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Manufacturing · head to head

Propel vs TrendMiner

Propel logo

Propel

Manufacturing

PLM, quality and product information management built on the Salesforce platform

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
TrendMiner logo

TrendMiner

Manufacturing

Search-driven time series analytics for process engineers, now owned by Proemion rather than Software AG

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Propel your product data lives in a Salesforce org, so a future decision to leave Salesforce becomes a PLM migration as well as a CRM one, and the extraction is not trivial.; TrendMiner ownership moved from Software AG to Proemion in a 47 million euro sale during the Silver Lake break-up, so the integration roadmap tied to webMethods and Cumulocity is gone and the new owner is far smaller.
  • They diverge on capability: Propel covers Item and BOM management, TrendMiner covers Pattern search.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Propel and TrendMiner actually diverge.

Attributes where Propel and TrendMiner differ
AttributePropelTrendMiner
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, Cloud, APIWeb, Windows, Linux

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Manufacturing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Propel

  • Item and BOM management
  • Change management
  • Quality management
  • Product information management
  • Supplier collaboration
  • Native Salesforce
  • Licence types

Only in TrendMiner

  • Pattern search
  • Value-based search
  • Monitors
  • Soft sensors
  • Context items
  • Dashboards
  • Machine learning models
  • ContextHub

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Propel

  • A medical device company needing linked design control and CAPA records for an ISO 13485 audit without an on-premise PLM programmenot TrendMiner
  • A consumer products firm publishing the same product record to engineering, packaging and e-commerce teamsnot TrendMiner
  • A company already standardised on Salesforce that wants product data governed with the same admin skills as the CRMnot TrendMiner
  • A hardware manufacturer routing customer complaints straight to the part revision and supplier that caused themnot TrendMiner

TrendMiner

  • Finding every prior occurrence of a heat exchanger fouling signature to estimate cleaning frequency from history rather than from a rule of thumbnot Propel
  • Comparing golden batches against off-spec ones in a pharmaceutical process without exporting to a data science teamnot Propel
  • Building a monitor that flags the early temperature signature that preceded the last three compressor tripsnot Propel
  • Giving a process engineer a way to answer a question in an afternoon that previously required a historian export and a spreadsheet weeknot Propel

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Propel

  • Your product data lives in a Salesforce org, so a future decision to leave Salesforce becomes a PLM migration as well as a CRM one, and the extraction is not trivial.
  • CAD data management is handled through connectors rather than natively; Propel manages metadata and files well but is not a substitute for a CAD vault on large assemblies.
  • The published cost bands are extremely wide, from 10,000 to 500,000 US dollars a year, and setup can approach the annual licence, so early budgeting without a scoped quote is close to meaningless.
  • Licence roles are split across Performance, Quality, Enrichment, Collaboration and Partner types, and buyers frequently discover mid-project that a user needs a more expensive role than budgeted.
  • Salesforce platform limits such as governor limits, API call ceilings and storage allowances apply, and organisations with very large BOMs or heavy integration traffic hit them in ways a purpose-built PLM would not surface.

TrendMiner

  • Ownership moved from Software AG to Proemion in a 47 million euro sale during the Silver Lake break-up, so the integration roadmap tied to webMethods and Cumulocity is gone and the new owner is far smaller.
  • It is built for continuous time series and handles discrete manufacturing, relational quality data and event-driven production poorly, so plants that are not continuous process get limited value.
  • Value depends entirely on historian data quality and tag naming; sites with inconsistent tag descriptions and missing asset context spend months on data preparation before the search features are usable.
  • Licensing is by named analyst user, and the population who genuinely use pattern search is small, so organisations that buy broadly pay for seats that log in occasionally.
  • It reads history but does not fix it: there is no data collection layer, so an existing historian is mandatory and TrendMiner is always an additional cost on top of it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Propel

On request
  • Propel$undefined/year
    • Annual user-based licensing in role types
    • Salesforce platform access included in each licence
    • Indicative small deployment band of 10,000 to 150,000 USD a year plus 10,000 to 25,000 setup

TrendMiner

On request
  • TrendMiner$undefined/year
    • Annual subscription sized by named users and connected historian tag volume
    • Separate licence tiers for full analyst users and view-only dashboard consumers
    • Historian connectors quoted per source system

Which should you pick?

Choose Propel if

  • You need item and bom management.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud, API.
  • You also want change management.
Propel review

Choose TrendMiner if

  • You need pattern search.
  • You work on Web, Windows, Linux.
  • You also want value-based search.
TrendMiner review

Questions people ask

Is Propel or TrendMiner better?
Neither clearly leads. Propel starts at On request and TrendMiner at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Propel or TrendMiner?
Propel starts at On request and TrendMiner at On request.
Does Propel or TrendMiner run on more platforms?
Propel runs on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud, API. TrendMiner runs on Web, Windows, Linux.
What is Propel best used for?
Propel is most often used for a medical device company needing linked design control and capa records for an iso 13485 audit without an on-premise plm programme, a consumer products firm publishing the same product record to engineering, packaging and e-commerce teams, a company already standardised on salesforce that wants product data governed with the same admin skills as the crm, a hardware manufacturer routing customer complaints straight to the part revision and supplier that caused them. Of those, a medical device company needing linked design control and capa records for an iso 13485 audit without an on-premise plm programme and a consumer products firm publishing the same product record to engineering, packaging and e-commerce teams are not what TrendMiner is typically brought in for.
What can Propel do that TrendMiner cannot?
Propel covers Item and BOM management, Change management, Quality management, Product information management. TrendMiner covers Pattern search, Value-based search, Monitors, Soft sensors.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Propel: Do I need to buy Salesforce separately?

No. Each Propel licence includes Salesforce platform access, and end users do not need their own Salesforce licences or Salesforce expertise.

TrendMiner: Who owns TrendMiner now?

Proemion, a German industrial analytics company backed by Battery Ventures, which bought it from Software AG for 47 million euros in 2024.

Propel: Does being on Salesforce lock me in?

Practically, yes. The application, its configuration and your product data all sit in a Salesforce org, which is a real consideration at renewal.

TrendMiner: Does it replace my historian?

No. It connects to PI, IP.21, PHD, Exaquantum and others and reads from them. The historian remains the system of record.

Propel: What does it cost?

Propel publishes indicative bands rather than list prices: roughly 10,000 to 150,000 US dollars a year for a small deployment and 250,000 to 500,000 for a large one, plus setup.

TrendMiner: Do I need a data scientist to use it?

No, and that is the point. The pattern search and soft sensor tooling are aimed at process engineers with no coding background.

Propel: Is it suitable for regulated medical devices?

Yes, that is a core segment; the quality module covers CAPA, non-conformance, audits and training records with electronic signatures.

TrendMiner: Is pricing per user?

Yes, largely, with tiers for analyst and view-only access plus charges for historian connectors and data volume.

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