Appian vs. Microsoft Dynamics 365

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Appian
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
Appian is a low-code development and business process management platform. It features drag-and-drop design for app building, automated work processes, unified data management, and cloud-based deployment.
$0
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a CRM providing sales, marketing, and service functionality. It is offered as SaaS and on-premise. Dynamics 365 is part of the larger Dynamics suite of business intelligence and ERP products.
$44
per month
Pricing
AppianMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Editions & Modules
Appian Community Edition
$0
Application - Input-Only
$2
per month per user
Application - Infrequent
$9
per month per user
Application - Standard
$75
per month per user
Platform
Custom Quote Priced per user with unlimited apps.
minimum 100 users, no maximum
Unlimited
Custom Quote Priced per development with unlimited apps.
unlimited
Platform
Custom Quote Priced per user with unlimited apps.
Minimum 100, no maximum
Unlimited
Custom Quote Priced per development with unlimited apps.
Unlimited
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AppianMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AppianMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Considered Both Products
Appian
Chose Appian
Appian presented us that the software will allow EDPR to develop better solutions than OutSystems because our developments need to be very closed to the business needs, and we are in a really changing work environment, then we need to be able to adapt our development as fast as …
Chose Appian
We found a better cultural fit with Appian and after the experience working with them, we know we made the right choice.
Microsoft Dynamics 365

