Best Process Workflow Software Shortlist
Here’s the list of the best workflow management software that I’ll cover in this article.
- monday.com
Reduce human intervention to make processes work better for your organization.
- Wrike
Build a workflow for any team or business process with ‘custom workflows’.
- Camunda Platform
Best for creating custom workflows
- Pneumatic Workflow
Best process workflow software for customizing continuous workflow improvements
- Process Street
Workflow management that integrates forms, text, and multimedia content with your workflow.
- Trello
Process-oriented kanban boards with power-ups that make your workflows smoother.
- Asana
Drag and drop workflow builder, plus rules for quick automations within your projects.
- Process Maker
Workflow management tool that connects with external apps to make your processes sync across platforms.
- SAP Process Automation
Build robotic automations that help you perform repetitive tasks in your process.
- Boomi Flow
Low-code workflow automation that can be embedded in your SaaS applications.
A process can exist without a workflow, but a workflow cannot exist without a process. Time to put those diagrams and flowcharts into action using process workflow software!
The goal here is consistency. You want your process to be followed as closely as possible while leaving enough room for it to serve as a guide instead of a control mechanism. Process workflow starts with documentation. That documentation will take time, but will also save a lot of it once you start executing. The steps you lay out will make it easier for you and your team to navigate a project from beginning to end.
While a process is a series of steps, the workflow is how to complete those steps in a productive way. If we translate this to the tools, you will read about in this list, that means that creating the tasks (process) will not be good enough. Once you lay out the process, you will have to see which parts of it are repetitive and the optimal sequence (workflow).
Next, I will explain to you the lens I’m using to look at this process workflow software and some of the key features we should consider when selecting a tool.
Comparison Criteria
What do I look for when I select the best process workflow management system? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
- User Interface (UI): I look for a process workflow app that we can visually understand and is intuitive.
- Usability: I look for features or add-ons that we can use to accomplish the task at hand (creating process workflows within the tool).
- Integrations: I look at the third-party software that the tool works with. I want to see if some of those integrations can improve our experience with the app.
- Value for $: I look at whether the tool has a free version, free trial, and the starting price for their paid plans.
Process Workflow Software Key Features
- Process or Workflow builder: A piece of the software that allows me to build a process without having to program. Preferably something with a drag and drop interface where there are a variety of options and connectors to represent relationships between tasks.
- Workflow automations: The ways in which I can make trivial tasks happen on their own, like changing a task’s status, moving a task from one phase to another, or triggering an action in a 3rd party software like Slack.
- Testing Environment: A feature that will allow me to sandbox the process I have just created and see if it works or if there’s something missing.
- Whiteboards: Places where I can design diagrams or process workflows “on paper”, before I move to the creation stage and automations.
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Overview Of The 10 Best Process Workflow Software
Here’s a brief description of each process tool to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
monday.com
Reduce human intervention to make processes work better for your organization.
monday.com is a work OS that can handle many parts of your project and business operations, process workflows included! Their extensive automation options make it possible for you to create a digital workflow that everyone will benefit from.
Since your first step is to map your process, you can use Canvas by monday.com to do it. Then, head over to monday.com once you have a defined workflow you want your people to follow. Open the automations by clicking on the ‘automate’ button on the top right menu of any view.
Among the many things you can automate are email notifications, status changes, assigning tasks to people, moving tasks to a different phase, and more. Important: you can always turn on and off your automations with the toggle of a switch in the board automations view.
monday.com’s integrations include project management apps like Slack, GoogleSheets, Google Drive, Gmail, Google Calendar, Jira, GitHub, Trello, Dropbox, Typeform, and many more, accessible through a paid plan with Zapier.
monday.com is free for up to 2 users. Paid plans cost from $8/user/month and come with a 14-day free trial.
Wrike
Build a workflow for any team or business process with ‘custom workflows’.
Wrike is a project management software that you can use to create your process workflows. Unlike other apps in this list which have integrated diagramming tools, you might have to look within their 400+ integration library for a tool that helps you diagram. If not, time to dust off your kindergarten lessons and draw on paper.
Once you have your process though, you can start building it in Wrike. Account admins can create and edit workflows from the account settings page (see screenshot). After you save changes, the new workflow will be available to your team in their workspace.
Wrike released custom workflows mid-2021, which means you can now build a workflow for any team or business process.
Wrike offers 400+ pre-built native integrations, including integrations with the most popular file management software from Microsoft, Google, and Dropbox, along with sales and marketing software from Salesforce and Marketo.
Wrike has a free version with a 2GB storage limit. Paid plans start at $9.80/user/month and offer a 14-day free trial.
Camunda Platform
Best for creating custom workflows
Camunda Platform is an open-source application platform that provides users with the tools they need to create and manage automated process workflows.
