Appian vs. Pega Platform

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Appian
Score 8.8 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
Pega Platform
Score 5.9 out of 10
N/A
Pega Platform is a combined business process management and robotic process automation (RPA) platform with advanced workforce analytics from Pegasystems.
$35
per month per user* (or $0.45 per case**)
Pricing
AppianPega Platform
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
Low-code Factory Edition
$35
per month per user* (or $0.45 per case**)
Standard Edition
$90
per month per user* (or $0.80 per case**)
Enterprise Edition
Custom Quote
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AppianPega Platform
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details*500 named user minimum. Additional users available in blocks of 100. Billed annually. Based on a 3-year term. **350,000 cases / year minimum. Additional cases available in blocks of 150,000.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AppianPega Platform
Considered Both Products
Appian
Chose Appian
All 3 platforms we looked at met our requirements. The Pega Platform was rejected due to lack of ecosystem partners and consultant availability as well as price. The IBM platform was a very strong offering but a little less open on integration to non-IBM databases and …
Chose Appian
Appian compares favorably with other vendors in the space. It is strongest with business workflow automation and to create custom business applications. The tool base for coding is extremely straightforward and allows for faster coding and deployment. Handles very complex …
Chose Appian
We using this from long time. We're quite familiar with them. it's easy to use and understand. and it's documentation is quite helpful.
Chose Appian
ease of use; inter-operability and scalability; great support and customer service
Chose Appian
Appian provided a better IDE for implementation, strategy to upgrade to newer versions, Appian had a simplified model to integrate with APIs and handle their responses as well as providing more robust BMP and RPA capabilities.
Chose 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]?
Chose Appian
Perceived as easier to operate and significantly lower cost to implement when originally implemented. I do believe Pega has become more competitive in this regard.
Chose Appian
We found a better cultural fit with Appian and after the experience working with them, we know we made the right choice.
Chose Appian
Not sure what this is, actually. But this is the name of the module we're doing.
Chose Appian
Appian is lighter and easier to get started with.
Chose Appian
[We selected Appiam BPM due to] Cost of ownership and license fee.
Chose Appian
Against programming languages like .NET and Java, Appian is faster to design and develop applications, but it lacks the flexibility in UI and advanced debugging tools. Against Pega, Appian is easier to use and less expensive.
Chose Appian
I was not involved in the initial analysis but I know Appian came close with Pegasystems in the intelligent business process management suite.
Chose Appian
The main advantage of Appian is the cost structure that is more suitable for starting a test-project to see how develop in Appian and most of all how Appian is accepted inside the company. In few weeks you can show the first results and start the journey on digitalization.
Chose Appian
Limited experience with this product but did find it was harder and took longer to produce a usable product
Chose Appian
We have reviewed Appian against other BPM application/suite such as Pega, Empirica, and so forth. In the end, we found low code with the Appian product to be the most robust and scalable with good performance. Like all evaluation criteria that they have to be balance with cost, …
Chose Appian
Appian is leaner and provides a quicker deployment. Pega has "off-the-shelf" solutions and is more invested in AI and robotics.
Pega Platform
Chose Pega Platform
Appian works well but not as robust as Pega and doesn’t scale as well (at least in our experience).
Chose Pega Platform
Pega offers a business-friendly toolkit for defining applications. Unlike traditional BPM tools, there is much fewer complications, the technical syntax to handle in modeling processes and hardly any hard-coded programming. A well-trained business user can be trusted to create …
Chose Pega Platform
It is a complete suite with a clear set of learning courses, which enables faster customer engagement.
Chose Pega Platform

There are lots of BPM products in market like IBM BPM, Lombardi, Appian case 360 but PEGA stands out in terms of multiple capabilities:

  • Support for multiple protocol
  • Federated case management
Top Pros
Top Cons
TrustRadius Insights
AppianPega Platform
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

Appian and Pega Platform are cloud-based platforms that help developers quickly build apps for business process management (BPM), case management, customer relationship management (CRM), and other business needs. Appian sacrifices some flexibility in favor of ease of use, while Pega Platform sometimes prioritizes customization over usability. Overall, however, both platforms offer similar functionality. Due to their focus on addressing enterprise business needs, both products are used primarily by large companies and organizations.

Features

Although both Pega Platform and Appian offer similar features and capabilities, they differ in their user experience and flexibility.

Appian is focused on being quick and easy to use, both for developers and end users. Developers find Appian intuitive and suitable for quick-turnaround development, allowing them to create mockups and prototype apps within hours or even within minutes. Users with development experience are able to get up to speed with the platform quickly and easily. The platform integrates well with external systems such as Salesforce and DocuSign, helping businesses develop apps that play well with their existing systems. Appian is also actively developed, with quarterly releases responsive to user feedback and changing business landscapes.

Pega Platform, on the other hand, offers detailed customization options and is open to code-based modification. Its modification and update capabilities for apps are easy to use and helpful, making it simple for developers to adapt their apps as needed. Machine learning and analytics allow developers to create apps that learn from past behavior. BPM workflows in Pega Platform are easy for developers to demonstrate and explain, even to non-technical stakeholders.

Limitations

However, each platform has drawbacks that might make it less suitable for your organization. You should consider the limitations of Pega Platform and Appian before purchasing.


Pega Platform’s customizability comes with a price. Despite its low-code and no-code options, the software still requires a non-trivial amount of user training and can be intimidating for new users, especially users without previous development experience. Setting up Pega Platform initially can be a difficult task on its own, with some businesses requiring significant support from the vendor to get started. It can also be slow, especially for users with sub-optimal internet connections, since every action requires communication with the cloud server.

