Comparing Pega and Mendix on their AI adoption
Intro
Everybody knows that AI (Artificial Intelligence) is the most important technological trend in low-code today. Since I work at Anamata with both Pega and Mendix, I felt the need to share my thoughts on how these two major platforms approach AI adoption — and more importantly, where they differ.
In my work at Anamata, I have gained a lot of experience with both platforms, and I would like to share the key differences and opportunities for AI integration in Mendix and Pega with you.
Both platforms offer AI features, but they each have their own unique vision, approach, and strengths. I’ll walk you through the philosophy behind each one, how they make use of AI, and what that means for the experience of the people using them.
Mendix vs Pega: two different lowcode philosophies
Before diving into the differences in how Mendix and Pega handle AI, it’s helpful to first understand the basics: what exactly are these platforms, and what sets them apart?
Mendix and Pega are both low-code platforms, but they have quite different approaches and areas of focus.
Pega originally started as a Business Process Management (BPM) platform, and it’s especially strong in modeling and automating complex business processes. Its core strength lies in decision-making, customer interactions, and managing end-to-end processes. As such, Pega is often the go-to choice in industries like finance, insurance, and government where customer service, rules, and workflows are key. Developing a Pega application usually starts with a ready-made framework for building business processes — including case types, stages, roles, and actions. On one hand, this speeds up delivery by giving developers a solid starting point. On the other hand, it leaves little room for flexibility or customization outside the predefined structure
Mendix, on the other hand, was built as a platform for rapid application development. Its main advantage is in the developer experience, with an emphasis on visual application modeling and quick iterations alongside business teams. With Mendix, organizations often start with a single small app and gradually add more applications to the landscape. This makes it easy to get started and scale over time. When developing a Mendix application, you start with an empty canvas (or a template, if you prefer) and begin building your own domain model, pages, and microflows. Everything is custom-built. This gives the developer a lot of flexibility, but it also requires a deeper understanding of how to maintain a clean core and ensure high-quality standards.
These differences in their origins, developer experiences and positioning also play a big role in how AI is integrated and applied within each platform.
“Both platforms offer AI features, but they each have their own unique vision, approach, and strengths. I’ll walk you through the philosophy behind each one, how they make use of AI, and what that means for the experience of the people using them.”
Pega’s AI solutions: focus on decisioning and customer insights
Pega has integrated its GenAI into the platform, helping companies make smarter, data-driven decisions with the help of advanced AI models. This is paired with tools like Predictive Analytics and the Customer Decision Hub (CDH), which empower businesses to anticipate customer behavior in real time and make personalized, contextual decisions to enhance customer experiences.
GenAI
GenAI is Pega’s generic AI integration that uses machine learning and predictive models to improve business processes. It helps automate tasks by providing intelligent recommendations and insights. GenAI can assist in automatically executing complex processes, predicting customer needs, and enhancing customer interaction through data-driven insights.
– BluePrint AI is a powerful feature within Pega GenAI that helps streamline the application design process. Instead of spending weeks or months on creating an application blueprint, BluePrint AI uses generative AI to quickly turn business requirements into a full application design, including workflows, data models, and personas. By leveraging industry best practices, it speeds up the design phase and gets teams moving from idea to application much faster. With BluePrint AI, what used to take hours of brainstorming and planning can now be done in a fraction of the time, helping businesses launch applications more quickly. Once the design is ready, it can be directly transferred to Pega Infinity™ for rapid prototyping and deployment.
– Customer Decision Hub (CDH) is a key AI tool from Pega designed to enhance how businesses interact with customers. It pulls data from various sources – things like customer profiles, transaction history, and behavioral patterns – and uses AI to make smart, real-time decisions. This allows businesses to predict what customers might need or want next and respond instantly to shifts in their preferences. The result is a more personalized and relevant experience for the customer, which helps build stronger, more meaningful relationships.
With Predictive Analytics (i.g. Next Best Action (NBA)), businesses can look ahead by analyzing past data to spot trends and predict customer behavior. This enables organizations to stay ahead of the curve and quickly respond to shifts in the market or customer needs. By uncovering valuable insights into what customers might want, emerging market opportunities, and how business processes are performing, companies can make more informed decisions and adjust their strategies as needed – all in real time.
