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Appian vs Microsoft Power Automate comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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
7.1
Appian boosts company profits, efficiency, and cost savings, with users achieving quick returns and reductions in process times.
Sentiment score
6.8
Microsoft Power Automate enhances efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and ROI through automation and familiar UI, providing substantial productivity improvements.
Using Appian is saving us five full-time employees, which is significant since we currently have only four team members.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
They see return on investment in terms of cost savings, time savings, more efficient processes, and more efficient employees.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
The Return on Investment is significant.
Associate Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
On a daily basis, it saves about two to three hours.
Customer Solution Provider at Wema Bank
It has helped us save time, and we've saved thousands of hours through automation.
Assistant Manager, Data Science & Analytics at American International Group
There has been around 20% to 30% productivity improvement, which will definitely save money and costs.
Engineering Manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.5
Appian's customer service is valued for responsiveness, though complex issue resolution times need improvement, especially for smaller companies.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Power Automate's customer service varies; premium plans and regional support improve responsiveness, while community aids overall experience.
I would give Appian's customer support 10 out of 10 due to their next-level support.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Their customer service is responsive, and the team is very prompt for support.
Delivery Manager (Intelligent Business Automation) - Pega at Persistent Systems
The technical support for Appian rates as 10 out of 10 because they have a great support team.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
Having experience with coding is essential to fully utilize Power Automate.
Assistant Manager, Data Science & Analytics at American International Group
On a scale of one to ten, the technical support of Microsoft Power Automate rates as three within India, and eight or nine for support from outside India.
Power Platform Developer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
They offer 24-hour technical support that consistently answers inquiries.
Talent Acquisition Specialist at APERCE
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Appian offers robust scalability and integration, efficiently supporting complex processes despite potential challenges in data and infrastructure.
Sentiment score
6.6
Microsoft Power Automate is scalable and cost-effective, yet struggles with advanced tasks, better for small to medium organizations.
On a scale of one to 10, Appian rates as a nine for scalability.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
Our volume has increased by 20% in the two years since using Appian, and it can handle the increased volume effectively.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Initially, without much coding, I can easily handle five thousand records.
Associate Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Microsoft Power Automate is scalable enough for me and my customers.
Senior Operations and Group Information Technology Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Appian is stable and reliable with minimal issues, especially when best practices are followed, despite some latency challenges.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Power Automate is stable and reliable, with high user satisfaction and minor issues that are quickly resolved.
We have tested Appian during peak usage and off-peak times, and we have not experienced any issues such as lagging or system disruptions.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
It depends on how it has been designed and how it has been configured.
Delivery Manager (Intelligent Business Automation) - Pega at Persistent Systems
The stability of Appian would rate as nine, as it's a stable environment.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
 

Room For Improvement

Appian's tools need more flexibility, better integration, improved scalability, intuitive UI, enhanced mobile support, and comprehensive training materials.
Microsoft Power Automate users seek better stability, integration, user-friendliness, error handling, connectors, documentation, and clearer licensing and environments.
It has room to improve for use cases where the users are public facing, where anonymous users could come to a site and run a business workflow or interact with some data.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
Appian can be improved by adding a geo-location tagging feature, which would be really helpful for identifying remitter addresses.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
It also suggests the best automation process that can be configured within Appian.
Associate Technology Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Developers should have discretion over which view they want to use, either the old designer view or the new designer view, as Microsoft is forcing the new designer view, which most developers don't prefer.
Power Platform Developer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It would be better to make it a wizard more than requiring coding.
Senior Operations and Group Information Technology Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
We haven't gone into depth to explore the integration with AI, so I am not really sure.
Engineering Manager at a wholesaler/distributor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Appian's pricing varies by deployment and workload, offering value despite higher costs, with notable robust, enterprise-grade features.
Microsoft Power Automate offers cost-effective automation, often bundled with Office 365, though premium features may increase costs for enterprises.
Appian provides value for money, is easy to use, has a straightforward setup procedure, and offers great support from the Appian team.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
On the pricier side, both Appian and Pega are enterprise-level solutions, placing them on the slightly higher side.
Delivery Manager (Intelligent Business Automation) - Pega at Persistent Systems
The pricing of Appian is based on the number of users and generally ranges from 70 to 100 USD per user per month.
Technology Leader of Appian at a retailer with 11-50 employees
The price of Microsoft Power Automate was affordable for our clients, who are small companies.
Talent Acquisition Specialist at APERCE
I don't remember paying anything excessively or overpriced.
Sales Manager at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Microsoft Power Automate is reasonably priced compared to others in the market.
Senior Operations and Group Information Technology Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Valuable Features

