head to head · open source
flowable-engine vs Inngest
flowable-engine has 9,542 GitHub stars, 2,890 forks, 411 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Inngest has 5,853 stars, 358 forks, 234 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flowable-engine leads on adoption by 63% (9,542 vs 5,853 stars). flowable-engine is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Inngest is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. flowable-engine has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, Inngest 6%. Inngest was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (workflow-engine), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| flowable-engine | Inngest | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.5K | ★ 5.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 358 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick flowable-engine if
- You weight community size — 9.5K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Inngest if
- You want the Inngest feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Inngest fits your workflow better
About flowable-engine
Flowable is an open source workflow and Business Process Management platform written in Java and distributed under the Apache 2.0 license. It bundles three engines in one project: a BPMN process engine, a CMMN case engine, and a DMN rule engine. The project lives in the Java ecosystem, integrates with Spring, and exposes both a Java API and a REST API for orchestrating human or system activities.
read the full flowable-engine overview →
About Inngest
Inngest is an open source workflow orchestration platform that lets developers write durable, event driven step functions in their existing language SDKs and run them on serverless, long running servers, or the edge.
read the full Inngest overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is flowable-engine or Inngest more popular?
flowable-engine has 9,542 GitHub stars and Inngest has 5,853. flowable-engine has the larger community by that measure.
Are flowable-engine and Inngest free?
Both are open source. flowable-engine is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Inngest has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between flowable-engine and Inngest?
flowable-engine is written in Java and Inngest in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, flowable-engine or Inngest?
Choose flowable-engine if you want the larger community (9,542 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Inngest if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.