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Appian vs Microsoft Power Apps 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.9
Appian boosts profits and digital transformation, reducing costs by 85%; organizations report high adoption and variable ROI satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.7
Organizations using Microsoft Power Apps saw increased productivity and efficiency despite licensing challenges, with notable cost and resource savings.
The connection between Power Apps and Power BI simplifies generating and presenting reports, alleviating the workload and enhancing productivity.
The aim is to create a cleaner interface to replace spreadsheets, thus standardizing processes and improving efficiency.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Appian support is efficient and well-rated, but complex issues may face delays, while resources and community are valuable.
Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Power Apps support is effective but inconsistent, with varied response times and reliance on community resources and documentation.
Their customer service is responsive, and the team is very prompt for support.
Appian has a community where I can put my questions.
Their assistance was crucial as we developed the solutions.
Microsoft's technical support is around a seven to eight.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Appian is scalable for medium to large entities but can face challenges with complex processes, data volumes, and costs.
Sentiment score
6.7
Microsoft Power Apps is scalable with customization and integration, though costs and performance limitations can affect larger deployments.
Initially, without much coding, I can easily handle five thousand records.
If it is flexible and includes premium connectors, scalability is easy.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Appian is praised for high stability and uptime, with minimal issues when following best development practices and architecture.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Power Apps is praised for stability, reliability, and effective data handling, despite occasional slowdowns or complex app issues.
It depends on how it has been designed and how it has been configured.
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Power Apps as a nine out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Appian users want better UI customization, integration, scalability, flexibility, cost-efficiency, support, collaboration, and enhanced case management features.
Microsoft Power Apps needs better integration, simpler licensing, improved UI, and enhanced resources for usability and large data handling.
If there is a very complex process that includes a lot of data transitioning and memory-centric processes, it consumes a lot of memory.
These tools should be intuitive for business users who will need at least a week of training to use them effectively.
This would assist business process users who lack coding knowledge.
The integration of Microsoft's autonomous AI agents would be an excellent enhancement for Power Apps.
 

Setup Cost

Appian pricing is moderate to high, with cost-effectiveness in cloud solutions and flexibility in its regional licensing model.
Microsoft Power Apps pricing starts at $10/month, varies by usage and features, with special rates for non-profits and governments.
On the pricier side, both Appian and Pega are enterprise-level solutions, placing them on the slightly higher side.
For small to medium enterprises, it is affordable, especially with Microsoft Enterprise licensing.
For more elaborate work, an upgrade to an enterprise license, costing around $35 per license, is needed.
 

Valuable Features

Appian's low-code platform accelerates app development with user-friendly tools, automation, and integration, enhancing productivity and efficiency.
Microsoft Power Apps enables rapid, low-code app development with seamless Microsoft integration, enhancing workflows and data visualization efficiently.
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.
It integrates seamlessly with Power Automate for process automation and connects with email, SharePoint, Power BI, and MS Teams, facilitating everyday processes.
If we are using Outlook or Power BI for our reports, the integration is easier because it is within the Microsoft ecosystem.
The most valuable features for us are predominantly on the user interface front.
 

Categories and Ranking

Appian
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
5th
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
61
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (6th), Process Automation (5th), Process Mining (6th)
Microsoft Power Apps
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
1st
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
93
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Appian is 9.6%, up from 8.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Power Apps is 15.2%, down from 22.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software
 

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.
Guhan Eshwar - PeerSpot reviewer
Building tools with user-friendly interfaces abut needs integration improvements
An integration of Copilot options within Microsoft Power Apps would be useful. In UiPath apps, there is an autopilot function that uses a generative AI model, which creates layouts and connects data services automatically with a prompt. Such integration would be beneficial to build basic frameworks that can be enhanced. This would assist business process users who lack coding knowledge.
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Top Industries

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

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 would you choose between Microsoft PowerApps and Salesforce Platform?
I think it depends on your use case. If your organization uses Microsoft Enterprise products, PowerApps will work better in your environment. Similarly, if you have a Salesforce integration in pla...
Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?
Hi Netanya, I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp. Because ServiceNow has a very strong module (Performance Analysis) reporting which will ...
Would you choose Microsoft Azure App Service or PowerApps?
Microsoft Azure App Service is helpful if you need to set up temporary servers for customers to run their programs in locations that other cloud providers do not cater to. When servers are closer t...
 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
PowerApps, MS PowerApps
 

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
TransAlta, Rackspace, Telstra
Find out what your peers are saying about Appian vs. Microsoft Power Apps and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.