Business process automation has the potential to change the way we work forever by taking care of the countless repetitive manual tasks we perform every day, allowing us to focus on more important and interesting activities. Imagine never having to print and scan and email a contract, rifle through your papers trying to locate that missing document, or phone a colleague or vendor to follow up on the status of a purchase order again!
With workflow automation software, it’s possible to digitize and automate just about all of your processes, so that documents are automatically routed to the next stakeholder in the process. With electronic signatures and mobile-responsive design, you need never print-sign-scan-email a document again, and with automated notifications and reminders, you can rest assured that the work will get done and reach the right people at the right time.
Choosing the right workflow automation software to meet your organization’s needs can be a challenge, so we’ve compiled this post to help you choose between two of the industry’s leading providers, namely Nintex vs. frevvo.
We’ll start with an overview and list each software’s key features and then compare the two solutions in terms of features, onboarding and training, support, security, and pricing/value for money.
Nintex Overview
Nintex offers multiple workflow automation solutions that allow companies to automate their business processes. Historically, they’ve focused on SharePoint and Office 365. Nintex for SharePoint uses SharePoint’s native workflow engine and provides a designer that can be used within the SharePoint interface. Recently, they launched Nintex Workflow Cloud, which provides a cloud-based platform to design workflows using a drag-and-drop interface. The company was founded in Australia in 2006, Nintex reportedly has more than 8,000 customers. In 2018, Nintex acquired Promapp, a similar workflow mapping solution, and continues to offer Promapp as a separate offering to its core Nintex Workflow platform.
In this article, we’ll focus on Nintex Workflow Cloud since it offers functionality that’s most comparable to frevvo.
Nintex Workflow Cloud Features
Nintex Workflow Cloud offers low-code form and workflow designers that allow users to build forms from a drag-and-drop menu and allows users to add electronic signatures to their mobile-friendly digital forms. Nintex also offers a variety of integrations with other tools and allows users to build their own connectors.
Nintex features include:
- Process mapping
- Process collaboration
- Responsive digital forms
- Mobile apps builder
- Advanced workflow (rules-based logic directs workflow)
- Robotic process automation (botflows)
- DocGen (document generation)
- eSignatures (powered by Adobe Sign)
- Connectors & open-API Xtensions
- Hawkeye analytics reporting
- Tiered support
- Nintex Partner Network
- Web-based Training at additional cost
frevvo Overview
Much like Nintex, frevvo offers easy-to-use workflow automation solutions. In addition to offering a cloud-based platform where users can build dynamic forms and map out their processes, frevvo also offers on-premise solutions for customers with specialized security requirements. Founded in 2007, frevvo is headquartered in Connecticut.
Unlike Nintex, which started out making tools to automate workflows within existing enterprise platforms, frevvo has always been entirely platform-agnostic and works with whichever existing systems and tools you’re using, whether it’s a CRM or a document management system.
frevvo Features
Much like Nintex, frevvo provides a no/low-code form and workflow design environment that allows users to build custom forms using a drag-and-drop feature. Users can easily add electronic signatures to their mobile-friendly digital forms, and implement business rules to configure their workflow automation. frevvo also offers a variety of integrations with other tools and allows users to build their own connectors.
frevvo features include:
- Dynamic web-based forms
- Business process automation
- No-code visual workflow mapping
- Drag-and-drop form builder
- Visual business logic
- Mobile-responsive
- Advanced configuration capabilities
- Secure and wet electronic signatures
- Connectors and open API
- Cloud and on-premise
- Localization and language support
- Web form to SQL database (auto-populate fields and auto-update database)
- Approval Workflows
- Reporting and analytics
- Out-of-the-box ADA and WCAG compliance
- Effortless PDF-generation
- Comprehensive Support
frevvo vs Nintex
At first glance, these two offerings may seem fairly similar, with the exception that one (Nintex) is somewhat larger and leverages a network of partnerships to expand, while the other (frevvo) takes a more hands-on approach to forging relationships with customers.
Let’s take a closer look at how they measure up when compared to one another directly.
Customer Ratings
To get an idea of how frevvo stacks up against Nintex in terms of customer experience, we turned to online reviews to see how verified customers ranked each solution.
