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Appian vs Microsoft Power Automate comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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
7.2
Appian enhances profits, reduces process time, achieving break-even in year one, with widespread adoption and demonstrated ROI.
Sentiment score
7.8
Microsoft Power Automate offers rapid ROI with cost efficiency, quick implementation, and substantial time savings, enhancing immediate monetary returns.
Appian is very efficient, allowing us to build a lot of applications within a financial year, making it cost-effective.
It has helped us save time, and we've saved thousands of hours through automation.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Appian's customer support is praised for efficiency and personalization but faces challenges with response times and complex issues.
Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Power Automate's customer service is mixed, with responsive support often depending on the user's support plan.
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.
Having experience with coding is essential to fully utilize Power Automate.
I have contacted the technical support of Microsoft regarding some issues, and their support is good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Appian is scalable with expert setup, handling cloud configurations well, though hardware and complexity issues may impact performance.
Sentiment score
6.8
Microsoft Power Automate is scalable and cloud-based but faces integration challenges, leading to mixed user reviews and adoption rates.
Appian is scalable, but it depends on how you build your applications.
Initially, without much coding, I can easily handle five thousand records.
Microsoft Power Automate is scalable enough for me and my customers.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Appian is highly stable with 99.99% uptime; issues are mostly linked to development choices, while users commend its reliability.
Sentiment score
7.6
Users find Microsoft Power Automate stable, though improvements are needed in updates, image recognition, web automation, and error-handling.
It depends on how it has been designed and how it has been configured.
 

Room For Improvement

Appian users want better UI customization, mobile flexibility, enterprise features, and integration, with improved scalability and reduced licensing costs.
Microsoft Power Automate needs improvements in stability, integration, usability, OCR, training, and licensing transparency, lagging behind competitors.
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 better to make it a wizard more than requiring coding.
 

Setup Cost

Appian offers high-value, cost-effective cloud solutions with flexible licensing, competitive in specific regions, and affordable workload-based options.
Microsoft Power Automate offers flexible, cost-effective pricing but managing licenses and premium features can increase overall expenses.
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.
Microsoft Power Automate is reasonably priced compared to others in the market.
 

Valuable Features

Appian offers low-code development, intuitive interfaces, and BPMN 2.0 compliance, enhancing application deployment, workflow management, and business process automation.
Microsoft Power Automate simplifies workflow automation with intuitive, low-code tools, extensive integration options, and robust productivity features.
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.
We have saved thousands of hours by automating tasks that would have been labor-intensive and error-prone if done manually.
It helps show the optimal way to utilize a process by discovering, validating, and improving the process automation.
 

Categories and Ranking

Appian
Ranking in Process Mining
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (11th), Process Automation (8th), Rapid Application Development Software (9th), Low-Code Development Platforms (6th)
Microsoft Power Automate
Ranking in Process Mining
2nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
127
Ranking in other categories
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Process Mining category, the mindshare of Appian is 5.2%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Power Automate is 21.4%, down from 27.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Mining
 

Featured Reviews

RAVIRANJAN - PeerSpot reviewer
Low-code with good reliability and good workflows
We have a partnership with Appian. We have worked with Appian to deal with issues. They have already incorporated many things into their platform. One of the things we have discussed, which I can highlight, is related to Excel manipulations. They have incorporated their Excel manipulations so it's far better than the earlier version. Earlier, we had to go with a plugin for even a simple Excel or spreadsheet calculation. Now, they have included all those things in their own out-of-the-box functionality. It's definitely a tool and does not require high code language. There could be a scope of enhancement for capturing the variety of use cases. One thing, for example, is Excel manipulation, which they now provide in their out of box functionality, however, that can still be improved.
MohammedIdais - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitate informed decision-making through data analytics and efficient process automation
The most valuable feature for me is the process mining capability. It helps show the optimal way to utilize a process by discovering, validating, and improving the process automation. For example, when building a process from start to end, I may not be sure if it is efficient or optimized. This feature provides validation and improvement of the process using process mining. Additionally, it has amazing integration capabilities with multiple systems, directly working with the database.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
26%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
11%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Insurance Company
6%
 

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...
RPA that Bots can run without centralized control?
Yes, Attended Bots which can run without centralized control Module. RPA Tools like Automation Anywhere, uiPath ,Power Automation they do support this.
How do I choose between UiPath and Microsoft Power Automate?
Microsoft‌ ‌Power‌ ‌Automate‌ ‌is‌ ‌intuitive‌ ‌and‌ ‌easy‌ ‌to‌ ‌integrate‌ ‌and‌ ‌use.‌ ‌I‌ ‌like‌ ‌that‌ ‌there‌ ‌is‌ ‌no‌ ‌coding‌ ‌experience‌ ‌necessary,‌ ‌and‌ ‌appreciate‌ ‌the‌ ‌automated‌...
How is Automation Anywhere compared to Microsoft Power Automate?
‌Neither‌ ‌solution‌ ‌requires‌ ‌any‌ ‌coding‌ ‌experience,‌ ‌and‌ ‌both‌ ‌are‌ ‌easy‌ ‌to‌ ‌use‌ ‌and‌ ‌have‌ ‌great‌ ‌drag-and‌ ‌drop‌ ‌functionality.‌ ‌The‌ ‌training‌ ‌and‌ ‌resources‌ ‌for‌ ‌A...
 

Also Known As

Appian BPM, Appian AnyWhere, Appian Enterprise BPMS
Power Automate, Microsoft Flow, MS Power Automate, WinAutomation by Softomotive, ProcessRobot by Softomotive, Minit
 

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
1. Coca-Cola 2. General Electric 3. Siemens 4. Accenture 5. Deloitte 6. Johnson & Johnson 7. Ford 8. Nestle 9. Procter & Gamble 10. IBM 11. Amazon 12. Google 13. Microsoft 14. Adobe 15. Cisco 16. Oracle 17. SAP 18. Intel 19. HP 20. Dell 21. Verizon 22. AT&T 23. T-Mobile 24. Walmart 25. Target 26. Home Depot 27. McDonald's 28. Starbucks 29. Nike 30. Apple 31. Facebook 32. Twitter
Find out what your peers are saying about Appian vs. Microsoft Power Automate and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,900 professionals have used our research since 2012.