No-Code · alternatives
Alternatives to Appian
20 no-code tools sit alongside Appian in this directory. Below is what separates each from Appian on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 20
- With a free tier
- 12
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Appian starts at
- On request
Why people look past Appian
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Appian entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is no free tier
The record for Appian carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 12 of the 20 alternatives below can be used without paying.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Enterprise low-code platform priced by application complexity units, not just users
- Sold on a Application Object consumption plus internal and external user packs model rather than Per user, per app, per month, escalating across Standard, Advanced and Premium tiers.
- 2 tiers to Appian's 3.
Siemens-owned low-code platform priced by app count, with cloud infrastructure billed separately
- Can be used without paying; Appian cannot.
- Sold on a Per application tier (One App vs Unlimited Apps), cloud infrastructure billed separately model rather than Per user, per app, per month, escalating across Standard, Advanced and Premium tiers.
- 4 tiers to Appian's 3.
The world works with ServiceNow
- Sold on a quote model rather than Per user, per app, per month, escalating across Standard, Advanced and Premium tiers.
Low-code app builder priced per user per month, bundled into the wider Zoho ecosystem
- Can be used without paying; Appian cannot.
- Sold on a Per user per month, billed annually model rather than Per user, per app, per month, escalating across Standard, Advanced and Premium tiers.
- 4 tiers to Appian's 3.
No-code, drag-and-drop mobile app builder priced by AI tokens and project counts
- Can be used without paying; Appian cannot.
- Sold on a Per month, tiered by AI token allowance and project count model rather than Per user, per app, per month, escalating across Standard, Advanced and Premium tiers.
- 4 tiers to Appian's 3.
No-code backend with a visual workflow engine, used behind other tools rather than instead of them
- Can be used without paying; Appian cannot.
- Sold on a quote model rather than Per user, per app, per month, escalating across Standard, Advanced and Premium tiers.
- 1 tier to Appian's 3.
Every Appian alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appian (this page) | On request | Per user, per app, per month, escalating across Standard, Advanced and Premium tiers | 3 | |
| OutSystemsIf general-purpose application development matters more than process and case automation | On request | Application Object consumption plus internal and external user packs | 2 | vs Appian |
| MendixIf you want app-count pricing rather than per-user-per-app-per-month multiplication | Free | Per application tier (One App vs Unlimited Apps), cloud infrastructure billed separately | 4 | vs Appian |
| ServiceNowIf you are comparing enterprise workflow platforms with a stronger IT service management heritage | On request | Quote | 3 | vs Appian |
| Zoho Creator | Free | Per user per month, billed annually | 4 | vs Appian |
| Thunkable | Free | Per month, tiered by AI token allowance and project count | 4 | vs Appian |
| Directual | Free | Quote | 1 | vs Appian |
| Corteza | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Appian |
| FlutterFlow | Free, then $30/month | Per user per month | 5 | vs Appian |
| Momen | Free | Quote | 1 | vs Appian |
| WeWeb | Free | Quote | 1 | vs Appian |
| Draftbit | Free | Quote | 1 | vs Appian |
| Softr | Free, then $25/month | Freemium | 4 | vs Appian |
| ToolJet | Free, then $79/month | Freemium | 4 | vs Appian |
| Bubble | Free | Freemium | - | vs Appian |
| Quickbase | On request | Per user per month, billed annually, with an enforced minimum seat count per tier | 3 | vs Appian |
| Caspio | On request | Flat monthly fee by data record volume and DataPage count, unlimited users included | 3 | vs Appian |
| Whalesync | $40/month | Per month by records in sync | 3 | vs Appian |
| Noloco | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Appian |
| Stacker | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Appian |
| Superblocks | $100/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Appian |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Appian badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (12)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Mendix , Free
- Zoho Creator , Free
- Thunkable , Free
- Directual , Free
- Corteza , Free
- FlutterFlow , Free, then $30/month
- Momen , Free
- WeWeb , Free
What you would be giving up
Appian is most often brought in for a regulated enterprise (financial services, government, insurance) automating case management processes that need a full audit trail, a company deploying rpa bots alongside low-code apps and wanting both in one licensed platform, an organisation whose process data volume is large enough that the standard tier's 4 million row cap is a real constraint worth planning for, a business wanting embedded ai actions inside workflow steps rather than bolted on separately. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Appian is broadly right and the question is cost, the Appian pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the No-Code category lists everything the directory holds, and best no-code tools ranks them.
Appian runs on web, ios, android. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Appian alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Appian?
- 20 other no-code tools are listed in this directory, led by OutSystems, Mendix, ServiceNow, Zoho Creator. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Appian?
- 12 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Mendix, Zoho Creator, Thunkable, Directual, Corteza.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Appian?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: there is no free tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Appian?
- Appian is most often brought in for a regulated enterprise (financial services, government, insurance) automating case management processes that need a full audit trail, a company deploying rpa bots alongside low-code apps and wanting both in one licensed platform, an organisation whose process data volume is large enough that the standard tier's 4 million row cap is a real constraint worth planning for, a business wanting embedded ai actions inside workflow steps rather than bolted on separately. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Appian?
- None of the no-code tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Appian alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, No-Code, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Appian against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Appian covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every no-code tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the No-Code category, 20 tools beside Appian. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.