head to head · open source
flowable-engine vs obelisk
flowable-engine has 9,542 GitHub stars, 2,890 forks, 411 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. obelisk has 755 stars, 19 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped today. flowable-engine leads on adoption by 1,164% (9,542 vs 755 stars). flowable-engine is written in Java under Apache-2.0; obelisk is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. flowable-engine has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, obelisk 3%. obelisk 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 | obelisk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.5K | ★ 755 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 19 |
| 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 obelisk if
- You want the obelisk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and obelisk 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 obelisk
Obelisk is a durable and deterministic workflow engine written in Rust and built on the WASM Component Model, aimed at developers who need replayable, crash resilient background jobs, periodic tasks, batch work, and webhook driven pipelines.
read the full obelisk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is flowable-engine or obelisk more popular?
flowable-engine has 9,542 GitHub stars and obelisk has 755. flowable-engine has the larger community by that measure.
Are flowable-engine and obelisk free?
Both are open source. flowable-engine is licensed under Apache-2.0 and obelisk under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between flowable-engine and obelisk?
flowable-engine is written in Java and obelisk in Rust. 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 obelisk?
Choose flowable-engine if you want the larger community (9,542 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose obelisk if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.