– Knowledge Buddy is an AI assistant integrated into the Pega platform that provides real-time support to users by answering questions and suggesting relevant documentation or actions. This helps users quickly resolve issues or understand platform features without leaving their workflow.
– Pega Coach is a guided learning and enablement tool that uses AI to support developers and business users as they work within the platform. It provides contextual guidance, tips, and best practices based on the task at hand, reducing the learning curve and promoting consistency across teams.
– Socrates Plugin (for Pega Academy) is an interactive AI-powered learning companion that helps users navigate training content by asking questions and guiding them through exercises. It’s designed to make learning more engaging and effective by adapting to the user’s understanding and helping them reflect on key concepts.
Mendix AI solutions: efficiency and quality improvement
Mendix offers some AI solutions designed to enhance the development process and support low-code developers. One standout integration is MAIA (Mendix AI Assistance), which boosts productivity by providing intelligent guidance and helpful recommendations. In addition, Mendix connects seamlessly with external AI services. These integrations can be implemented by the developer to empower businesses to make smarter, data-driven decisions.
MAIA (Mendix AI Assistance) is a cutting-edge AI tool designed to support developers by providing guidance, suggesting improvements, and answering questions related to application development. MAIA helps developers to navigate by offering contextual information and recommendations, enabling them to build applications more quickly and efficiently.
MxAssist is another AI-driven feature within Mendix that helps developers build better applications faster. It includes tools like the Logic Bot, which suggests next steps when creating microflows based on best practices and context, and the Performance Bot, which analyzes your application and recommends improvements for performance and maintainability. These tools leverage machine learning models trained on thousands of existing Mendix applications to provide intelligent, context-aware support during development.
External AI Integrations
In addition to MAIA, Mendix offers the possibility of integrating AI models from external platforms such as IBM Watson and Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services. These integrations provide powerful predictive models, image recognition, and analytics functionalities, enabling companies to process data, predict customer behavior, and gain deep insights. This makes Mendix a powerful platform for developing data-driven applications with built-in AI functionality.
Comparison: adoption and integration
The adoption and integration of AI vary between Mendix and Pega, primarily in how each platform implements AI into their processes and workflows:
Mendix takes a developer-focused approach to AI, focused on productivity, providing tools that empower low-code developers. With integrations like MAIA, MxAssist (Logic Bot & Performance Bot), and support for external AI technologies, Mendix enables businesses to speed up application development and improve code quality. AI adoption here is designed to automate development tasks and support learning, making it ideal for companies looking to rapidly create applications and enhance developer productivity.
Pega, on the other hand, focuses more on the business and learning side of AI. With GenAI, Predictive Analytics, the Customer Decision Hub (CDH), and new tools like the Knowledge Buddy, Pega Coach, and Socrates plugin (which helps users navigate training material through smart Q&A), Pega is geared toward improving both operational processes and knowledge enablement. AI in Pega is not just about smarter decisions but also about making teams more self-sufficient and customer-focused. This makes it especially useful for organizations seeking both strategic insights and scalable learning support.
Both platforms have an advanced AI adoption, but the focus differs significantly: Mendix aims at accelerating and improving the application development process, while Pega uses AI for decision support and optimizing customer interactions.
If you’re interested in exploring more about how AI is applied specifically within Mendix or Pega, or if you have any questions, feel free to reach out! I’d be happy to help further.
“Mendix aims at accelerating and improving the application development process, while Pega uses AI for decision support and optimizing customer interactions.”
Get your boarding pass at Anamata
Anamata is always looking for new colleagues to hop on our plane. If you want to become an M-shaped Mendix specialist or if you want to broaden your knowledge to other disciplines, please contact us so we can help you with your journey.
Maybe you are interested in developing other areas as well? In that case, Anamata provides the opportunity to learn more about Mendix, Pega, QA or business consultancy. Let’s have a drink today, so we can talk about tomorrow. Maybe this will result in a great journey for both of us.
