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Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs Pega Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

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

Oracle Application Express ...
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
4th
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (2nd)
Pega Platform
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
6th
Ranking in Low-Code Development Platforms
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
Business Rules Management (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (6th), Process Automation (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Oracle Application Express (APEX) is 8.1%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pega Platform is 6.3%, down from 6.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

Rodrigo-Mesquita - PeerSpot reviewer
Rapid application development empowers big projects in months
The ability to quickly develop applications without needing to code a lot is very valuable. It is very quick to create a page, and one can use AI to speed up software development. It is easy to learn. In my company, we could develop a very big application in a couple of months.
Mallik-Kesavaraju - PeerSpot reviewer
Significantly improves the overall cycle time, and offers robotic automation, and the BPM workflow
The extensive availability of ready-made gadgets in Pega BPM is a double-edged sword. While it offers convenience, it also leads to a steeper learning curve. Our developers and business analysts need to invest significant time and effort to fully understand and utilize the platform's capabilities. In essence, it's a complex product that demands a deep understanding to be used effectively. So, it cuts both ways. This complexity can be both an advantage and a disadvantage, depending on the user's expertise. So, the learning curve is pretty high! So, it's very good if you are a professional user, but you need to be a really good professional user to use this solution effectively.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Intuitive with a user-friendly UI."
"In our experience with Apex, we find that minimizing reliance on HTML and JavaScript is preferable, especially considering our background as seasoned programmers adept in PL/SQL. Incorporating HTML and JavaScript can pose challenges due to potential compatibility issues when updates are made to JavaScript. We also make use of JAPER report integration for generating reports, a practice integral to our reporting procedures."
"The most valuable features are security, stability, and ease of implementation."
"The valuable features are charts, reports, and search engines."
"Personally, I would say that Oracle Application Express (APEX) is a powerful tool...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."
"Oracle Application Express is easy to use, people don't have to be developers to use it."
"I like that Oracle Application Express (APEX) is powerful and attractive, allowing my organization to modernize forms within two months. I also found its PWA feature very powerful because you can produce substantial mobile applications."
"Oracle APEX is very easy to use and comes with a lot of ready-made components that speed up the process of creating reports and dashboards."
"The solution is able to support the size and scale required."
"The technical support of Pega BPM is very good."
"Pricing is a little on the high side."
"The solution offers excellent workflows."
"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the various workflows."
"The most valuable feature of Pega BPM is step-by-step voice guidance that converts your problem statement into different diagrams and then implements the process."
"The case management functionality of this solution has been most valuable."
"The solution's most valuable feature is its quick setup. Nowhere else you can create a good-looking application this quick. It's a fairly robust system."
 

Cons

"Visual Builder and APEX should meld in one product."
"Apex has effectively incorporated new market trends into its features. The platform's user-friendly nature is notable, guiding developers through the development process. While advanced customization of the user interface with HTML and CSS is possible, the out-of-the-box options often suffice, providing 80-90% of the required functionality. The IDE is commendable, yet an enhancement in the Page Designer to allow a real-time preview of layout changes would be beneficial. Currently, running the page is necessary to visualize layout adjustments, but an immediate preview during the design phase would be a valuable improvement."
"It has been reported that the technology is very hard to learn, and the service is expensive."
"We would like to see tighter integration with the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure."
"Oracle Application Express would be improved if you could use it on a mobile platform."
"Connecting with Oracle and the relation with Oracle at the database as a procedure needs improvement."
"It would be highly beneficial if APEX were an all-in-one platform capable of handling all aspects of application development."
"The solution does not include a default or custom template like other products."
"From a technical point of view, it would be helpful to have some advanced analytics to help with configuration. We have a lot of unwanted features and it would be good to configure it more appropriately so that we are using just exactly what we need."
"Reporting is not so clear and not so great. We really struggle to get the right reporting. When we need reporting based on the content of the tickets, we are not able to get it. The MIS reporting is not great. That's one of the reasons why we are switching to ServiceNow. Its compatibility with the higher versions of Internet Explorer should be improved. It really works well in Mozilla Firefox or any other browser, but when it comes to Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer, sometimes, the layout gets disturbed. The positioning of the buttons changes, and there is some distortion in the layout. I am not sure whether it is our configuration problem or Pega's, but when it is working in Mozilla Firefox, it should also work in Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer."
"The solution needs to invest more in its technology. For public and private clouds, for example, the development environment is slow. Saving events should take one to two seconds, max, and because you are making changes often, the slowness cuts down on productivity because we have to wait for things to save before continuing."
"The UI layer is a concern since it is native to them and embedded into the code."
"Sometimes when we are patching some data from the database, we are getting added as a timeout."
"There are some UX shortcomings within the solution. However, it's my understanding that they have addressed them and in the next three months they will come out with a new updated version. They will be moving away from HTML5."
"Lack of stronger cloud support is somewhat inconvenient for users and implementation."
"Customers expect more out-of-the-box solutions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive, but I don't know what the licensing cost is."
"To my understanding, my organization is using the free version of Oracle Application Express (APEX), but I'm unsure because I haven't checked the pricing or licensing cost for it."
"The product is completely free of cost."
"When you have a licensed database in an Oracle environment, APEX is free."
"Oracle Express comes with the Oracle license, it is a bundle."
"The pricing is very good and less expensive than Mendix or OutSystems."
"If you have a license to Oracle database, you can access APEX."
"I believe APEX comes bundled with the database, including autonomous database and other related database products, so the pricing is quite reasonable."
"I would rate the product's pricing a six out of ten."
"Users have to pay a yearly license cost for Pega BPM, which is expensive."
"Pega is expensive."
"PegaRULES is a good product, but its pricing is a bit on the premium side, especially for professionals."
"It's a user-based license where, as you scale the numbers of users, the price increases."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis. Because of our special relationship, all the training certifications are free of cost. All our employees can do Pega certifications at zero cost. It is all on Pega."
"They're very cagey in giving out prices, and it is very difficult to find out the real price any organization is going to get. It is almost never their list price, if you can find it, and there are a lot of factors that go into the whole pricing."
"We do not have to purchase any licenses for the product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
28%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
Oracle APEX is part of our on-premises solution included in our agreement with Oracle E Business Suite, though I don't know the cost specifics. Power BI is licensed by the user.
What needs improvement with Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
Using AI to analyze data without needing much code would be better. Also, although the interface is easy to change, it could have more features.
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

Oracle APEX
Pega BPM, Pegasystems, SmartBPM, PegaRULES
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hepart AG, pharmasol, SATLOG, Collège Bois-de-Boulogne
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 Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs. Pega Platform and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.