Here’s what we found:
As you can see, frevvo outperformed Nintex in Overall Rating, Features and Functionality and, most dramatically, Customer Support and Value for Money.
Most tellingly, according to GetApp, 100% of users would recommend frevvo while only 75% say the same of Nintex.
Feature Comparison
Next, let’s see how the two solutions’ features measure up side-by-side. While the two companies share many features, such as business process automation, drag-and-drop form builders, no/low-code workflow design and third-party integrations through connectors, a number of differences became apparent:
Electronic signatures
With frevvo, electronic signatures are a standard (and free) element that can be added to any form. With Nintex Workflow Cloud, on the other hand, e-signatures are available through integration with Adobe Sign — users are charged an additional $1.75 per sign event.
Designing workflows
Most workflows start with one or more forms that are then routed through the organization for signatures, approvals, and comments. Real-world business forms are highly complex. They’re lengthy, require sophisticated layouts, have multiple sections, tabbed views, repeating controls, grids, and other intricate details. frevvo offers one of the most easy-to-use form designers on the market. Nintex Workflow Cloud also offers drag-and-drop form design but the layout functionality appears to be far more basic.
Accessibility and localization
frevvo offers numerous enterprise-grade features that are incredibly easy to use but are very important for real-world business processes. Examples are out-of-the box compliance with accessibility regulations such as ADA and WCAG – meaning there’s no need to subject forms and workflows to an accessibility audit to ensure that they are compliant – and localization, so forms and workflows work in all languages worldwide Nintex does not offer these features.
Dynamic PDF generation
Another key business requirement is the ability to output custom PDFs, e.g. Federal and State W-4s and a Federal I-9 for new hire onboarding. With frevvo, dynamic PDF generation is built-in to the product. Nintex requires additional (complicated) licensing based on the number of generated documents.
Cloud and on-premise options
While frevvo offers an on-premise option that allows risk-averse customers to install frevvo behind their firewall, Nintex Workflow Cloud, as its name implies, only offers a cloud option.
Simplicity of pricing plans
frevvo keeps it simple – and affordable – by including all of its features whether you choose cloud or on-premise software. Meanwhile, Nintex offers various packages, namely Promapp, Nintex Workflow, Nintex RPA and Nintex Sign, and its features are segmented among these, making it difficult for the entry-level user to determine which is the best option for them. Moreover, many of the most useful features are only available in the more expensive tier.
Integrations
When it comes to integration, both frevvo and Nintex have a reasonable number of built-in connectors. Both also have an API available for custom integration. In addition, frevvo offers two powerful capabilities for integration:
- JavaScript support for business rules: Both frevvo and Nintex Workflow Cloud offer powerful visual rule builders for dynamic behavior. However, frevvo also allows you to create custom logic using JavaScript. With built-in support for authentication protocols, it’s easy to integrate with an arbitrary web service for highly dynamic behavior without complicated custom coding using the API.
- Integration with any RESTful service via its built-in XML and XML-schema support. You can import the XML schema specification, generate form controls automatically, and rely on frevvo to enforce the constraints of the schema. You can initialize large forms without coding and output XML documents that are guaranteed to be valid when the form or workflow is submitted. This allows for powerful and sophisticated integration without writing a single line of code.
Ease of use
Finally, frevvo is dedicated to simplicity. We offer one product that works in all environments and constantly strive to improve the usability of our designers so they’re intuitive and simple. From pre-built templates to visual workflow wizards to a guided design experience, anyone can create forms and workflows that meet real business needs without coding or help from I.T.
In contrast, Nintex offers a confusing set of products and add-ons – it’s difficult to determine exactly what features your business needs. The user interface is different depending on which product you use and there is a much bigger learning curve as a result. For a straightforward, easy-to-adopt and -use solution, there’s no comparison to frevvo.
Parallel tasks
To be fair, Nintex does offer a few capabilities that frevvo does not yet offer, e.g. parallel tasks and looping in your workflow. frevvo does not yet offer these features though you can get very close to meeting both requirements in practice. Both features are on frevvo’s short to medium-term roadmap.
