head to head · open source
flowable-engine vs operaton
flowable-engine has 9,620 GitHub stars, 2,899 forks, 411 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. operaton has 501 stars, 134 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flowable-engine leads on adoption by 1,820% (9,620 vs 501 stars). flowable-engine is written in Java under Apache-2.0; operaton is written in Java under Apache-2.0. flowable-engine has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, operaton 27%. operaton was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (bpmn, java, 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 | operaton | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.6K | ★ 501 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-18 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 134 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick flowable-engine if
- You weight community size — 9.6K 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 operaton if
- You want the operaton feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and operaton fits your workflow better
About flowable-engine
Flowable ======== Homepage: flowable / flowəb(ə)l / a compact and highly efficient workflow and Business Process Management (BPM) platform for developers, system admins and business users. a lightning fast, tried and tested BPMN process engine, CMMN case engine and DMN rule engine written in Java. It is Apache 2.0 licensed open source, with a committed community. can run embedded in a Java application, or as a service on a server, a cluster, and in the cloud. It integrates perfectly with Spring. With a rich Java and REST API, it is the ideal engine for orchestrating human or system activities. Introduction…
read the full flowable-engine overview →
About operaton
The open source BPMN platform for mission critical process automation Forum · Documentation · Roadmap Operaton is a native BPMN 2.0 process engine that runs inside the Java Virtual Machine. Born from the Camunda 7 community edition, Operaton continues to evolve and modernize the platform as a truly community driven project. Proven — Evolved from the Camunda 7 codebase, with over a decade of production use by thousands of companies worldwide. Embeddable — Runs inside any Java application. Integrates with Spring Boot, Quarkus, and Jakarta EE. Full Stack — Process engine, REST API, and web apps (Cockpit, Tasklist…
read the full operaton overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is flowable-engine or operaton more popular?
flowable-engine has 9,620 GitHub stars and operaton has 501. flowable-engine has the larger community by that measure.
Are flowable-engine and operaton free?
Both are open source. flowable-engine is licensed under Apache-2.0 and operaton under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between flowable-engine and operaton?
flowable-engine is written in Java and operaton in Java. 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 operaton?
Choose flowable-engine if you want the larger community (9,620 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose operaton if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.