Celonis vs UiPath Process Mining Comparison [Updated 2023]

In this article we compare Celonis vs UiPath process mining features and introduce a new, third alternative called Workfellow.

Process mining: what is it and what are the benefits?

Process mining is a data mining technique used to help an organization achieve better process performance and efficiency. It provides an understanding of how business processes are actually being executed in an organization, enabling more efficient and effective business operations.

What are common uses for process mining?

There are four common uses for process mining:

1. Process discovery: To identify the true state of processes, tasks and the use of key IT systems;

2. Conformance checking: to gain compliance with organization policies and regulations;

3. Root cause analysis: to analyze the root causes of process performance issues, including bottlenecks, delays, and inefficiencies in business processes.

4. Process optimization: process mining can be used to optimize existing processes for improved performance and efficiency, for example, through task automation.

Growing demand in process mining

Process mining is not a new technology but has recently increased in popularity as more enterprise organizations look to increase digitalization and business process automation. Gartner estimates that the market has grown to over $2bn in revenue in 2023. 

What is the key difference between Celonis and UiPath?

Celonis is a execution management platform that uses process mining to analyze data to provide insights which can help organizations improve performance. UiPath is an enterprise automation platform that uses process and task mining to identify automation opportunities.

What is Celonis

Celonis is a process mining and intelligent automation platform that allows companies to improve their business processes through a platform called the “Execution Management System” (EMS). It does this by giving users visibility and insights into the performance of their processes through extracting and analyzing event logs from different data sources, for example, ERP or CMS systems. Celonis EMS also allows users to identify bottlenecks, discover inefficiencies, and optimize processes.

Celonis was one of the first commercially available process mining solutions and is today a recognized market leader in the category. Since 2011 the company has grown rapidly and now has a market valuation over $13 billion. Celonis has over 3000 customers across most industries, mostly in North America and Europe.

Key features of Celonis Process Mining

• Enterprise focus: Celonis provides a deep level of service, security and process data management for the needs of large enterprise organizations. ‍
• Event log extraction: Celonis have a large customer base and broad experience in extracting event logs from different source systems, especially popular ERPs such as SAP and Oracle.‍
• Wide partner network: Celonis has over 170 partner agencies that provide implementation consulting services.

According to Gartner, the top 5 alternatives and competitors to Celonis are:

• SAP Signavio Process Intelligence
• IBM Process Mining
• Soroco Scout Platform
• Software AG ARIS Process Mining 10
• UiPath Platform

Source: Gartner Peer Insights

What is UiPath

UiPath is a leading process automation and orchestration platform. It provides a suite of tools to help automate processes, including an easy-to-use visual workflow designer, a powerful robotic automation platform, and an AI-powered document processing component. 

UiPath was a pioneer in robotic process automation (RPA). It has over 40 offices and 10,000 customers worldwide ranging from independent RPA developers to large enterprise businesses such as Verizon, Coca-Cola and Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

UiPath Process Mining

UiPath’s process mining tool has been integrated to the platform through the acquisition of ProcessGold in 2019. The ProcessGold solution included process mining, process monitoring and business intelligence functionality was packaged together under the name ProcessGold Enterprise Platform. Today the solution goes by the name UiPath Process Mining.

UiPath Task Capture

UiPath Task Capture is a process discovery tool that gives automation ideas related to task automation and the adoption of RPA. In practice, UiPath Task capture is a program downloaded and installed on user computers that helps you diagram and capture activities from the user interface using task capture technology.

Key features of UiPath

• Automation suite: All-in-one platform for automation including RPA, low-code app development and integrations.
• Accessible and scalable: UiPath is relatively quick to start to use, starting from free-to-try UiPath Cloud Platform.
• Trainings: Broad set of training materials for intelligent automation, including the UiPath Academy and certifications

In Gartner’s view the top five alternatives and competitors to UiPath are:

• Automation 360
• Blue Prism Intelligent Automation
• Datamatics TruBot
• AutomationEdge
• Appian RPA

Source: Gartner Peer Insights

Celonis vs UiPath Process Mining Comparison

When comparing Celonis and UiPath process mining functionality, it is important to consider the different aspects of each tool. Here we look at four key criteria: ease of deployment, data visualizations, automation capabilities, and pricing.

Ease of deployment

A key element of any process mining solution is the ease of deployment. Most process mining tools depend on extracting and loading event logs from different source systems for process analysis, but different solution providers have their own approaches to data ingestion.

Celonis Process Mining Deployment

Celonis is known for being an enterprise-grade tool that requires significant time and resources for deployment. Every source system needs to be integrated separately, and overall, the management of different types of connections may require significant resources and data engineering skills to set up.

Once fully set up Celonis is able to extract large amounts of data quickly and accurately through different methods. Celonis offers automated integration solutions to widely used ERP systems, such as SAP, a configurable self-service data extractor and the ability to upload process data files, such as .xlsx or .xes.

UiPath Process Mining Deployment

UiPath is considerably easier deploy than Celonis but it still requires integrations to different source systems. UiPath is able to extract data from multiple sources but it’s data extraction capabilities are more limited than Celonis. Data can be uploaded using a Basic Connector capable of reading .csv and other machine readable file types. UiPath also has a native data extractor to SAP. On the other hand, UiPath’s data integration capabilities within the Automation Suite are extensive, allowing for a deep integration to UiPath’s automation solutions.

Visualizations and Analytics

Another key feature of process mining tools is the ability to visualize key processes and draw insights from actionable process analytics. Different process mining solutions look similar on the surface but major differences come in the details.

