Nected vs SAS Viya

SAS Viya Excels at Advanced Analytics.
Nected Wins at Operational Decisioning.

Where Viya requires pipelines, scoring engines, and MLOps layers to push decisions into production, Nected lets teams build real-time decision flows, orchestrations, and rules in minutes with a no-code/low-code interface.

  • Real-Time Assessment using API Connector
  • Customize Scoring Rules in No-code/low-code
  • Automated Decision-making via CRON
  • Built Complex Scoring Models in Minutes
  • Integration with Third Party Systems
  • Iterate Conditions Instantly
Used by teams across 500+ companies globally

SAS Viya Looks Powerful, Until You Need Real-Time Logic Changes

As business logic expands, SAS Viya introduces high costs, long cycles, and infrastructure friction — exactly when companies need speed.

Heavy Skills Requirement
SAS Viya demands Data Scientists, SAS Developers, and Admins even for basic scoring workflows. Business teams cannot self-serve without depending on technical specialists.
Complex CI/CD for Operational Decisions
Updating decisions in Viya isn’t simple — models must be built, validated, containerized, deployed, scored, and monitored. A single production change can take days or weeks.
Vendor Lock-In With Proprietary Syntax
SAS DS2, CAS actions, and proprietary model formats require specialized knowledge and limit portability. Migrating away often means rebuilding logic entirely.
High TCO for Real-Time Use Cases
Achieving sub-250ms real-time decisioning requires scaling CAS nodes, caching layers, and larger compute footprints — which significantly increases annual operational cost.
Workflows Not Native
SAS Viya is analytics-focused. For orchestration or business workflows, teams rely on Airflow, Control-M, or custom scripts — adding extra tools and complexity.
Slow Business Iteration
Non-technical stakeholders cannot update or test logic on their own. All changes flow through data science and engineering pipelines, slowing down business agility.

That’s the point where teams realize they need a simpler, faster way to ship logic changes.

Schedule a Call for Your POC

Users Share Challenges With SAS Viya and Look for Alternatives

Here’s the candid feedback teams often share when working with SAS Viya’s analytics and model-serving stack:

Priya S.

Lead Data Scientist

★★★★
“Great for Models, Slow for Decisions”
“Viya is brilliant for building models, but pushing them to production workflows involves multiple steps and multiple teams.”
Diego R.

Engineering Manager

★★★★★
“Compute Costs Balloon Fast”
“CAS scaling is expensive. Real-time scoring becomes a budget negotiation, not a tech decision.”
Alice G.

Business Manager

★★★★★
“Not Business-Friendly”
“Even small rule adjustments need data science help. We couldn’t move at the speed the business wanted.”
Nikhil M.

Solutions Architect

★★★★★
“Too Much Infra for Simple Logic”
“For analytics it’s great. But when our use cases shifted to rules and workflows, Viya felt like overkill.”

*These quotes are illustrative reflections based on publicly documented challenges shared by SAS Viya users and are not direct user testimonials.*

Built for Your Entire Team, Not Just Developers

Nected gives both developers and business users the tools to create, manage, and scale decision logic. Without writing full applications or relying on DevOps.

Full Control & Flexibility
Nected provides developer-level control through a low-code/no-code interface—allowing both technical and non-technical teams to define and manage rules easily.
Cost Savings with Open-Source Tools
Open-source tools seem affordable but increase long-term maintenance effort. Nected delivers predictable pricing and reduced overhead.
Rapid Deployment
Pre-built integrations and a clean UI allow Nected to go live in days, not months—avoiding delays common with in-house builds.
Business-Friendly Interface
In-house UIs can slow down business teams. Nected’s intuitive, no-code dashboard puts rule control directly in their hands.
Built-In Experimentation & Testing
A/B testing in custom builds is difficult to implement. Nected has native experimentation tools—enabling logic testing without added effort.
Comprehensive Governance & Compliance
Audit trails, version control, rollback, and certifications are built in—ensuring governance and compliance from day one.
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Capabilities Nected Delivers That Other Solutions Don’t

Feature
Rule Ownership
Change Velocity
Implementation Time
AI-Native Decisioning
Workflow & Automation
TCO (Annual)
Scalability / Performance
Security & Governance
Cloud-Native Language-Agnostic
No-code, Low-code UI
Deployment Options
24x7 Support
Migration
Nected
Owned by engineers, support & business
Minutes to hours
2-3 Days
Built-in
Built-in workflow and automation
$40K-$95K/year (80%+ savings)
Optimized for rule evaluation with auto-scaling options (3x faster P95 latency)
Built-in security and governance
Significant infrastructure work
No-code UI with Low-code,Full-code options
AWS Marketplace, Helm, Terraform for Self hosting along with SaaS
Support Plan available with Expert Consulting as well as Development Support
Automated DRL conversion + parallel run support
Hard Coded/Open Source
Owned by engineers
Weeks
Months
No / Manual / Limited
Need to use another workflow automation
$200K-$1M/year
Depends on code complexity. To be Fine-tuned by Engineers
Custom development required (5+ months)
No / Manual / Limited
Only Full Code
Custom Deployment, CI/CD (2+ months)
N/A
N/A

SAS Viya Costs Rise Exponentially as Usage Scales

Before dedicating data science and engineering bandwidth, evaluate how Viya’s compute-based licensing, CAS node scaling, and model-serving pipelines inflate long-term TCO.