Appian’s frequent upgrades are great for adding new features, but some customers find the upgrade process itself frustrating. Appian doesn’t offer tools to test whether an upgrade will affect the functionality of existing apps, which means you might have to test your applications after every upgrade. Appian’s templates and default forms don’t allow enough customization for some users, requiring them to develop from-scratch solutions instead of modifying a template. The platform also provides limited support for complex UI requirements, code-based development, and data visualizations.

Pricing

Appian offers multiple pricing options in a tiered structure. The Free tier is free and includes training materials and access to basic Appian functionality so new users can evaluate the platform. The Standard tier allows one application per license with a minimum of 100 users, and is priced per user based on the user type: Standard Users ($60/user) with admin access, development capabilities, and unlimited access to the app itself; Infrequent Users ($18/user) with up to four 24-hour sessions per month; and External Input Users ($2/user) who can submit forms and requests to the developed app. The Flat Fee tier offers one fixed price per app, with unlimited users. The Enterprise tier allows an unlimited number of apps and is priced per user. Pricing for the Flat Fee and Enterprise tiers are available via a quote from Appian.

Pega Platform offers three pricing tiers. The Trial tier is free and is limited to 30 days of usage for evaluation and training purposes. The Enterprise Starter tier is $90 per user per month and includes features for internal business apps. The Enterprise Transformation tier is priced by quote from the vendor and adds features for customer engagement and users external to your organization.

Features
AppianPega Platform
Low-Code Development
Comparison of Low-Code Development features of Product A and Product B
Appian
9.1
75 Ratings
6% above category average
Pega Platform
-
Ratings
Visual Modeling8.873 Ratings00 Ratings
Drag-and-drop Interfaces8.972 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform Security9.171 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform User Management8.872 Ratings00 Ratings
Reusability9.475 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform Scalability9.473 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Pega Platform
8.7
62 Ratings
7% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings9.061 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings8.661 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings8.660 Ratings
Process Engine
Comparison of Process Engine features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Pega Platform
8.7
64 Ratings
3% above category average
Process designer00 Ratings9.463 Ratings
Process simulation00 Ratings9.655 Ratings
Business rules engine00 Ratings9.663 Ratings
SOA support00 Ratings7.049 Ratings
Process player00 Ratings9.447 Ratings
Support for modeling languages00 Ratings5.46 Ratings
Form builder00 Ratings9.658 Ratings
Model execution00 Ratings9.854 Ratings
Collaboration
Comparison of Collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Pega Platform
8.0
49 Ratings
2% below category average
Social collaboration tools00 Ratings8.049 Ratings
Content Management Capabilties
Comparison of Content Management Capabilties features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Pega Platform
4.4
9 Ratings
60% below category average
Content management00 Ratings4.49 Ratings
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User Ratings
AppianPega Platform
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(139 ratings)
4.4
(72 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.5
(19 ratings)
10.0
(7 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(95 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(118 ratings)
10.0
(7 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
6.0
(2 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.0
(5 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
AppianPega Platform
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
Pegasystems
Pega Platform has introduced the low code feature, using app studio seasonal and professional developer can develop application easily and quickly. The initial application can be build by Business analyst and product owner who has less knowledge of Pega Platform, further application can be enhanced/extended by professional developer. We can develop end to end application and promote to higher environment. Easily we can perform parallel development using branch.
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
Pegasystems
  • Quick development time. Much of the Pega "rules" are easy to configure and implement.
  • Visually friendly and modern. Much of the UI/UX elements in the system are continuously supported and updated, giving a nice feel to the apps.
  • Many of the configurations and rules Pega gives to the developers can also be delegated to business users. The organization and structure of the client's business can easily be adapted in the Pega platform.
Read full review
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
Pegasystems
  • Need more learning materials. For Beginners who have previous programming experience with another language takes more time to learn.
  • If the developer is met with an issue in pega platform , they have to rely on Pega supporting team to fix it.
  • Customization is available but is not encouraged. Pega does not support faults that occur in customized solutions.
Read full review
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
Read full review
Pegasystems
Pegasystems has continued to demonstrate a strong partnership with our organization and investment in their product that aligns with our overall vision and need. Pegasystems has engaged us at every level, with the assistance of minor defects to the overall roadmap planning and alignment of our goals
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Pegasystems
Pega Platform is enhancing its product and launching new features day by day which help to achieve customers needs. If I talk about the earlier version of Pega Platform (i.e. pega v5 and 6.3) there were many numbers of limitations in Pega Platform and if we need to do some customization then needed to write custom java and jave scripts to achieve the functionally. Now I can say Pega Platform is running with market trends and demand. Pega Platform is giving all the options which support the current technologies like decisioning capabilities, real time processing, mashup, process fabrics etc..
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.
Read full review
Pegasystems
It’s very slow sometimes, but that may be our servers. Also the Knowledge Library needs some work - again, not sure if it’s our setup or what- but I’m unable to search the body of an article for content, so I have to be very intentional with tagging, but it’s not ideal.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Pegasystems
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.
Read full review
Pegasystems
The online training is an excellent one, but still it is missing hands on development.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Pegasystems
Implementation is totally depend up on the requirement
Read full review
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]?
Read full review
Pegasystems
We did evaluate multiple products offerings with Pega Platform capabilities and observed that Pega PRPC rules engine and case management capabilities are better over so many BPM Tools. We also conducted a detailed study with developers to identify the best products out of Suite of BPM products. It's observed that Rules engines integration is very streamlined with forms in Pega whereas other tools multiple have powerful data model capabilities but lacks the ease of creating business rules.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Pegasystems
  • For one of the applications we worked on, we were able to reduce the processing time on a case from 2 days to 20 minutes by utilizing Pega
  • We were able to resolve the issue of the routing of cases to users based on a specific algorithm by use of Pega
  • Pega case management feature was extensively used in one of the application to establish a parent-child relationship which was very helpful for all the business users
Read full review
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