Celonis Process Analytics

Celonis provides a broad range of ready-made charts and views, including OLAP tables, column charts, pie charts, scatter plots and donut charts.

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Dashboards within Celonis can be configured easily using a visual editor and adjusted with a code editor. Celonis provides many of the process mining visualizations and analytics including process variations and task analysis.

UiPath Process Analytics

UiPath Process Mining provides a number of ready-made templates and dashboards for process analytics, eg. for purchase-to-pay (P2P) and order-to-cash (O2C) use cases.

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UiPath Process Mining dashboards can be resized and configured through a dashboard editor. UiPath also offers process simulation capabilities, allowing for the visualization of scenarios, such as increased automation.

Process Automation Enablers

Another popular use-case of process mining solutions is to enable intelligent automation. Most process mining solutions offer process discovery functionality that highlight opportunities to automate key processes or tasks. 

Celonis Automation Enablers

Celonis offers a range of advanced automation features, claiming it can perform up to 5000 automation tasks per hour. Over 500 different automation solutions and bots can be found in the Celonis EMS store, with native integrations especially to major ERPs such as SAP and Oracle.

UiPath Automation Enablers

UiPath has a broader range of automation capabilities than Celonis and is broadly considered the leader in the RPA space. It provides an easy-to-use visual workflow designer and robotic automation platform through the UiPath Studio. In addition, it offers a broad set of enterprise automation tools through the UiPath Orchestrator. 

Process Mining Pricing

Most process mining solutions are offered depending on the complexity of needs of the client using Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) pricing. The pricing mentioned below is only indicative based on openly available data and in most cases the pricing will vary depending on the level of integration, implementation and training support needed.

Celonis Process Mining Pricing

Celonis offers various pricing options from a free-to-try Celonis EMS plan to enterprise-level subscriptions. For small and medium sized businesses prices start from $90,000 for a 3 year contract. Source: Amazon AWS Marketplace.

UiPath Process Mining Pricing

UiPath Process Mining is offered under the Enterprise plan. The cost may vary how extensively the service is configured or bundled with other UiPath services. One estimate of cost is $40,000 annually. Source: peerspot.com  

A third alternative - Workfellow

While Celonis and UiPath are popular options for process mining, there is a third emerging option in Workfellow. Workfellow is the first commercially available AI-powered hybrid process intelligence solution combining process mining and task mining into one solution. 

Workfellow is a new VC-funded startup founded in 2019 specializing in process intelligence software. Workfellow has customers across different industries from logistics to consumer goods, and especially knowledge-intensive work including banking, financial services and insurance. Read a case-study how one medium-sized accounting firm uncovered over € 2 million ($2.17 million) in process waste.

Key features of Workfellow

• Ease of deployment: Workfellow does not require access to event logs, instead it generates event logs automatically through a method called Work API.
• End-to-end analysis: Through Work API Workfellow is able to track tasks and process flows across different business apps, allowing for end-to-end analysis of workflows.
• Automated insights: Workfellow includes ready-made dashboards and provides automated insights within it’s analytics.‍
• Level of privacy: Workfellow is a GDPR-free solution that does not process personally identifiable data.

For more information on hybrid process intelligence read the Work API Whitepaper. 💡

Workfellow Process Mining Deployment

Workfellow is currently one of the fastest process mining tools to deploy available in the market. Most customers will have data and insights available within 30 days. Workfellow uses plug-and-play data capture functionality that can capture relevant business objects from any business application without the need to integrate and mine event logs. The major advantage of this approach is that it is up to 10x faster than conventional process mining. Most Workfellow customers are able to gather actionable insights within 30 days with effortless implementation without the need for extensive data engineering resources.

Workfellow Process Visualizations

Workfellow provides advanced and configurable process and task visualization options for the broadest set of use-cases. The key advantage is that Workfellow can track both the flow and time of activities, processes and tasks across different business applications.

In addition to process and task visualizations Workfellow gives unrivalled granularity into the cost and time of complex workflows across different business applications.  

Workfellow Automation Enablers

Workfellow is the first process intelligence tool that includes intelligent automation opportunity identification. It provides automated recommendations of where business processes can be automated and the estimated impact automation can bring. In addition, Workfellow can be used to track the impact of automation projects on key performance indicators. 

Workfellow Pricing

Workfellow is offered on a simple Software-as-a-Service basis where you only pay for the amount of workstations connected to Work API. The minimum number for Work API connections is 50 workstations. Typically the cost of ownership for clients has been up to 3x lower than the well-known alternative. For more information on pricing, contact us.

Celonis vs. UiPath Process Mining Summary

Both Celonis and UiPath are powerful process mining and automation tools. Celonis offers enterprise-level event log mining and configurable analytics capabilities, while UiPath offers an easy-to-use visual workflow designer connected to an advanced robotic automation platform. Depending on the needs of the company, either one of these tools can be a great option.

Who should use Celonis?

Celonis can be ideal for a large organizations with significant data science resources with most of their workflows and processes within a single ERP system, such as SAP. 

Who should use UiPath?

UiPath is well suited for an enterprise or automation consultant with a strong focus on RPA looking to advance their intelligent automation through a single-suite platform. 

Who should use Workfellow?

Workfellow is a good option for any organization that doesn’t have extensive data science and process mining resources in-house looking for an effortless and fast way to gain process intelligence without data mining hassle.

If you’re open to new and simpler approaches to process mining - consider requesting a demo of Workfellow Process Intelligence.