Appian vs Salesforce

Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?

The short answer

Appian is the stronger AI pick in Low-Code & No-Code: it has a visibility score of 19.6 versus 17.1 for Salesforce, and ranks ahead in 87% of the answers that name both.

Choose Appian if…

You want the brand AI engines rank higher (19.6 vs 17.1)
AI answers describe it more positively (38% vs 21% positive)
You need ISO 27001 or HIPAA or PCI DSS or FedRAMP Moderate or FedRAMP High or DISA IL5 provisional authorization coverage
heavy-duty workflow automation and process orchestration

Choose Salesforce if…

You need ISO 27001:2022 or ISO 27017 or ISO 27018 or HITRUST coverage
You prefer a larger, established vendor (5,000+ employees)
Powerful reporting, automation and customisation
Market leader and gold standard CRM

AI visibility side by side

Latest weekly run · Nov 3

Metric	Appian	Salesforce
Visibility score	19.6%	17.1%
Change vs last week	down−1%	up+0.8%
Rank in Low-Code & No-Code	#6	#8
Share of voice	5.4%	4.7%
Mentions this run	31	27
Positive in AI answers	38%	21%

The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.

Visibility score trend

Weekly runs over the last 60 days

Appian −1pp · Salesforce +0.8000000000000007pp over 1 weekly runs.

Engine by engine

Appian leads on 2 of 3 engines

ChatGPT

21.9%

22.2%

AI Mode

20.2%

14.3%

Perplexity

16.9%

14.8%

AppianSalesforce

Head to head in AI answers

15 engine answers name both brands

13Appian ranked higher

2Salesforce ranked higher

Prompt	Engine	Appian	Salesforce
What is a low-code platform and when does a company need one?	ChatGPT	#4	#6
How do I choose a low-code platform for a mid-market team?	ChatGPT	#5	#7
Best low-code platform for enterprise	ChatGPT	#4	#6
Best low-code platform for enterprise	Perplexity	#4	#6
Compare the leading Low-Code & No-Code platforms	ChatGPT	#4	#5
Compare the leading Low-Code & No-Code platforms	AI Mode	#5	#6
Compare the leading Low-Code & No-Code platforms	Perplexity	#4	#9
Alternatives to the most popular low-code platform	Perplexity	#5	#7
Which Low-Code & No-Code vendors do analysts recommend?	ChatGPT	#4	#5
Which Low-Code & No-Code vendors do analysts recommend?	AI Mode	#7	#3
Which Low-Code & No-Code vendors do analysts recommend?	Perplexity	#4	#5
Official website of the top low-code platform vendors	ChatGPT	#4	#5

Features, pricing & fit

Dimension	Appian	Salesforce
Pricing model	Per seat	—
Entry price	Contact sales	—
Free plan	Yes	—
Deployment	Appian Cloud, with a separate Government Cloud for federal customers, plus self-managed and hybrid options	Cloud (SaaS)
Compliance	SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, FedRAMP Moderate, FedRAMP High, DISA IL5 provisional authorization	ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, HITRUST
Support	Appian Customer Success program, Appian Guarantee for first app delivery in 8 weeks or less	Phone, Trailblazer Community, Success Plans, Trailhead training
Founded	1999	1999
Headquarters	McLean, Virginia	San Francisco, California
Employees	1,001–5,000	5,000+
Funding	IPO on Nasdaq (APPN) at $12 per share · $85M raised	—
Best for	Large enterprises and government bodies running complex, document-intensive, high-volume processes that depend on operational context	Businesses from small companies to large enterprises wanting sales, service, marketing and commerce on one CRM platform