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

ROI Comparison

Total Cost of Ownership

$140,000
cumulative
$100K–$180K initial
Open Source/In-House
$85,000
cumulative
$50K–$120K initial
$27,975
cumulative
$4K–$9K (Startup)
Time to First Value Months to a quarter 3–6 months Days to weeks
License & Support (per year) $120K–$325K $0–$80K $50K–$100K
Middleware & Databases $100K–$250K $60K–$180K $0
Infrastructure (1000 TPS, per year) $200K–$300K $150K–$375K $70K–$95K
Implementation (one-time) $50K–$130K $80K–$200K $15K–$36K
Upgrade Costs (per year) Included $15K–$60K $0
Training & Onboarding Included $48K–$144K $0
Ops & Admin (per year) $100K–$133K $100K–$200K $0–$36K
Change Management & Deployments (per year) $100K–$175K $100K–$200K $0–$36K
Enterprise-Grade Capabilities Built in $50K–$150K custom build Built in
Time to Enterprise-Grade Readiness Immediate 6–12 months Immediate
Tech Debt Exposure None $50K–$180K None
Migration Cost to Nected $24K–$72K $24K–$72K NA
Migration Time to Nected 2–3 weeks 2–3 weeks NA

Why People Switched from SAS Viya to Nected

Here are some notes from teams who migrated off SAS and now run on Nected:

Souradeep P.

Director of Product Management

★★★★★
“Best Business-friendly Decision Engine”
“Nected has completely transformed how we manage and iterate on our workflows and experiments. We reduced our development time by 50%, and the ease with which we can build country-wise payout systems for teachers, complete with incentives and penalties, was impressive.”
Verified User

Financial Services

★★★★
“Adaptable, Flexible & Faster for Lending Decisions”
“Previously, implementing such changes could take weeks of development and technical involvement, but now we can accomplish the same tasks in less than a day. By utilizing Nected’s Macro functions to handle complex JS conditions, we’ve offloaded what used to be tech-heavy tasks to our business teams.”
Verified User

Apparel & Fashion

★★★★★
“Rules Engine & Logic Module”
“Nected enables the transformation of complex, often undocumented workflows into a centralized, digital format, ensuring clarity, consistency, and accessibility for teams. By integrating seamlessly with external systems, Nected facilitates the exchange of accurate, real-time data, empowering users to make informed, standardized, and error-free decisions while reducing manual effort.”
Julian F.

Administrator

★★★★★
“It allows me to process my ideas better”
“Nected is a tool that has allowed me to delegate tasks in a simpler way and that everything remains in an equitable and well-structured job guaranteeing good results. With the integration of third-party tools I can carry out an entire task process on a single platform without having to switch between several applications that only make me confuse data.”

Setting Up Nected needs Just 15 Minutes

See how Nected’s platform brings agile change and robust compliance in a product walkthrough:

  • Visual, enterprise rule creation
  • Real-time governance controls
  • Secure system-of-record integration
  • Instant publishing/rollback

For: CIOs, enterprise architects, innovation and governance leads

Try the #1 SAS Viya Alternative: Nected
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FAQs

Can we migrate from SAS Viya decision flows to Nected without rewriting everything?

+

Yes. Nected supports structured migration from SAS Viya by mapping existing decision logic, scorecards, and rule conditions into visual no-code rules and workflows. Most SAS decision flows can be re-created using Nected’s rule canvas and APIs without re-implementing the underlying business logic in code.

How does Nected differ from SAS Viya for real-time decisioning?

+

SAS Viya focuses heavily on advanced analytics and data science pipelines, often requiring specialist teams and longer deployment cycles. Nected prioritizes real-time operational decisioning—API-first, low-latency, and business-controlled—allowing teams to execute decisions in milliseconds without data science dependency.

What happens to SAS models, scorecards, or outputs during migration?

+

SAS model outputs and scores can be consumed directly by Nected via REST APIs or batch feeds. Nected acts as the execution and orchestration layer—using those scores inside rules, thresholds, and workflows—without forcing teams to rebuild analytical models.

Is Nected suitable for teams that do not have SAS specialists?

+

Yes. Unlike SAS Viya, which often depends on certified SAS engineers or data scientists, Nected is designed for product, risk, and operations teams. Visual rules, simulations, and controlled deployments allow non-technical users to manage logic safely without scripting or proprietary languages.

