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Bonita vs IBM Business Automation Workflow comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 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)
28th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (17th), Process Automation (28th)
IBM Business Automation Wor...
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
14th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of Bonita is 1.7%, down from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Business Automation Workflow is 1.2%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Business Automation Workflow1.2%
Bonita1.7%
Other97.1%
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.
IsmailEl Dahshan - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at Exact Holding NV
Automation has transformed financial workflows and has improved revenue tracking and compliance
Regarding Watsonx, I am uncertain whether it is fully complied and fully integrated with IBM Business Automation Workflow yet. Currently, we use some AI in Enterprise Content Management, particularly when searching documents. Archiving snapshots would be very beneficial. It would be good to reduce the administration effort required to archive snapshots, as this is a main issue with the product. I would also recommend that IBM engage with customers more deeply. Rather than sending URLs or documentation for customers to solve problems independently, the support team should be more involved in addressing the client's specific issues in a targeted manner, providing clear guidance on what actions need to be taken.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"In general, Bonita is a very good solution."
"Bonita BPM is simple and fast; it is very easy to install and use."
"It is a great product that is powerful in developing applications."
"Of the three BPM vendors I evaluated, Bonita was the best in creating forms, ease of customization of forms, and versatility of supported platforms, and it is the only BPM platform that I've seen so far that allows for versioning of artifacts."
"Bonitasoft helped us automate complicated and labor intensive processes"
"I find process management and user interface designing the most valuable features."
"The user interface is easy to use."
"Bonita is user-friendly."
"It has integrated UI and deployment models, and it has a deep set of consultant and service provider ecosystem features."
"Automation will help them to improve their efficiency for any case resolution and improve the customer experience."
"It has had a positive effect on decision-making in my organization. It helps us with our dispute process."
"It gives us the ability to create toolkits and use them across many different applications. It allows us to write things one time, instead of having to write a diary for every single different application. We can write at once and reuse it."
"After being acquired from Lombardi by IBM, BPA was only workflow-related, and over a period of time it evolved with a lot of capabilities added to the product, like rules, business decision-making, and now a more enhanced toolkit to build applications very rapidly."
"Its interface is well-designed and user-friendly"
"The system is fully customizable, very resilient, and fault-tolerant."
"It performs the basic tasks that are required for the BBM solution as part of the overall integration with ECM or enterprise contact management."
 

Cons

"We are struggling a bit with integrations."
"Scalability of the Bonita BPM Community version is low."
"The menus likely would be more intuitive if read in French. Things seem to be under strange headings at times."
"I have run into a lot of problems because there is not enough documentation."
"So Bonita is easy to use but it seems to be missing some powerful features that competing products have."
"The support is mandatory to access all features (Subscription), maybe they can have a different business model."
"The main issue with Bonita is that the workspace crashes sometimes."
"Automation in vacation of a human resources replacement would be a good improvement in the product."
"The solution's technical support could use improvement. The IBM BPM platform, at least from a cloud perspective, still requires using IBM support, which is not very responsive."
"I would like to see more streamlined install and provisioning; preferably containerized IBM BPM would be helpful."
"In terms of improvement, it could be less complex; it is quite a complicated software."
"The SCADA Systems are very sophisticated and have a hard time integrating with our older scales. The technical support in regards to the partner side needs some improvement."
"The development UI is sometimes a little slow."
"Sometimes, you need an integrated solution. Customers don't want to have to say, "Oh, I'm acquiring this product, now I have to go build up that product. I have to go and build something else in another product and integrate.""
"While everything is integrated into one platform, I'd like guidelines on when and how to use ODM. This applies not only to implementation but also to automation processes. Additionally, proper instructions should be provided when installing on the cloud."
"The main areas which need improvement are specifically around reporting and analytics."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's pricing is acceptable. Pricing is yearly."
"I am using the free version of Bonita."
"The price is fair for what we are using the solution for."
"Price to service ratio with Bonita BPM is good."
"You pay an annual fee and can have an unlimited number of processes and users."
"have installed the image of Bonita BPM on Amazon AWS and there is just one option to use and pay for."
"I believe this is a very good financial choice."
"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."
"It is on the expensive side, but it provides excellent supportability and an ecosystem that is proven to be a great fit for our organization."
"Our license is on a three-year term."
"Nowadays, clients are looking at pricing as one of the major factors. For IBM products, they always think it is expensive for them. We are still educating our clients on the IBM FlexPoints licensing."
"IBM Business Automation Workflow has a flexible pricing mode, but the price is expensive. The price of the solution reflects the quality of the solution which is very high. The technical support is an additional cost."
"While it can be quite costly, it offers significant benefits for users."
"Licensing varies by use-case."
"There is still a relatively high total cost of ownership to actually implement, support, and stand up solutions."
"When you compare with Laserfiche and M-Files, IBM is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
 

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 Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise17
 

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...
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 Business Automation Workflow?
The price of IBM Business Automation Workflow is on the higher side compared to the features it offers.
What needs improvement with IBM Business Automation Workflow?
Regarding Watsonx, I am uncertain whether it is fully complied and fully integrated with IBM Business Automation Workflow yet. Currently, we use some AI in Enterprise Content Management, particular...
 

Also Known As

Bonita BPM
Business Automation Workflow
 

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.
Key Bank, Barclays, Control€xpert, MIR Insurance Brokers, Conqord Oil
Find out what your peers are saying about Bonita vs. IBM Business Automation Workflow and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.