan to migrate to the newer versions within approximately one year.
AbhishekDash - PeerSpot reviewer
Orchestrates infrastructure tasks like deployment, deletion, and management
Temporal focus on developers rather than business users. In contrast to older workflow orchestration engines like Camunda, which are more business-oriented and strongly emphasize UI and workflow authoring, Temporal is geared toward developers. It provides extensive capabilities for building complex workflows. A standout feature of Temporal is its handling of long-running workflows, a significant advantage over many other solutions. Temporal excels in managing distributed transactions and application state durability, especially in microservice environments where transactions might fail due to network issues. Temporal simplifies these challenges by managing retries, fail-safes, and circuit breakers. As a result, developers don't need to implement these features manually; Temporal handles them implicitly, though it also allows for tuning based on specific needs.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This product is flexible in its ability to integrate processes and it can be extended and integrated with other software."
"The UI capabilities of the solution are great. The speed of delivery is good."
"IBM WebSphere BPMS provides significant return on investments, especially in the BAW component."
"We like the feature in which we can trace back instances."
"The most valuable feature of IBM WebSphere BPMS is the systematic framework it provides for building different systems."
"We like the fact that the whole process is durable, which is very useful to us."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to manage and automate workflows without manual intervention efficiently."
"The tool is easy for a beginner to learn. The documentation covers activities, workflows, workers, servers, and more. While more examples could be beneficial, the existing resources are good enough to help you get started. There are also YouTube videos available that can provide additional context. The Slack community for Temporal is very active and helpful, similar to Stack Overflow, where you can find answers to a wide range of questions from basic to advanced levels. If you have a unique question, the community is responsive and provides knowledgeable support."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its ability to fix things quickly."
"What I like best about Temporal is its durable execution, which means you don't need to write many boilerplate code for critical pieces, especially for retries. It also has great observability and a nice dashboard to see issues without digging into logs. The interface for viewing activities is excellent, with good tracing that shows how long activities took and what ran, making it almost perfect for debugging."
"It is very useful for long-running workflows."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its ability to retry from an interrupted state."
"Temporal allows retryability for different workflows whenever they fail. It helps ensure idempotence and that things get done."
 

Cons

"The user interface could be improved, and although integration opportunities are good, they could be improved further."
"Looking forward, IBM WebSphere BPMS could add more adapters to integrate with SAP or Salesforce integrator in upcoming releases."
"Sometimes there are tasks that failed without any reason."
"The solution lacks acceptable stability."
"There is a need for more capabilities in low-code and no-code development to increase efficiency and make implementation simpler."
"One issue is that we don't have enough resources in the community to get answers when we face problems. We once had a cross-cluster persistence issue, which we solved using different keys. I think Temporal is good right now, but I'm part of the community and will let you know if I think of any improvements."
"One area where I think Temporal could improve is its dashboard, particularly in event tracking. Currently, the dashboard doesn't show a time-based view of events, meaning it doesn't display when an event started or went through the retry process. If this feature could be added in a future release, it would significantly enhance monitoring capabilities. Other than that, Temporal's overall performance is quite impressive, and we're confident we can migrate to the Temporal workflow."
"Configuring workflows can be improved —the solution could offer more options, but it's not a must-have."
"Temporal images aren’t FIPS compliant, and we have to be FIPS compliant."
"Developers often mention the desire for a more intuitive visualization of workflow states."
"One area for the product improvement is the learning curve."
"Retro compatibility needs improvement. Sometimes, when we make new changes to a workflow, it fails if it is not configured properly due to compatibility issues."
"There are areas where Temporal could improve. For instance, calling multiple microservices with Temporal introduces latency due to workflow registration and analytics overhead."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The tool is open source under the MIT license, so there are no hidden fees. You can freely use everything on their GitHub and Docker images."
"Temporal is open-source and free to use, which is great. We didn't have to pay for any premium features."
"It is worth the price."
"The savings weren't as big as we initially expected, but they were pretty great from a developer's perspective."
"Temporal is a free, open-source tool."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
27%
Computer Software Company
15%
Retailer
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere BPMS?
Looking forward, IBM WebSphere BPMS could add more adapters to integrate with SAP or Salesforce integrator in upcoming releases. Regarding AI-driven process optimizations, we have not implemented t...
What is your primary use case for IBM WebSphere BPMS?
IBM WebSphere BPMS allows users to build workflows and dashboards. It is a developer-friendly product. The product features a great UI interface that is mobile-friendly, tab-friendly, and desktop-f...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM WebSphere BPMS?
Understanding the benefits and improvements that come with using the product is essential. IBM WebSphere BPMS is performing excellently, and I do not see any significant areas requiring improvement...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Temporal?
In terms of pricing, Camunda is indeed costlier than Temporal. The cloud deployment costs differ, and while Camunda 7 can be cheaper due to its integrated setup, comparing latest versions between T...
What needs improvement with Temporal?
The only area for improvement in Temporal is the UI. I know it is a non-UI first product, but comparing Camunda versus Temporal UI, there is a difference. Moreover, n8n, being a no-code platform, i...
What is your primary use case for Temporal?
The main purposes for using Temporal are automation flows, especially financial automations and supply chain automations. Our company name is SR, we are a digital-first CPG brand making company, ma...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

WebSphere BPMS
No data available
 

Overview

Information not available
 

Sample Customers

Schahin Group, Korean Credit Card Company, Versicherungskammer Bayern, Biogrid Australia
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM WebSphere BPMS vs. Temporal and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.