It features a variety of different components such as modeling, execution, optimization, monitoring, and integration capabilities. This allows users to build custom workflows tailored to their specific needs. The software can also be used to integrate existing systems with other applications or services.
Camunda Platform is able to model processes quickly and easily. The platform provides users with various modeling tools such as BPMN, DMN, CMMN, and Forms Designer. These tools allow users to create detailed models that graphically represent their business processes. This makes it easy for users to create complex workflow models without needing any coding skills whatsoever. These models can also be reused whenever necessary, making them incredibly efficient and cost-effective solutions for businesses.
The execution engine takes care of all aspects of execution, such as tracking data flow between tasks within a workflow instance or managing user tasks that need to be completed for a workflow instance to move forward in its lifecycle. This engine handles activities such as scheduling tasks or invoking external services when necessary for a workflow instance to progress through its lifecycle successfully. It also utilizes built-in messaging capabilities so that messages from one task can trigger subsequent tasks within a workflow instance when necessary, which helps keep everything running efficiently.
Pneumatic Workflow
Best process workflow software for customizing continuous workflow improvements
Pneumatic Workflow is a process workflow software system that helps companies streamline their processes, with an emphasis on continuous improvement and automated workflows. Users can build assembly lines, run unlimited workflows, and take advantage of integrations to refine and improve their processes.
Their software provides plenty of benefits, including lower routine errors and inconsistencies, more effective communications, properly designed workflows, no redundancies, and automatic task management. Companies can start using Pneumatic Workflow by running it manually, sharing kick-off forms via links, using external SaaS systems, and using the Pneumatic public API.
Their workflow features include workflow templates, workflow variables, activity highlights, and informative dashboards. Using these features, you can create and automate your workflows to manage your tasks more efficiently. Other features Pneumatic Workflow users can take advantage of are their no-code template builder, unlimited workflows, tasks and workflows dashboards, Workflow Highlights, shareable kick-off forms, and a free template library. The free template library has templates to handle many key business processes, including customer retention, expense reimbursement, B2B sales, purchase approvals, lead qualification, outreach campaigns, and employee onboarding.
Integrations are available through their API or by connecting a paid Zapier account.
Pricing for Pneumatic Workflow starts at $10/user/month for the paid plan, which includes unlimited use of the free template library, unlimited data storage, and priority email support. They also offer a free-forever plan with limited features that could be useful for smaller teams.
Process Street
Workflow management that integrates forms, text, and multimedia content with your workflow.
Process Street is a workflow management platform where you can build your process workflows in a collaborative environment. Simply invite the users that you want to build a process with and set permissions on who can see, run, edit, or build any workflow
The builder is mainly form-based from what I’m able to see. After you define your workflow stages, each stage can be edited as a “landing page” where the user might see some text, a video, table, or relevant information to their stage. These forms can be interactive by including things like drop-down menus with tailored option selection messages.
Finally, once the user completes the information you requested, they can send it to the next stage where someone else can pick up the work.
Process Street integrates with thousands of apps through Zapier, as well as Google Workspace, Jira, Salesforce, Bamboo HR, and more.
Process Street is free for one workflow. Paid plans start at $25/user/month and have a 14-day free trial.
Trello
Process-oriented kanban boards with power-ups that make your workflows smoother.
Trello is a card-based software that became famous for its kanban boards and task management lists. By nature, the kanban boards are arranged into columns that represent different stages of a process. Therefore, you can diagram your process in a notebook, decide on the stages, and then create them in Trello.
In theory, once you have those columns, your team will know that for a card to move to the next stage it needs to have completed the tasks from the previous stage. If you want to go one step further, you can use a power-up called workflows.
Workflows is fully integrated with the Trello boards, and makes it possible to constraint cards transitioning from and to specific lists. This way, for example, if someone wants to move a card and skip a stage, the software will prevent the move and display an error message.
Great addition to the already process-oriented stages in a kanban board, if you ask me!
Trello has workflows and other power-ups such as Processes for Trello, Card Repeater, and Board workflow. Trello integrates with more than 200 apps and tools your team depends on like Slack, Google Drive, Salesforce, Dropbox and more directly into your Trello boards. (Note: Some connections require an additional subscription fee.)
Trello offers a freemium plan with limited features. Paid plans start at $6/user/month, including a free trial.
Asana
Drag and drop workflow builder, plus rules for quick automations within your projects.
Asana’s workflow builder will help you create the critical steps in your process in minutes. These may include form submissions, approval workflows, or actions within your project that will trigger an automation in another software. Example: creating a case in Jira when a form is submitted.
The drag and drop nature of this builder will help you build your workflow regardless of your programming experience, although it could help you grasp the logic even faster. You can also add rules to tasks outside of this builder by clicking on the ‘customize’ button inside your project board.
Note: Each time you create a rule, Asana will flag it in your list view with a lightning icon.
