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Bonita vs IBM BPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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

Bonita
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
25th
Ranking in Process Automation
19th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (13th)
IBM BPM
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
5th
Ranking in Process Automation
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
113
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of Bonita is 2.1%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM BPM is 4.1%, down from 7.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM BPM4.1%
Bonita2.1%
Other93.8%
Business Process Management (BPM)
 

Featured Reviews

Paparao Nadipineni - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at Evoke
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.
Ateeq Rehman - PeerSpot reviewer
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
Automation platforms streamline processes and offer flexibility, but AI integration and version upgrades pose challenges
In the technology world, there is always room for improvement. Technologies evolve day by day, especially with the emergence of artificial intelligence and generative AI models. Although IBM BPM is a substantial product, adopting and integrating new technologies quickly is not easy due to the migration and upgrade paths involved. Every time new versions are released, we face business and production challenges that make rapid adoption challenging. The main concern bothering me today regarding IBM BPM is the integration of AI components.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"I find process management and user interface designing the most valuable features."
"The solution is easy to use."
"Its user-friendliness, along with the availability of comprehensive and clear documentation on the website is the most valuable."
"Process automation with Bonita BPM is really easy."
"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."
"This product is very easy-to-use and user-friendly."
"The user interface is better than all of the open-source BPMs that I have tried."
"This solution has always been lacking in the user interface (UI), it needed to be improved a lot. However, from the acquisition of Spark UI, the UI is much better. Overall the solution is robust and has the ability to integrate with any product for complex workflows."
"Technical support is pleasant to work with and always available."
"IBM BPM's best features include document sharing, management document creation, widget and barcode creation, and integration."
"Integration is a big plus for me."
"Its dashboard is easy to use and very good. It allows us to customize."
"IBM BPM is equipped with all the functionalities which are needed for building BPM enterprise-level applications."
"Initially, the process architecture studio was very helpful and it was compliant with BPMN standards."
"The reach with Integration Adapters and support for adding custom Java code are valuable features."
 

Cons

"It would be nice to have a wizard to help walk through the development process and create a backbone."
"I should be able to park the tasks that are within a process in a kind of container, and dynamically, a super admin should be able to connect these processes. This kind of feature might be helpful."
"Automation in vacation of a human resources replacement would be a good improvement in the product."
"It is missing some important features that other products have."
"I have run into a lot of problems because there is not enough documentation."
"The interface is advanced and quite good, but it could improve."
"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."
"I would like to improve the product's load balancing."
"We would appreciate more user-friendly definitions of processes with a more user-friendly interface for documenting processes."
"It's a bit technical, related to the instance of migrations. It's a tough thing to handle, in every new release, in every upgrade, that we have to do things in the applications or in the product. I think IBM is working on it but I know there are a lot of requests coming in from different organizations on this."
"If you want to use IBM BPM, you will have to invest a lot of money for licenses and you need to learn that there are limitations in developing applications. You cannot create anything you want."
"The interface is limited and should improve in the future."
"They should incorporate an API gateway functionality within it to simplify integrations."
"It can definitely be improved in terms of performance and stability."
"It needs more customization. We like to customize the screens to show more things related to our company."
"We care about technology and support because support is very important and a BPM is not easy to implement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am using the free version of Bonita."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"The price is fair for what we are using the solution for."
"The product's pricing is acceptable. Pricing is yearly."
"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."
"I believe this is a very good financial choice."
"The Community Edition comes free of charge."
"The Enterprise edition is very expensive."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a ten."
"It has a low cost to implement. You'll get your money back in the same year that you complete the project."
"It is pricey."
"IBM BPM cannot be considered a cheaply priced product. IBM BPM is a really expensive product compared to other companies. One needs to opt for the perpetual licensing model offered by IBM."
"When considering the features of the solution the price is expensive compared to competitors."
"Our customers do see ROI. They'll identify some particularly painful or uncoordinated processes to start with, then build out from there, picking off low hanging fruit."
"Price wise, IBM BPM is cheaper than other similar solutions and has excellent pricing."
"It should provide more flexibility to connect with external systems, and there should be in-built services that can be used to integrate with other systems quickly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Insurance Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise11
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise72
 

Questions from the Community

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.
Which is better, IBM BPM or IBM Business Automation Workflow?
We researched both IBM solutions and in the end, we chose Business Automation Workflow. IBM BPM has a good user interface and the BPM coach is a helpful tool. The API is very useful in providing en...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM BPM?
Once it is installed, maintaining it is not a big issue.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Bonita BPM
WebSphere Lombardi Edition, IBM Business Process Manager, IBM WebSphere Process Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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.
Barclays, EmeriCon, Banca Popolare di Milano, CST Consulting, KeyBank, KPMG, Prolifics, Sandhata Technologies Ltd., State of Alaska, Humana S.A., Saperion, esciris, Banco Espirito Santo
Find out what your peers are saying about Bonita vs. IBM BPM and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
882,032 professionals have used our research since 2012.