Appian provides low-code development with seamless integration, automation, and AI, enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and flexibility in process management.
Microsoft Power Automate streamlines task automation with low-code tools, seamless integration, and robust connectors, enhancing productivity and efficiency.
The zero-code integration feature is remarkable, allowing for ease of data transfer and workflow enhancement.
Technology Leader of Appian at a retailer with 11-50 employees
Appian is aiding in leveraging AI technologies in multiple ways: one way is for developers, as they make development efficient and quick by enabling developer co-pilots across various phases of the application, which helps design Appian quickly and provides suggestions along the way.
Director & Key Managerial Personnel at Newlight Technology Solutions Private Limited
After switching to Appian, it can extract data from MT103, eliminating the need for manual data entry.
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
We have saved thousands of hours by automating tasks that would have been labor-intensive and error-prone if done manually.
Assistant Manager, Data Science & Analytics at American International Group
If I want to fill something in Power Platform and need to fill another item in Salesforce, instead of doing the same task in different platforms, I can directly fill it in Power Platform and integrate it with Salesforce through API in Microsoft Power Automate, and my work is complete.
Power Platform Developer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Microsoft Power Automate has positively impacted my organization as it has saved a lot of time and effort.
Customer Solution Provider at Wema Bank
 

Categories and Ranking

Appian
Ranking in Process Mining
6th
Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (8th), Process Automation (7th), Rapid Application Development Software (10th), Low-Code Development Platforms (5th)
Microsoft Power Automate
Ranking in Process Mining
4th
Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
133
Ranking in other categories
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (3rd), Agentic Automation (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Process Mining category, the mindshare of Appian is 5.3%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Power Automate is 16.4%, down from 22.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Process Mining Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Power Automate16.4%
Appian5.3%
Other78.3%
Process Mining
 

Featured Reviews

Shad Bhowmik - PeerSpot reviewer
Finance Specialist at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Automated remittance workflows have boosted speed and accuracy but still need geo-tagging improvements
Remittance is a crucial part of my integral operation, so any disruption would majorly impact our clients. After switching to Appian, we never faced any disruption as it is reliable and we can generate data at any point in time, quite faster than other tools in my personal opinion. Regulators can ask for data from us at any time, and with Appian, we download data from our Appian tools to share it with them whenever they ask. I would share a real-life example: a customer's transaction processed more than a year ago. Suddenly the customer came back asking for all the details. In our previous tool, it was quite difficult to generate transaction details from over a year ago; however, while using Appian, we can pull up data using different key search fields, such as a customer's cell phone number, remittance tracking number, or MT103 reference number. We shared it with the customer instantly, and the customer was surprised we could provide all the details in such a short time. It added reputational value for our organization, thanks to Appian.You have pointed out two major things: time-saving and reduction of error, which are key points while processing remittance. Previously, while using another tool, it was quite time-consuming to process remittance, but after switching to Appian, it can extract data from MT103, eliminating the need for manual data entry. The process has become fully automated. Previously we could process only five to ten transactions within an hour, but now, after switching to Appian, we can process about 100 transactions in an hour, making it 10 times faster. In terms of error detection, since Appian extracts data from MT103, the extraction rate is quite good, and the error rate is negligible, lower than 0.001%. We can share accurate, error-free data with the regulator, which is essential for us. Appian benefits us significantly. After receiving an MT103, we check what the remitter is, the amount, if it is under threshold for processing, and if it is from a high-priority remitter or client. Since Appian extracts data from MT103 messages and identifies top-level clients from the database, it can notify us to process their transactions with priority. Due to automated data extraction, there are fewer instances of error. In our previous tool, we reported regulatory data to the central bank manually and often received complaints about invalid purpose codes due to manual data entry. Appian handles this automatically, and after switching, our error rate has dropped significantly, resulting in positive feedback from the Central Bank of Bangladesh regarding our reduced error rates. This has greatly enhanced our organization's reputation. Appian is fully on-premises, and we have our own system.
Ayobami Shobaloju - PeerSpot reviewer
Customer Solution Provider at Wema Bank
Automating processes has saved time and improved communication
Something frustrates me concerning Microsoft Power Automate, and that is about the integration with Microsoft Forms and Excel. The issue now is that I don't get my responses synchronized automatically, and that frustrates me a lot. If the team could take this as feedback, the synchronization of the feedback responses from the forms and the Excel sheets should be seamless. This synchronization issue happens frequently, and it causes a lot of delays in the sense that the mails that ought to go out to the agents fail at some point. I have to reload these responses so that the agents can get their responses as when submitted. What I notice is that the responses don't go out without proper synchronization, so I reload the field responses, and this works afterwards. I would say probably a seamless walkthrough process for new users would be beneficial. For those using it for the first time, a seamless walkthrough process would be fine.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise44
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business50
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise66
 

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: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.