Asana integrates with Microsoft Teams, Adobe Creative Cloud, JIRA Cloud, Salesforce, Tableau, Slack, Clockwise, MS Office 365, Google Calendar, Gmail, Power BI, Outlook, ServiceNow, JotForm, Google Drive, Looker, Vimeo, DropBox, Trello, GitLab, and a growing list of other apps. Plus, a plan with Zapier or Tray.io can let you access other apps to connect with Asana.
Asana is free for up to 15 users. Paid plans start at $10.99/user/month and offer a 30-day free trial.
Process Maker
Workflow management tool that connects with external apps to make your processes sync across platforms.
Process Maker is a tool that focuses on process workflows. Their interactive builder lets you drag and drop to add in tasks, forms, users, data connectors, and more. However, this app is much more than a diagramming tool. It will connect to other apps, so your processes sync across platforms.
With Process Maker, you can build an too. I can easily add approvers to specific steps and select if I want to receive their approvals using an email client like Microsoft Outlook or a communication platform like Slack.
Process Maker has authentication connectors for SSO, document management connectors for apps like Docusign, Adobe Sign, Microsoft Dynamics, and SAP, and process connectors. All in all, it will help you connect to ERPs, CRMs, and productivity platforms.
Pricing is available upon request.
SAP Process Automation
Build robotic automations that help you perform repetitive tasks in your process.
SAP Process Automation is an enterprise-grade multi-cloud platform that allows you to build processes and process workflows with zero coding. Their drag-and-drop interface is intuitive and packed with useful stuff to add to your workflow like automations, conditional branches, a second workflow or content from a library.
You can also create software robots to substitute some of the menial recurring tasks like importing information from a spreadsheet or copying information between applications or browser windows. Definitely something to consider after you map your process and identify the boring, time-consuming tasks.
Their process automation store has over 300 pre-built robots that can do tasks for you or integrate with third-party apps.
A free version is available for 1 user with a limit of 600 jobs. Paid plans start at $16/user/month, but you need the SAP Launchpad Service first. Definitely not for small companies.
Boomi Flow
Low-code workflow automation that can be embedded in your SaaS applications.
Boomi Flow is an interactive multi-cloud platform that delivers low-code workflow automation. The drag-and-drop interface makes it simple to build workflows.
You can convert flow diagrams into fully-functional apps and publish automations with a single click. Boomi Flow is built for flexibility, running on any device, platform, or channel.
The low-code implementation encourages faster innovation and allows workflows to be deployed rapidly without custom coding. By removing the usability barriers caused by legacy software, Boomi Flow helps stakeholders work together for better results.
Via the Flow Services Server, Boomi Flow integrates with various CRM, ERP, and HR platforms—including AWS, SAP, Salesforce, and Oracle.
The company offers customized pricing on request. A 30-day free trial is available.
The 10 Best Process Workflow Software Summary
Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | monday.com Reduce human intervention to make processes work better for your organization. | 14-day free trial + freemium plan available | From $8/user/month (billed annually, min 3 seats) | Visit Website |
2 | Wrike Build a workflow for any team or business process with ‘custom workflows’. | Freemium version available | From $9.80/user/month | Visit Website |
3 | Camunda Platform Best for creating custom workflows | 30-day free trial | From $49/month | Visit Website |
4 | Pneumatic Workflow Best process workflow software for customizing continuous workflow improvements | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $10/user/month | Visit Website |
5 | Process Street Workflow management that integrates forms, text, and multimedia content with your workflow. | 14-day free trial | From $12.50/user/month | Visit Website |
6 | Trello Process-oriented kanban boards with power-ups that make your workflows smoother. | Free trial + freemium plan available | From $6/user/month | Visit Website |
7 | Asana Drag and drop workflow builder, plus rules for quick automations within your projects. | Free plan available | From $10.99/user/month | Visit Website |
8 | Process Maker Workflow management tool that connects with external apps to make your processes sync across platforms. | Not available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
9 | SAP Process Automation Build robotic automations that help you perform repetitive tasks in your process. | Free version is available for 1 user with a limit of 600 jobs | From $16/user/month | Visit Website |
10 | Boomi Flow Low-code workflow automation that can be embedded in your SaaS applications. | 30-day free trial | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
Other Options
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.
- InRule
End-to-end solution for everything related to the decision management lifecycle.
- ClickUp
Your diagrams, tasks, and automations sit in the same place so you don’t waste time hopping around the software.
- Kintone
Work management platform with 100+ workflow templates to help you start faster.
- Kissflow
Fully customizable drag-and-drop canvas with 20+ field types.
- Moxo
Client-centric custom workflows to align your business processes.
What do you think about this list?
I would love to hear your thoughts on how you map your processes, define your workflows and automate your solutions. Let me know in the comments if you have any tools you would like me to add to the ‘other tools’ section.
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