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 5.7 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
Appian
Pega 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
Appian
Pega Platform
Free Trial
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No 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
Appian
Pega Platform
TrustRadius Insights
Appian
Pega Platform
Highlights
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
Appian
Pega Platform
Low-Code Development
Comparison of Low-Code Development features of Product A and Product B
Appian
9.1
Ratings
8% above category average
Pega Platform
-
Ratings
Visual Modeling
8.80 Ratings
00 Ratings
Drag-and-drop Interfaces
8.90 Ratings
00 Ratings
Platform Security
9.20 Ratings
00 Ratings
Platform User Management
8.80 Ratings
00 Ratings
Reusability
9.50 Ratings
00 Ratings
Platform Scalability
9.50 Ratings
00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Pega Platform
8.8
Ratings
7% above category average
Dashboards
00 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
Standard reports
00 Ratings
8.60 Ratings
Custom reports
00 Ratings
8.60 Ratings
Process Engine
Comparison of Process Engine features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Pega Platform
7.8
Ratings
7% below category average
Process designer
00 Ratings
8.00 Ratings
Process simulation
00 Ratings
6.00 Ratings
Business rules engine
00 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
SOA support
00 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
Process player
00 Ratings
9.40 Ratings
Support for modeling languages
00 Ratings
5.40 Ratings
Form builder
00 Ratings
9.60 Ratings
Model execution
00 Ratings
6.00 Ratings
Collaboration
Comparison of Collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Appian
-
Ratings
Pega Platform
9.0
Ratings
7% above category average
Social collaboration tools
00 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
Content Management Capabilties
Comparison of Content Management Capabilties features of Product A and Product B
Appian is well suited for the areas which involve a workflow. For Example: Consider there is a task and 3 teams are required to work on the task, with Appian we can create tasks for each team and monitor the comments and completion. Together with the integration capabilities, this tool can function in many areas. In our firm, we are using it to automate the workflows for our business teams and help them in capturing the OLA's and SLA's.
Pega [RPA] is good to address a specific business function requirement with not too many bots or automation processes. It takes time and effort to set it up. Though once done, it is very easy to configure and use. One should also run a POC to verify if this product meets the scalability requirements.
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.
Pega’s Situational layer cake architecture is capable of organizing application to suit enterprise needs. An enterprise can have a complex organization structure located around the globe. Because of Situational layer cake architecture reusing common policies and procedures is easy while allowing for differences between products, regions, channels and customer segments.Whereas with some application development platforms, separate copies of the application should be created to suite different business context.
Faster application delivery
With Pega developers can reuse common policies and procedures, replicate functions and industry specific frameworks and utilize pega UI elements to develop applications. IT is easy to deploy.Therefore developers are capable of delivering application earlier compared to some application development platforms. Pega reduces time taken to deliver an outcome.
Pega upgrades
Pega platform is upddated to adapt and work with latest technologies.
Proprietary users support and maintain Pega platform continuously. Pega customer support is always willing to enhance product support.
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.
Reporting is not extensive in Pega. Because of this higher management is not able to get the reports which will give them insights into a different area. So Reporting functionality can be improved in Pega.
Organizations that want to fully use all the features of the Pega 7 platform must follow Pega’s solution development methodology which may not be aligned fully with the organization objectives.
During upgrades, some of the rules which are deprecated have to be changed to new available rules. This becomes a problem as one has to understand all the functionality and then change a lot of things.
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
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
There are many differences between using Appian and using other programming languages. Additionally, there are many trade offs that have to be made and that have to be accepted for using Appian. In some cases, you give up control of one small area, but in others, it may open settings that are unavailable to a developer when using other program languages.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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 process flows and has the ability to discover new opportunities for automation.
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.
Our IT automated procurement process has sped up time to get paid by a few days on every transaction
Our approvals are more organized as a result of being put in digitally
Managing our own tenant requires more than we have available, given the quarterly updates
Since we have business-critical functions running in the platform, we have to thoroughly review every note of every update. Because of this we skip half of the updates since we don't have enough time to review these changes four times a year.
