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C3 AI vs Celonis comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

C3 AI
Ranking in AI Data Analysis
19th
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
AI Customer Experience Personalization (18th), AI Sales & Marketing (10th), AI Content Creation (13th), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (5th)
Celonis
Ranking in AI Data Analysis
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Process Mining (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the AI Data Analysis category, the mindshare of C3 AI is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Celonis is 0.4%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
AI Data Analysis Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Celonis0.4%
C3 AI0.5%
Other99.1%
AI Data Analysis
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2795349 - PeerSpot reviewer
Group Head of Data Strategy & Enterprise Governance at a consumer goods company with 10,001+ employees
Struggled to justify enterprise adoption but have valued broader developer accessibility
If I could change or add anything to improve C3 AI, I would suggest making it not just an AI platform, but a data and AI combined platform, as bringing in data management elements, governance, and cloud features is critical. The real AI and modeling represent only 20 percent of what is needed; there is over 80 percent in the rest of the world that should be addressed. Given Tom Siebel's deep understanding of corporate work and his network, integrating C3 AI with other ERP solutions such as Oracle, SAP, or Microsoft is essential. If C3 AI can be an enterprise platform, embedding more data elements and ensuring seamless integration with other ERP solutions would significantly enhance its capabilities and attractiveness. If someone told me that they have SAP, and C3 AI can seamlessly integrate the data and perform action calls between SAP, allowing me to operate on C3 AI as I would on SAP, that would be a killer feature for me. I would suggest avoiding traditional licensing sales as it is too expensive; the starting price is too high. Considering a subscription model or a pay-per-use model is the best business structure for AI or data solution vendors. The pay-per-use model benefits usage, as the more you use, the more successful you become with the platform.
Prateek Rao - PeerSpot reviewer
PARTNER & MANAGING DIRECTOR at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Process intelligence has transformed procurement and order cycles and delivers measurable savings
Celonis can improve in several areas. The initial data modeling and continuous real-time ingestion, especially from non-standard legacy systems, can still be complex and quite resource-intensive, requiring a steep PQL learning curve for non-technical users. Simplifying the interface for business stakeholders would significantly accelerate the process. I think introducing a natural language to query interface would allow business users to query data without writing long PQL. Streamlining guided onboarding flows and offering modular plug-and-play dashboard templates tailored to specific roles would shorten ramp-up time for daily users. I think more transparent and predictable consumption-based pricing models would be helpful as data volume scaling can get costly quickly. I would also love to see native, real-time streaming connectors for unstructured data such as emails and support tickets. The learning curve for new users of Celonis is one of the pain points I raised earlier, and I find it to be quite steep.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The biggest strength of C3 AI is how much it handles in one platform: data integration, model deployment, governance, monitoring, and application development."
"I have noticed improvements in efficiency, reduced downtime, and time saved for my team, as it is quite integrated through the source ML pipeline to report to general customer UI, functioning as one platform that takes care of everything, thus improving efficiency, optimization, and increasing project deliverables."
"In the first phase alone, there was approximately $90 million in savings, which reduced about 5% of inventory."
"One of the best features C3 AI offers is that you do not need to learn Python or any specific machine learning programming language; you can use C3 AI with JavaScript."
"The dashboards are excellent; they really do a good job of giving the best patient data and they help us to discover insights."
"The solution offers a very good user interface."
"For the amount of information that it processes, it works relatively fast. I like the visual presentation and the interface is intuitive. I also like that Celonis has a learning academy."
"The most valuable features of Celonis are its graphical interpretation and pre-built connectors with industry platforms like SAP or Oracle."
"The training material is good, the information is very systematic, detailed, and comprehensive, and they have a training video for almost every single thing, which makes it easier to know how to use the tool."
"My two favorite features are execution management and process intelligence, which provide 360-degree data."
"We have found the Orient Explorer to be a valuable feature."
"It performs well for connecting multiple processes."
 

Cons

"However, I sometimes hear from colleagues that hallucination is an issue."
"The reason I chose eight out of ten is that as a user of C3 AI, I found the operational aspect not easy to understand; it is a bit tricky, and you should have more core knowledge to navigate C3 AI."
"C3 AI can feel very enterprise-heavy. For smaller teams, it may feel excessive."
"We even failed to open any doors for C3 AI; there are no smaller wins, learning opportunities, or process improvements, even if the main goals were not met."
"The solution must be more user-friendly."
"It requires specialized expertise to set it up in the backend. I need knowledgeable data and process people who understand the tool and also my processes."
"The initial data modeling and continuous real-time ingestion, especially from non-standard legacy systems, can still be complex and quite resource-intensive, requiring a steep PQL learning curve for non-technical users."
"They could provide artificial intelligence where, based on data they collect from reference cases, they could give us suggestions."
"The process analytics could be a bit easier."
"They need to provide readymade value stream mapping."
"The price is high for us."
"Celonis does not provide a detailed picture of user activities within processes because it relies on event logs from ERP systems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Pricing-wise, Celonis is a five out of ten right now because my clients just started with the solution. When my clients start looking at scaling Celonis, the cost will grow. Every user has an additional charge, and every gig of data you bring in costs extra."
"Celonis is cost-effective."
"The solution requires an annual license. There is room for improvement because it is priced for organizations and not for individuals. For an individual, it would be too expensive for them to use it."
"The product is pretty expensive but reasonable."
"Evaluating the price of the solution can be a difficult question. It is all about the business case and the return of the investments. That is typically how we also see this type of solution. It depends very much on the return. The entry-level is focused on enterprise size companies, for the SMB segment is it is out of their range. It is definitely expensive."
"Once we try to scale it up, the product becomes expensive."
"Celonis has the highest pricing in the process mining domain."
"The solution’s pricing is high when compared to other process mining tools."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
25%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise47
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for C3 AI?
The pricing for C3 AI was quite high compared to other smaller AI platforms and open-source alternatives we had explored. Initially, we were cautious due to the significant investment involved.
What needs improvement with C3 AI?
C3 AI can feel very enterprise-heavy. For smaller teams, it may feel excessive. Some workflows also feel more complex than they need to be. Overall, it is a good product, but the platform can feel ...
What is your primary use case for C3 AI?
I have been using C3 AI for roughly eight to ten months as part of a small engineering team working on operational analytics. We primarily use it for predictive maintenance and some newer generativ...
Which is better - Signavio Process Manager or Celonis?
SAP Signavio Process Manager is a very robust industrial-grade business process modeling tool. It is easy to use and does not require too much technological involvement. This solution has a collabo...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Celonis?
Celonis pricing is premium and scales primarily on data ingestion volume (APC/Data Capacity) and process scope rather than user seats, with entry deployments typically running $100K to $250K annual...
What needs improvement with Celonis?
Celonis can improve in several areas. The initial data modeling and continuous real-time ingestion, especially from non-standard legacy systems, can still be complex and quite resource-intensive, r...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Anheuser-Busch InBev, AXA, Bayer, Cisco, Deloitte, Deutsche Telekom, Hitachi, Kellogg's, Lufthansa, and Whirlpool
Find out what your peers are saying about C3 AI vs. Celonis and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.