No answer on this topic

Features
AppianMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Low-Code Development
Comparison of Low-Code Development features of Product A and Product B
Appian
9.1
75 Ratings
8% above category average
Microsoft Dynamics 365
-
Ratings
Visual Modeling8.873 Ratings00 Ratings
Drag-and-drop Interfaces8.972 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform Security9.271 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform User Management8.872 Ratings00 Ratings
Reusability9.575 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform Scalability9.573 Ratings00 Ratings
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.7
83 Ratings
1% below category average
Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings7.981 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings7.879 Ratings
Territory management00 Ratings7.160 Ratings
Opportunity management00 Ratings7.572 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings8.278 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings7.961 Ratings
Quote & order management00 Ratings7.757 Ratings
Interaction tracking00 Ratings8.171 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings7.362 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
8.0
68 Ratings
5% above category average
Case management00 Ratings7.863 Ratings
Call center management00 Ratings7.850 Ratings
Help desk management00 Ratings8.457 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.8
78 Ratings
1% above category average
Lead management00 Ratings7.672 Ratings
Email marketing00 Ratings8.171 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
8.0
76 Ratings
5% above category average
Task management00 Ratings8.171 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings8.054 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings8.065 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.6
77 Ratings
0% above category average
Forecasting00 Ratings7.667 Ratings
Pipeline visualization00 Ratings7.773 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings7.476 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.7
80 Ratings
1% above category average
Custom fields00 Ratings7.678 Ratings
Custom objects00 Ratings7.572 Ratings
Scripting environment00 Ratings7.956 Ratings
API for custom integration00 Ratings7.861 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
8.7
75 Ratings
4% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings8.869 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.770 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.7
44 Ratings
4% above category average
Social data00 Ratings7.843 Ratings
Social engagement00 Ratings7.643 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
7.2
65 Ratings
3% below category average
Marketing automation00 Ratings7.665 Ratings
Compensation management00 Ratings6.834 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Microsoft Dynamics 365
6.8
56 Ratings
10% below category average
Mobile access00 Ratings6.856 Ratings
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AppianMicrosoft Dynamics 365
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User Ratings
AppianMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Likelihood to Recommend
9.3
(139 ratings)
7.4
(103 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.5
(19 ratings)
8.0
(20 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(95 ratings)
7.4
(33 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(118 ratings)
8.0
(11 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
6.0
(2 ratings)
7.5
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.0
(5 ratings)
9.2
(4 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
-
(0 ratings)
3.8
(3 ratings)
Professional Services
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
AppianMicrosoft Dynamics 365
Likelihood to Recommend
Appian
Appian works great for automating manual processes and integrating multiple systems through its toolset. It gives great flexibility for establishing rules for approvals, routings, escalations, and the like. Because of the low code toolset, it's very easy to deploy and make changes as needed as processes evolve and as the organization learns to utilize the system better. Minimal maintenance is required to support the applications build on the platform. Some of the automated testing integration with tools like Jenkins is limited so that may be an issue for some.
Read full review
Microsoft
Provides our company access to manage and customize the folds tailored to our needs. We needed to have certain paragraphs on certain paperwork per customer. MD 365 has those options to customize where needed and remove when not. The system is easy to navigate, and training can be done in a matter of days, even without prior knowledge of the system or similar systems.
Read full review
Pros
Appian
  • Allows at a glance workflow documentation which assists in the need we have for information readiation.
  • Drag and drop interface for workflow development greatly speeds our apps time to market.
  • Using the advanced features of Appian, we are able to create working sites in a fraction of the time it would take to do so using "traditional" development.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Best to use for AP - like in our organization, there are plenty of AP bills, so with Dynamics, we can quickly enter the same into the Excel utility, which means CSV-based upload, and then we can easily upload the same to the software. It's a time saver.
  • Best for Bank reconciliation - MS Dynamics makes Bank reconciliation easy. Banks can easily sync with software and easily get reconciled.
  • Generating invoices to customers and directly sending them to their inbox is easy with this software.
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Cons
Appian
  • Search issues when type ahead and database search are used in the same field.
  • Buttons implementation where user is require[d] to click on the button description - if clicks on the button outside that text - button will not work.
  • Problems with using certain off-the-shelf performance tools like WebLoad or Neoload. That is because of different dynamic variables being used internally in Appian - which these tools are unable to correlate. We are still investigating using other tools like Jmeter to overcome dynamic correlation problem for performance testing.
Read full review
Microsoft
  • Small learning curve, obviously. You won't figure this out in a day, a week, or even a month. But given time, you can learn to be an expert. Or you can always get a consultant or hire in somebody. But learning the tool isn't out of the questions by any means.
  • Licensing can be confusing at times and isn't cheap, but it is cheaper than Salesforce. Plus no additional fees for data calls to better integrate your D365 CE data with other systems.
  • The Classic user interface left a bit to be desired, but now with the much-improved Unified Interface, the web client and the mobile client look the same, much more modern, and have more flexibility and power behind them for customizers as well.
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Likelihood to Renew
Appian
We recently renewed our license with Appian. We are convinced that its flexibility, relative ease of use, the support they provide, there mobile advancements and their general willingness and desire to see us succeed all contributed to our reason to renew our agreement with Appian
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Microsoft