Onboarding and Training
One of the biggest barriers to adopting workflow automation is inertia – people are so busy, often due to all the time wasted on manual paperwork, that they don’t have time to learn new tools and technologies. Simplicity, easy onboarding and quality training are often the difference between projects that deliver true ROI and those that just become shelfware in spite of having powerful features.
frevvo exhibits an extreme commitment to ensuring that customers gain value quickly. frevvo offers comprehensive onboarding training and hands-on help — included in the price of any plan. Nintex users are expected to onboard themselves unless they make use of one of the members of Nintex’s global partner network. It’s not clear whether this is included or charged separately.
While Nintex has an extensive and well-organized library of online training materials available, its frequent live webinars and group training sessions incur an additional cost of $249 per person attending each session.
Customer Support
frevvo prides itself on offering customers a more personal and attentive experience that results in resolutions, regardless of the size of their business. As one happy customer told Capterra, “We are a small K-12 public school of fewer than 800 students and we are treated like a Fortune 500 company.”
Nintex offers tiered support, so if you’re not on the more expensive plan, your tickets are treated with less urgency. Frustrated customers have even graded it harshly. For example, one of their reviewers wrote: “Support is sometimes a merry-go-round of answering the same questions over and over with the same canned responses.”
It’s no wonder that customers give frevvo a 4.7/5 rating for support and 100% of reviewers give positive reviews and would recommend frevvo to their friends and colleagues. Compare that to Nintex with just a 3.6/5 rating for customer support and just 75% of reviewers with positive reviews.
It could be because Nintex is a larger organization with multiple confusing products that don’t always play well together. Customer support staff are likely spread thin trying to resolve questions where the answer varies depending on what’s being used.
If you’re looking for a vendor that believes in the success of their customers, there’s simply no comparison. Dedication to our customer success is core to our DNA – we will always stand behind you.
Security
Obviously, security is hugely important to most organizations. Both frevvo and Nintex Workflow Cloud support the necessary protocols, encrypt data at rest and in motion, integrate with common identity providers, and closely monitor the security of their cloud platforms. The fact is that no cloud vendor can survive let alone thrive unless we invest in and pay close attention to the security of customers’ data.
Nevertheless, unlike Nintex Workflow Cloud, frevvo also offers an on-premise version of its software. Some customers simply cannot rely on the cloud – perhaps they process financial data or they’re subject to stringent regulatory requirements. In some cases, they have operations spread out across the globe and are subject to different privacy laws in different countries.
With frevvo, customers don’t have to compromise and can choose the option that best fits their needs. Best of all, cloud and on-premise frevvo are the same software and offer the same comprehensive set of features. In the interest of full transparency though, frevvo’s on-premise releases often lag the cloud release.
Pricing
Here’s where the differences between the two solutions become especially apparent. In terms of pricing simplicity and value for money, frevvo is the clear winner. To start with, Nintex is far more expensive than frevvo – it’s reflected in their “value for money” rating on GetApp (3.6/5).
Nintex ’s offerings are tiered, with each platform offering a Standard and Enterprise option. As you’d expect, in each case, most of the best features are limited to the more expensive tier, effectively forcing users who want any kind of value beyond automating a few very basic workflows to sign up for the Enterprise version. You’re likely to discover that costs escalate quickly.
Meanwhile, frevvo’s pricing includes all available functions, with the pricing based primarily on usage.
Conclusion
A closer look at each platform has given us some insight into the ratings that users have given each platform.
In terms of features, frevvo’s all-in-one offering is likely to deliver far greater value than Nintex’s confusingly bundled and tiered approach.
While both solutions have an initial learning curve when it comes to ease-of-use, frevvo’s hands-on approach to onboarding, training and support is more likely to set you up for success than Nintex’s more free-range approach. The result: 100% positive reviews for frevvo compared to just 75% for Nintex.
If your business is a heavy Sharepoint or Microsoft 365 user and you’ve got a big enterprise budget for all Nintex’s tiered goodies, it might be the better choice. Otherwise, frevvo is almost definitely the better fit for your organization. It’s certainly the option more likely to offer even small businesses the high level of customer service and support they deserve.
Lastly, in terms of pricing, frevvo simply offers far more value for money, offering enterprise-grade capabilities at reasonable cost.
Still not convinced? Request a free live demo.
