Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Appian vs Bonita comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

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

Appian
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
5th
Ranking in Process Automation
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Rapid Application Development Software (5th), Low-Code Development Platforms (4th), Process Mining (6th)
Bonita
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
13th
Ranking in Process Automation
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of Appian is 6.2%, down from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Bonita is 3.7%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM)
 

Featured Reviews

Srimanta Pandit - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible, improves operational efficiency, and reduces the time taken to complete processes
The solution’s turnaround time for development is better compared to other tools. The solution enables fast development. The traceability of the processor is good. There is much more governance and regulations on the processers. The tool reduces the time of the processes by 30% to 40%. The solution’s low-code aspect has greatly impacted the development and deployment speed. One of the major reasons we are using the product is that we can reuse the modules. The developers can reuse all the modules. It enables us to make subsequent developments in less time. The prebuilt modules can be deployed within two to three weeks. The tool is very flexible. Compared to other platforms, the Appian product team was agile in quickly customizing things for us.
Paparao Nadipineni - PeerSpot reviewer
A simple and lightweight college course automation system with third-party integrations
The initial setup is straightforward and can be completed with the environment within an hour. First, take the latest from the git repository and check the git code to the monitor studio and a bar file, a deployable Bonita archive file. Then, take that process to the Bonita server, running at runtime on another server. Finally, deploy and enable it by selecting the proper organization.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The process models provide self-documenting systems."
"We appreciate the drag and drop functionality and the easy to access plug and play features."
"The agile manner that we require to create our workflows. This is probably the most critical part of our solution and the time it takes to start processing the solution."
"What I found most valuable in Appian is that it lets you drill down on multiple things through the structure of the reporting and UI side. It's also low-code, yet it results in quick deliverables."
"The product has a very good mobile app."
"What stands out are the speed of the product, the quick, easy development, and visual diagramming."
"It is easy for me to define the process and create configurable workflows."
"It has good integrations. We were looking for out-of-the-box integration with both on-prem and publicly accessible data sources. We needed integration with the cloud, OData, our REST API feed, and then on-prem passthrough to go to a SQL database or on-prem APIs through Azure local deployment, etc."
"One of the most valuable features is you can create without coding, it is a low code platform."
"The solution is stable. Even the older versions are stable."
"Compared to other products on the market, Bonita presents a pretty acceptable level of robustness."
"Flexible and drag-and-drop type of UI is very valuable. The integrations are also very good. You can build workflows very quickly, which is my favorite activity. By using the GUI, you can build the entire mechanism, notifications, and all this kind of stuff."
"Bonita is simple and lightweight and is flexible to integrate with third-party systems. The UI is now flexible, whereas it was previously rigid. Any technology can be used as a frontend, including ReactJS, Angular, and others."
"Process automation with Bonita BPM is really easy."
"The most valuable features of Bonita are the connectors, detailed documentation, and web applications. The documentation was useful because it is how I learned how to use it."
"Bonita is user-friendly."
 

Cons

"One room for improvement is the ease of UI UX development, like in OutSystems and Mendix."
"If there is a very complex process that includes a lot of data transitioning and memory-centric processes, it consumes a lot of memory."
"​Appian is easy to set up, but JBoss is complex. JBoss is the application server for running Appian."
"It has it's own built-in UI components and doesn't provide much flexibility to customize or extend those components."
"The product’s pricing could be improved from the developers' perspective."
"Form creation and SAIL proprietary language still basically require programming. The claim a BA type can do everything is hogwash."
"There should be more flexibility for the developers to choose the look and feel of the UI. They should have a better ability to design their widgets and customize them with different colors, shapes, and sizes. That is a limitation that could be improved upon."
"While Appian is generally flexible, it's rigid in some ways. It takes longer to do something that isn't available out of the box."
"Bonita must add a rule engine. We are a 360-degree partner of Bonita. We can integrate with any kind of rule engine. We have a dashboard related to engine performance, but getting a configurable dashboard for the Buildium or transactional data will add value."
"I have run into a lot of problems because there is not enough documentation."
"The main issue with Bonita is that the workspace crashes sometimes."
"There is a need for more components in the library and additional customization options for these components."
"It is missing some important features that other products have."
"Bonita can improve by offering more flexibility. The developer does not receive the code of the application to modify it. Most of the other solutions I have used allow the developers to change or improve the code that is generated."
"Installation could be made easier."
"There could be an improvement in IoT connectivity."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is calculated on a per-user basis. It might be expensive for small and mid-sized enterprises."
"BPM done right is a huge value proposition for almost any company, and with Appian's low code rapid development model, the ROI can be huge, while the break-even point should be accelerated tremendously."
"We will have to have a dialogue or negotiate a price for future use. To start with, it is a reasonable price. As we go ahead, we will have to make sure the costs are inline with our expectations as we grow our user base and workloads."
"The cost is a bit higher than other low-code competitors, OutSystems and Mendix. The price needs to be more competitive."
"It is expensive, but powerful. I would recommend comparing against cheaper licensing products and open source."
"The license is not very cheap. It's on the expensive side."
"You can't really test the software properly without actually buying the license first."
"The price of this solution is a little high here in Mongolia."
"You pay an annual fee and can have an unlimited number of processes and users."
"have installed the image of Bonita BPM on Amazon AWS and there is just one option to use and pay for."
"The Community Edition comes free of charge."
"I am using the free version of Bonita."
"We are using the Community Version, which can be used free of charge."
"Licensing cost for the Enterprise edition comes out to be around 40,000 a year. There is also a Community edition, which is free. Some customers can go for the Community edition, but some of them require the Enterprise edition. Big companies go for the Enterprise edition, which comes with a lot of additional features such as a mobile app."
"The price is fair for what we are using the solution for."
"Price to service ratio with Bonita BPM is good."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Business Process Management (BPM) solutions are best for your needs.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
30%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Educational Organization
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which do you prefer - Appian or Camunda Platform?
Appian is fast when building simple to medium solutions. This solution offers simple drag-and-drop functionality with easy plug-and-play options. The initial setup was seamless and very easy to imp...
Is Appian a suitable solution for beginners who have no additional preparation?
Appian is actually pretty big on educating its users, including with courses that reward you with certifications. There is a whole section on their company’s website where you can check out the edu...
Is it easy to set up Appian or did you have to resort to professional help?
We had some issues when we were setting up Appian. It was quite surprising, since this is a low-code tool which, in its essence, means it is meant for business users and inexperienced beginners. So...
How does Bonita compare with Camunda Platform?
One of the things we like best about Bonita is that you can create without coding - it is a low-code platform. With Bonita, you can build the entire mechanism using the GUI, it’s that simple. You c...
What do you like most about Bonita?
The user interface is easy to use.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
Bonita BPM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hansard Global plc, Punch Taverns, Pirelli, Crawford & Company, EDP Renewables, Queensland Government Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (, Bank of Tennessee
With more than 1000 customers in 75 countries, and its ecosystem of more than 120,000 members, Bonitasoft is the largest provider of open-source Business Process Management, Low-code and Digital Transformation software worldwide.
Find out what your peers are saying about Appian vs. Bonita and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.