head to head · open source
flowable-engine vs tork
flowable-engine has 9,635 GitHub stars, 2,904 forks, 411 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. tork has 821 stars, 66 forks, 20 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. flowable-engine leads on adoption by 1,074% (9,635 vs 821 stars). flowable-engine is written in Java under Apache-2.0; tork is written in Go under MIT. flowable-engine has attracted 30% as many forks as stars, tork 8%. tork 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 | tork | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 9.6K | ★ 821 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-18 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 66 |
| 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 tork if
- You want the tork feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and tork 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 tork
Features • Quick Start • Installation • Architecture • Jobs • Tasks • Configuration • REST API • Web UI • Extend Tork is a highly scalable, general purpose workflow engine. It lets you define jobs consisting of multiple tasks, each running inside its own container. You can run Tork on a single machine (standalone mode) or set it up in a distributed environment with multiple workers. Features REST API – Submit jobs, query status, cancel/restart Horizontally scalable – Add workers to handle more tasks Task isolation – Tasks run in containers for isolation, idempotency, and resource limits Automatic recovery –…
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Frequently asked questions
Is flowable-engine or tork more popular?
flowable-engine has 9,635 GitHub stars and tork has 821. flowable-engine has the larger community by that measure.
Are flowable-engine and tork free?
Both are open source. flowable-engine is licensed under Apache-2.0 and tork under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between flowable-engine and tork?
flowable-engine is written in Java and tork 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 tork?
Choose flowable-engine if you want the larger community (9,635 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose tork if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.