How does Nected compare to SAS Viya in deployment speed and cost?

+

Nected deployments typically complete in days, not months. It runs as a lightweight cloud or on-prem service with predictable pricing. SAS Viya environments often involve higher infrastructure overhead, licensing complexity, and longer onboarding cycles, especially for SMB and mid-market teams.

Can we run Nected alongside SAS Viya during a phased migration?

+

Yes. Many teams adopt Nected incrementally—starting with decision execution, routing, or policy enforcement—while SAS Viya continues to handle analytics. This parallel setup reduces risk and allows gradual decommissioning of SAS decision components.

How does governance and audit in Nected compare to SAS Viya?

+

Nected provides versioning, approvals, role-based access, full decision audit trails, and rollback support out of the box. While SAS Viya offers governance at the analytics layer, Nected focuses governance on live decision execution—where compliance, traceability, and rapid change control matter most.

What do you mean by invocations? And how is it better than other products?

Invocations refer to the number of times your workflows/rule is triggered via API, cron or other trigger. It will count the parent rule/workflow and can have as many rules, nodes within it. This metric is often used for billing purposes. Compared to other products, invocations as a billing metric can be more cost-effective and transparent, aligning closely with your actual usage and needs. It ensures you pay for the value you receive, rather than flat rates or less relevant metrics.

What if I exceed my plan quota?

If you exceed, you'll be charged based on additional usage and will be added in your monthly charge. In case of payment failure after grace period, your plan will be reverted to free trial limiting your monthly execution and # of rules/flows as per free plan, however all your existing rules/workflow data would be kept intact.

What if I decide to cancel? Can I cancel anytime?

Firstly, we do not have a vendor lock-in, so you can cancel anytime you want. However, if you decide to cancel once your subscription for a given period has started then you would be able to cancel at the time of the next billing cycle only.

Can I upgrade my plan in between?

Yes, you can typically upgrade your Nected plan at any point during your billing cycle. The upgrade process is usually straightforward, often involving just a few clicks in your account settings. Upgrading mid-cycle may involve prorated charges for the higher-tier service.

Which plan should I go for?

The best plan depends on your specific needs, such as the expected number of invocations, the complexity of your workflows, and the level of support you require. It’s a good idea to start with a basic plan and upgrade as your needs evolve, especially if you're new to Nected. Moreover, you can also write to us at assist@nected.ai and we will help you figure out the best plan for your brand.

Would I be getting assistance in setting up Nected or building my POC?

Yes, Nected usually offers assistance in setting up and creating a Proof of Concept (POC), especially under certain plans. This assistance can include access to customer support, documentation, and possibly dedicated account management.

What level of support does the Startup and Growth plan have?

The Startup and Growth plans typically provide basic to enhanced support, including access to customer service through email or chat, a knowledge base, and possibly community forums. Response times and the extent of personalized assistance may vary between these plans.

What level of support does on-premise plan have?

The on-premise plan generally offers the most comprehensive support, including dedicated account managers, 24/7 support, and tailored assistance for deployment, maintenance, and troubleshooting. This plan is best suited for businesses with extensive, mission-critical use of Nected.

Users Share Issues with Camunda and
Look for Alternatives

Adam J.

Project Manager

★★★★
“Limited Collaboration for Non-Technical Teams”
“Camunda’s complexity makes it difficult for non-technical team members to participate in rule management, limiting overall project efficiency.”
Leo M.

Business Analyst

★★★★
“Slow Iterations”
“Adapting to rapidly changing business requirements is challenging with Camunda. The need for technical intervention at every step slows down the process."
William R.

IT Consultant

★★★★
Scalability Issues”
“As our project scaled, we faced significant performance issues with Camunda. Optimizing for scalability required considerable effort and resources.”
Lucy C.

Investment Banker

★★★★
“Learning Curve”
“It requires a lot of effort to learn how to use it. I don't see good integration with cloud solution. It looks not enough resource/doc on how to run on distributed systems”
Adam J.

Project Manager

★★★★
“Limited Collaboration for Non-Technical Teams”
“Camunda’s complexity makes it difficult for non-technical team members to participate in rule management, limiting overall project efficiency.”
Leo M.

Business Analyst

★★★★
“Slow Iterations”
“Adapting to rapidly changing business requirements is challenging with Camunda. The need for technical intervention at every step slows down the process."
William R.

IT Consultant

★★★★
“Scalability Issues”
“As our project scaled, we faced significant performance issues with Camunda. Optimizing for scalability required considerable effort and resources.”
Lucy C.

Investment Banker

★★★★
“Learning Curve”
“It requires a lot of effort to learn how to use it. I don't see good integration with cloud solution. It looks not enough resource/doc on how to run on distributed systems”