Appian and GitLab are competitors in the business automation and development automation categories, respectively. Appian appears to have an edge in rapid development due to its low-code platform and integration options, while GitLab is strong in CI/CD pipeline management and integration ease with development tools.
Features: Appian excels in its low-code platform, rapid application development, and integration options across numerous business use cases. It allows businesses to quickly implement robust process modeling. GitLab is highly regarded for its DevOps capabilities, especially CI/CD pipelines, and its seamless integration with various development tools, providing comprehensive control over code management.
Room for Improvement: Appian could improve its customization and flexibility in UI design, enhance offline and mobile capabilities, and offer better integration with enterprise development tools. GitLab needs improved integration with third-party tools, enhanced support for complex deployments, and more robust security features. Additionally, GitLab's user experience could be refined for non-technical users.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Appian provides versatile deployment options, including public, private, and hybrid cloud or on-premises solutions, often praised for its customer service and technical support, though response times can vary. GitLab also offers multiple deployment choices and is noted for ease of deployment, especially in public and hybrid cloud settings. Their customer service is considered satisfactory yet could improve on integration support.
Pricing and ROI: Appian's pricing can be high, based on users or workloads, yet it's seen as cost-effective compared to rivals like Pega, offering significant ROI via efficient application and process management. GitLab has various pricing tiers, including a free version, though some features are costly. It provides value for larger teams with flexible subscription and open-source options, promising substantial ROI upon effective application.
Appian is very efficient, allowing us to build a lot of applications within a financial year, making it cost-effective.
We have saved time significantly, reducing deployment time from four hours to five minutes per deployment.
Migrating to GitLab is bringing time-saving benefits, and everything is easier to automate.
Their customer service is responsive, and the team is very prompt for support.
The technical support is generally good.
Appian has a community where I can put my questions.
I have had meetings where they taught me, explained things, and provided guidance for starting from scratch.
I have interacted with architects for some advice during the implementation, and they were prompt in their response.
We have rarely needed to escalate issues to technical support since GitLab usually runs seamlessly.
Appian is scalable, but it depends on how you build your applications.
Initially, without much coding, I can easily handle five thousand records.
It has all the features required for our coding and deployment needs, which makes it scalable to our changing requirements.
We're transitioning to OpenShift for future scalability with increased user numbers.
It depends on how it has been designed and how it has been configured.
I have not encountered any performance or stability issues with GitLab so far.
I would like to see more enhancement in the user interface to allow more freedom in designing the sites and pages.
If there is a very complex process that includes a lot of data transitioning and memory-centric processes, it consumes a lot of memory.
It would be beneficial to have a user-friendly interface for setting up these configurations, instead of just writing YAML files.
The UI has remained the same for a couple of years and could benefit from an update with AI features and better customization.
Roadmaps and Gantt charts in GitLab are not as advanced as in Jira, and changing start and end dates is more laborious in GitLab.
On the pricier side, both Appian and Pega are enterprise-level solutions, placing them on the slightly higher side.
The pricing of Appian is based on the number of users and generally ranges from 70 to 100 USD per user per month.
The pricing of GitLab is reasonable, aligning with what I consider to be average compared to competitors.
Even when working in other small organizations, we opted for GitLab as it was cost-efficient.
The price is high, and it limits user accessibility.
The zero-code integration feature is remarkable, allowing for ease of data transfer and workflow enhancement.
I can create tables, perform database-related activities, and create multiple tables.
It is easy for me to define the process and create configurable workflows.
The Ultimate version offers enhanced features for security scanning through DAST and SAST analysis, which have greatly benefitted our project workflow.
As we implement automated testing and DevSecOps, it speeds up the process by forty to sixty percent.
The feature I appreciate the most about GitLab is its ease of use and compatibility, which allows for straightforward building and deployment processes.
Appian is a unified low-code platform and solution used by businesses to build enterprise applications and workflows. This product adapts to the needs of clients and the technologies they are already using to combine their data in a single workflow and maximize resources. The platform has four main components through which it transforms the work process for companies of various sizes. They are:
Appian is utilized across a diverse set of industries, including automotive and manufacturing, energy and utilities, education, financial services, telecom and media, transportation, retail, insurance, healthcare, and life sciences. The most frequent use cases of Appian are customer journey, governance, risk and compliance, operational efficiency, supply chain, distributed order management, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) management.
Appian Features
Appian has various features that allow users to create solutions for their businesses. These features can be separated into a few groups according to function, including automation, low-code application development, and integrations and data. Some of the most frequently used features of Appian include:
Appian Benefits
The benefits of using Appian include:
Reviews from Real Users
A practice leader - digital process automation at a computer software company values Appian highly because the product is easy to develop, low-code, and has a good user interface.
Alan G., an advisory board member at Codecon VR, Appian offers a clear application life cycle, easy to learn documentation, and comes with a fundamentals course.
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform that enables teams to collaborate and deliver software faster.
It provides a single application for the entire DevOps lifecycle, from planning and development to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
With GitLab, teams can streamline their workflows, automate processes, and improve productivity.
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