Appian vs. Salesforce Starter

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
Salesforce Starter
Score 8.2 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Salesforce Starter (formerly Salesforce Essentials) is a small business CRM that replaces the former SalesforceIQ product. It is priced at $35 per user, on a monthly basis, or at $25 per month for if billed annually ($300) and can be tried free for 14 days on a trial.
$35
per month per user
Pricing
AppianSalesforce Starter
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
AppianSalesforce Starter
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
AppianSalesforce Starter
Considered Both Products
Appian
Chose Appian
As a matter of fact, I was not part of the selection process when Appian was selected for SADIE project. Appian was selected because of its quick application development capability. I heard - someone from the 3rd party development company mentioned - that anything can be built …
Salesforce Starter

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
AppianSalesforce Starter
Low-Code Development
Comparison of Low-Code Development features of Product A and Product B
Appian
9.1
75 Ratings
5% above category average
Salesforce Starter
-
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
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Salesforce Starter
9.1
3 Ratings
17% above category average
Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Territory management00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Opportunity management00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Quote & order management00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
Interaction tracking00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Salesforce Starter
7.0
3 Ratings
7% below category average
Lead management00 Ratings7.03 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Salesforce Starter
9.0
2 Ratings
17% above category average
Task management00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Salesforce Starter
10.0
2 Ratings
27% above category average
Forecasting00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Pipeline visualization00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Salesforce Starter
10.0
3 Ratings
28% above category average
Custom fields00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Custom objects00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Scripting environment00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
API for custom integration00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Salesforce Starter
10.0
3 Ratings
18% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Social CRM
Comparison of Social CRM features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Salesforce Starter
5.0
2 Ratings
37% below category average
Social engagement00 Ratings5.02 Ratings
Integrations with 3rd-party Software
Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Salesforce Starter
5.0
2 Ratings
35% below category average
Marketing automation00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
Compensation management00 Ratings4.02 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Salesforce Starter
10.0
3 Ratings
29% above category average
Mobile access00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AppianSalesforce Starter
Small Businesses
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Quixy
Quixy
Score 9.8 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Quickbase
Quickbase
Score 9.2 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AppianSalesforce Starter
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(139 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.5
(19 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.7
(95 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(118 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
6.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AppianSalesforce Starter
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
Salesforce
If you own a business that has complex selling processes or requires integrations with 3rd party tools/systems, you should look at Professional, Enterprise, or Unlimited editions. Salesforce operates very well across pretty much every industry, but not all sales, marketing, and operational processes are created equal. If your marketing process requires a long list of sendable contacts then I would recommend adding on Pardot or Hubspot. Always start small and scale up, to avoid boxing yourself in down the road.
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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
Salesforce
  • Tracking phone calls is extremely easy when using the app on the iphone. After a phone call is complete it prompts the user to enter in call details.
  • SalesforceIQ also automatically logs emails for us. This has saved us time from entering in information manually.
  • SalesforceIQ was easy to set up and allowed us customization for fields that were relevant to our business.
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.
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Salesforce
  • Price point for smaller startups. Not budget friendly.
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
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
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
Salesforce
No answers on this topic
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
Salesforce
No answers on this topic
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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Salesforce
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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Salesforce
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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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
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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Salesforce
Salesforce Starter is exactly what it says. It's specific to getting a small business up and running effectively, without unnecessary development or internal overhead required. It doesn't allow for a ton of customization, but it provides more than most other providers across sales, service, and integration/automating business processes. Some tools are more specific to organizations that want to focus on a specific area to grow or manage their business. That's where the other package types and integrations with specific tools come in
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.
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Salesforce
  • We have noticed since we have started using SalesforceIQ to communicate items on customer account notes we have freed up hours of phone time between employees allowing us to better answer customer phone calls. This is especially true in our parts department where we have inside and outside sales.
  • We tied in use of Salesforce to our bonus structure to encourage employees to use the software. It is the direction our business is going and we needed everyone to participate to make it work. The newer the employee the better they are about logging information and visits.
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

Salesforce Starter Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of