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IBM Business Automation Workflow vs Pega Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 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
7.6
IBM Business Automation Workflow enhances efficiency, reduces costs, and accelerates digital transformation for improved ROI and user experience.
Sentiment score
7.1
Pega Platform boosts efficiency with quicker solutions, yielding significant ROI through cost savings, revenue increase, and improved customer satisfaction.
Initially performed manually, workflows now provide a better user experience and increased efficiency.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.9
IBM Business Automation Workflow's support has mixed reviews, but many find value once acquainted with their processes.
Sentiment score
6.7
Pega Platform's support is mixed, offering knowledgeable help but facing issues with delays and responsiveness; premium support is costly.
IBM provides long-term support and maintains a traditionally good customer-vendor relationship.
If the solution is readily available to IBM support team, they provide it instantly.
The technical support from Pega is very low, rating a one or two out of ten.
I never needed support from the platform standpoint, but if additional features are required, we have regular meetings with the product team for feedback.
Pega's technical support team is very helpful.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
IBM Business Automation Workflow is highly scalable, supporting extensive transactions, concurrent users, and both cloud and on-premises deployments.
Sentiment score
7.6
Pega Platform offers scalable solutions for complex applications, though optimization and infrastructure are crucial for handling high loads.
We are implementing load balancing and horizontal scalability.
We can manage the license usage and scale our environment while optimizing license use.
Currently, big banking providers and insurance providers, even the members for healthcare payers, are using more than millions of operations on a daily or weekly basis.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
IBM Business Automation Workflow is stable, with minor bugs, improving over time; users rate stability highly due to IBM's robust infrastructure.
Sentiment score
7.6
Pega Platform is stable and resilient for complex tasks, though technical proficiency is needed for optimal performance.
Outside of these maintenance periods, the environment is quite stable.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Business Automation Workflow needs improved integration, usability, cloud features, and support to enhance user experience and modernize the platform.
Pega Platform needs improved UI, better integration, scalable performance, cost-effective licensing, comprehensive docs, and simpler upgrades.
Many developments are focused on AI, LLM models, and data science.
Code management lacks merging capabilities.
IBM Business Automation Workflow could be more intuitive, with more advanced low-code features and services definition.
With the recent development of AI agents in Pega Platform 24.2, the adoption is not heavy due to regulations around using external LLM by customers, especially regulated customers in BFSS and healthcare.
Pega introduced Constellation, which allows a user to build a more engaging visual experience.
My learning curve in robotics has been challenging.
 

Setup Cost

IBM Business Automation Workflow is costly but offers high-quality features, flexible licensing, and worthwhile enterprise-level capabilities.
Pega Platform is costly but offers ROI and value for large industries despite complex licensing and high fees.
It is not a cheap license but in line with expectations for such software.
The price of IBM Business Automation Workflow is on the higher side compared to the features it offers.
The pricing is expensive, and this is an issue.
From a licensing perspective, it is higher than the competition.
Pega is priced higher than open-source options like Flowable but is suitable for large-scale industries like banking and insurance.
 

Valuable Features

IBM Business Automation Workflow offers agile, user-friendly workflow solutions with RPA integration, enhancing collaboration, customization, and AI-driven processes.
Pega Platform offers robust, scalable low-code solutions for seamless integration and digital transformation across diverse industries and frameworks.
It offers robust workflow features and, despite being a low-code tool, provides extensive customization options.
It assisted in making users concentrate on the process flow rather than just features.
We have integrations with different banks, ERP systems, and other human resource management systems by integrating through different systems.
Management capabilities such as dashboards.
Pega Platform is excellent for enterprise-level solutions with integrations to entire systems, including case management, service orchestration, CRM, decision-making capabilities, digital process automation, and AI-driven functionalities.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Business Automation Wor...
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
13th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Pega Platform
Ranking in Business Process Management (BPM)
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
Business Rules Management (1st), Process Automation (4th), Rapid Application Development Software (11th), Low-Code Development Platforms (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Business Process Management (BPM) category, the mindshare of IBM Business Automation Workflow is 2.1%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pega Platform is 5.6%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Management (BPM)
 

Featured Reviews

Ateeq Rehman - PeerSpot reviewer
Customizable features empower seamless workflow automation
The system is fully customizable, very resilient, and fault-tolerant. We have first-line support from IBM, so there are no issues. We have integrations with different banks, ERP systems, and other human resource management systems by integrating through different systems. It provides many ways to integrate, and we are utilizing it effectively.
reviewer4848291 - PeerSpot reviewer
Pega is a low-code platform that enables organizations to build, automate, and optimize business processes and customer experiences through AI-powered decisioning and workflow automation.
Here are the key areas where Pega Platform could be improved: 1. User Interface (UI) & User Experience (UX) Customization Limitations: The UI layer is tightly coupled with the platform, limiting flexibility for custom front-end development. Constellation Architecture: While it improves consistency, it restricts advanced UI customizations compared to older section-based designs. Learning Curve: Non-technical users find the UI unintuitive despite the low-code promise. 2. Integration & Extensibility Limited Out-of-the-Box Integrations: Users report challenges integrating with non-relational databases and legacy systems. Robotics Integration: Pega RPA (formerly OpenSpan) is not seamlessly integrated with BPM, creating silos in automation. 3. AI & Decisioning AI Capabilities Need Maturity: Users expect more advanced, native AI features without relying on external tools. CDH & Decision Hub: While powerful, these components require deep expertise to configure effectively. 4. Cost & Licensing High Licensing Costs: Pega is often seen as expensive, especially for small and mid-sized enterprises. Lack of Flexible Pricing Models: Calls for subscription-based or usage-based pricing to improve accessibility. 5. Performance & Scalability Scalability Concerns: Some users report performance degradation with large user bases or complex workflows. Upgrade Complexity: Platform upgrades can be time-consuming and disruptive if not planned well. 6. Documentation & Community Support Insufficient Learning Resources: Especially for advanced features, documentation is limited and community support is not as strong as competitors. Talent Availability: Finding skilled Pega professionals remains a challenge in many regions. 7. Low-Code/No-Code Experience Not Fully No-Code: Despite branding, some tasks still require technical intervention, and the drag-and-drop interface can be restrictive 2. Conflict Management: Simultaneous development by multiple users can lead to rule conflicts.
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
33%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 do you like most about IBM Business Automation Workflow?
It performs the basic tasks that are required for the BBM solution as part of the overall integration with ECM or enterprise contact management.
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.
Is Pega BPM easy to work with and can beginners utilize this software?
You do need some preparation to be able to use all functions of Pega BPM. However, all users of this platform are in luck as it comes with good documentation and you can learn pretty much everythin...
Have you encountered any issues while using Pega BPM and were you assisted by the company?
My company has been using this tool for years and the only issue we have had, if you can call it that, was while setting it up. When we were setting it up initially, we had some drawbacks and could...
When you consider the features and benefits of Pega BPM, would you say this product is fairly priced?
Pega BPM can be considered overpriced for some; it all depends on the size of your company and the requirements of your customers. Sure, there are products out there that do the things that Pega B...
 

Also Known As

Business Automation Workflow
Pega BPM, Pegasystems, SmartBPM, PegaRULES
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Key Bank, Barclays, Control€xpert, MIR Insurance Brokers, Conqord Oil
The State of Maine, ANZ, Coca-Cola, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), ME, New South Wales, OptumRx, Texas Department of Transportation, UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Business Automation Workflow vs. Pega Platform and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.