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IBM BPM vs SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

IBM BPM
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
111
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (5th), Process Automation (5th)
SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Po...
Ranking in Application Infrastructure
20th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM BPM is 2.8%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal is 1.1%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Infrastructure
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammed Almalki - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good case management and its integration with process design but there's a learning curve
If you're already an IBM shop with the necessary skills and personnel, then I would recommend using it. However, it requires a yearly investment. So, if you're prepared for that, then go for it. New users will need at least six months to get comfortable with IBM BPM, at least initially. So, there's a learning curve. Overall, I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. Two main reasons: the skillset required to manage it and its integration complexity.
Anand_Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
The UI makes the setup easy to do from anywhere
Our customers expect that a page will open within one second, and I doubt this will happen. Also, opening documentation takes time. Fixing this will help the customer and help to meet their expectations. SAP needs to come up with a standardized version of NetWeaver. The solution is good on the internal side, but not so much from the client perspective when they view it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM's deployment box is one huge black box. We can create all the services with our own code or without a codebase, however, we have a huge amount of space with practically no limitation."
"The solution is stable."
"Provides the power to understand and automate processes."
"Compliance with the BPMN 2.0 standard."
"The designer feature, compared to other solutions is easy to use."
"One thing that I love about them is that they make it easier to integrate with other systems, especially with the use of smaller files."
"Technical support is pleasant to work with and always available."
"Process Modelling, simulation and optimization, integration, UI components."
"Internal workflow approval around ESS and MSS leave days, capex approval as well as internal communication to the business have improved the way my organization functions."
"From the use of this solution, we have been able to establish better processes and have greater management of our company."
"Workflow functionality and internal portal capabilities are the most important features."
"They integrated it with the SAP router."
 

Cons

"The major issue is the pricing, which is very high. IBM BPM also lacks smaller solutions, so I must purchase multiple solutions to start with workflows and applications."
"IBM BPM's price could be improved."
"Needs better reporting. I do not think that we are fully taking advantage of what it already has yet."
"IBM BPM's UI is an area with shortcomings where improvements are required."
"They should incorporate an API gateway functionality within it to simplify integrations."
"I would like to see the front-end support improved because it should be fully integrated and supported."
"One downside is that changing intermediate steps after you've finalized your flow can be challenging. Also, the integration with identity management could be easier. It would be helpful to have role-based access functions, allowing for specific custom models associated with certain streamlines in the IBM dashboard. Also, a simpler way to integrate some notation with other middleware platforms would be beneficial."
"The initial setup can be tricky because IBM BPM is not based on a popular stack, and it's difficult to hire a developer for this product."
"External portal functionality with suppliers and customers needs improvement."
"The user interface could be improved by making it more user-friendly."
"Our customers expect that a page will open within one second, and I doubt this will happen. Also, opening documentation takes time. Fixing this will help the customer and help to meet their expectations."
"We encountered stability issues, especially on external functionality around its RFP capabilities."
"Due to our business, some setups were very complex."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I wish it was less expensive. I don't know why their pricing model is so high for a piece of software that could benefit so many. It just seems to me that they could have a lower cost, maybe with fewer features or whatever, but it should be possible to do a lower cost workflow software that uses the same interface and underlying engine but does not cost so much that you have to be a Fortune 50 company to buy it. It is annoying to me. There are a lot of solutions that IBM has that are really powerful but nobody can afford them. They know their business, but I still feel that there are a lot of customers who would benefit from this sort of thing. I don't know what this elitism is all about. I am sure they have people doing the money numbers, but it seems like you can make a lot more money by selling it to way more people for a little bit less."
"I already compared some solutions related to business process management, and I saw that the cost of IBM BPM is more expensive compared with that of Camunda, for example."
"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."
"The solution is highly-priced."
"The solution might be expensive, but I can't give you a precise number. In the market here, I've seen two main products for BPM: IBM BPM and Camunda. Camunda is very popular and open-source, so there's no direct comparison."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a ten."
"It is pricey."
"IBM could improve the price. It is far too expensive."
"The cost of this solution is high."
"Because India is so competitive in the IT world, people will start to move away from SAP's pricing because they have a market monopoly. Soon, they will start losing the monopoly part to open source and other things. I don't think their monopoly will run for more than three to four years because people are getting away from these monopolies."
"​SAP is not for every business. It depends on what is required. SAP is always going to be expensive​."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
32%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
23%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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?
SAP is more expensive, but IBM BPM is very expensive. If a scale of one to ten is used, I would rate IBM BPM at nine in terms of pricing.
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Also Known As

WebSphere Lombardi Edition, IBM Business Process Manager, IBM WebSphere Process Server
NetWeaver Enterprise Portal, SAP Portal
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Alliander N.V.
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM BPM vs. SAP NetWeaver Enterprise Portal and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.