CRM has allowed us to keep all of our data in one place that is easy for all users within the company to view. I came into the company after they had been using CRM for about 4 years. They have all said that since we have used this it has helped us control work processes better, it has allowed us to be able to track things so much better, and has been something that has helped unite many processes that used to be all over the place. We are currently using CRM 4.0 and are planning on upgrading in the next 18 months to the 2011 version. Support for 4.0 is almost all but dried up. Understandably so. Some of the customization we have done, and a plugins we use, are now contained within the 2011 version so we are looking forward to that upgrade. We use an email marketing company as well, and they primarily support the 2011 version, but their product connects and is integrated within CRM. This is a great benefit as well so that all of our marketing information can be contained in one location.
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Usability
Appian
Appian is a low code environment, because of this, a very good visual interface is required. Appian is providing a feature-rich dashboard [that] we can use for building the dashboards and other interfaces. Appian also provides patches and releases to enhance these features. A developer can start off development just by going through a basic course from the Appian learning community.
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Microsoft
The usability is easily adopted for users familiar with other Microsoft products. Dynamics 365 has several interfaces that cross over browsers and tablets. These multiple interfaces will be phased out and updated to a single unified interface eventually to provide the same usability across all devices. The backend configurations is slowly improving with the introduction of PowerApps compared to pre-D365 Online versions
Read full review
Support Rating
Appian
Appian is one of the leading low code business automation platforms that support RPA, decision rules, case management, workflow automation, and machine learning all in a single bundle. But it is also harder to implement and replace the traditional business process.
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Microsoft
Our partner, Ledgeview Partners has been FANTASTIC to work with. They are always timely in their response and have taken time to understand our business and our specific needs. We've made a lot of advanced customizations and they have been a great help in making those updates.
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In-Person Training
Appian
As analyst I participated in a developer boot camp. At times it was hard to keep up but most of the time it made sense. Trainer took the time to explain and slowed pace down to answer questions etc.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Appian
Very boring; hard to get through quickly, but rather effective in demonstrating the use of the platform.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Appian
It was really seamless. SaaS in the true definition of the word. We logged on and started using the product. Very easy.
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Microsoft
We used a data warehouse to house our data, and our IT team and implementation vendor worked diligently ahead of time to construct idea implementation plans. Out of millions of records- we had less than a dozen errors, which is remarkable. My major insight is simply having a group of completely devoted individuals working towards your goal who fully understand the desired outcome. Focused resources for implementation season are critical to success.
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Alternatives Considered
Appian
Appian has enormously transformed and keeps on updating the product every quarter to meet the latest needs of the world with new innovations & technologies being integrated within the platform. What gives more pleasure than a product that keeps on continuous[ly] improv[ing]?
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Microsoft
Microsoft Dynamics was part of a system overhaul for a local school, and we looked at many products. If we had used it for a company with low turnover, then it might have been more feasible. They needed something a new person could learn quickly, someone who might also be learning marketing terms at the same time - especially if there is nobody to train the individual now expected to know the system. Similar issues occurred with all of these programs (we called it being too big for their britches), and one of the bigger things we liked was that it is more compatible with MS Office products in both technical and visual appeal. If you have a steady employees who use a CRM consistently, low turnover, and those who are very familiar with Office products, Dynamics would be the smartest option for you. Unfortunately, this was just not true for the school environment
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Appian
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
On our purchase, I'd been interrogated about our usage. Our needs are met by Microsoft Dynamics 365, which is simple to use. With so much data and information available, we must ensure that it is presented correctly to managers. Due to a lack of use, we don't have to spend as much money on Salesforce.
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Professional Services
Appian
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
My company's preferred program right now is Microsoft Dynamics 365. We use it to keep track of customers and important sales metrics in a streamlined manner. Anyone familiar with CRMs will find the tool extremely useful. Considering that we have a good turnover, this product will be used for its basic segments. As a result, there are few chances of error with Microsoft dynamics because it is so easy to use. Many options for recording data on these leads are available. It meets our needs and pays off.
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Return on Investment
Appian
  • I believe it has negatively impacted our release dates. There may have been a misunderstanding as to the learning curve, even though it is "low code."
  • The look and feel of the applications created using Appian have uniformity and it's easier to have "reuse" between applications.
  • There is less developer control when it comes to features. I think this mainly has to do with the amount of plugins available. I would think there should be many more available plugins. But again, our use case is probably different than most others.
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Microsoft
  • For those without a centralized, all in one solution for major HR, Finance and other departments, Microsoft Dynamics 365 has vastly improved employee time utilization and profit.
  • Migrating clients from on-premise to the cloud has reaped benefits including better security, no unscheduled downtime and frequent updates to functionality.
  • Those transferring from cheaper solutions have lost money in the aim to be better integrated with other Microsoft products and AI they don't really utilize.
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ScreenShots

Appian Screenshots

Screenshot of Low-Code DevelopmentScreenshot of Business Process Management SuiteScreenshot of Dynamic Case ManagementScreenshot of Mobile App DevelopmentScreenshot of Appian RPA with Blue Prism