head to head · open source
xxl-job vs flowable-engine
xxl-job has 30,648 GitHub stars, 11,492 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. flowable-engine has 9,633 stars, 2,902 forks, 411 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. xxl-job leads on adoption by 218% (30,648 vs 9,633 stars). xxl-job is written in Java under GPL-3.0; flowable-engine is written in Java under Apache-2.0. xxl-job has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, flowable-engine 30%. flowable-engine was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (java), 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
| xxl-job | flowable-engine | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 9.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-09 | 2026-10-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 11K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick xxl-job if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick flowable-engine if
- You want the flowable-engine 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 flowable-engine fits your workflow better
About xxl-job
XXL JOB XXL JOB, a distributed task scheduling framework. Home Page Introduction XXL JOB is a distributed task scheduling framework. It's core design goal is to develop quickly and learn simple, lightweight, and easy to expand. Now, it's already open source, and many companies use it in production environments, real "out of the box". XXL JOB是一个分布式任务调度平台，其核心设计目标是开发迅速、学习简单、轻量级、易扩展。现已开放源代码并接入多家公司线上产品线，开箱即用。 Sponsor XXL JOB is an open source and free project, with its ongoing development made possible entirely by the support of these awesome backers. XXL JOB 是一个开源且免费项目，其正在进行的开发完全得益于支持者的支持。开源不易，前往赞助项目开发 金牌赞助方 阿里云…
read the full xxl-job overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is xxl-job or flowable-engine more popular?
xxl-job has 30,648 GitHub stars and flowable-engine has 9,633. xxl-job has the larger community by that measure.
Are xxl-job and flowable-engine free?
Both are open source. xxl-job is licensed under GPL-3.0 and flowable-engine under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between xxl-job and flowable-engine?
xxl-job is written in Java and flowable-engine 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, xxl-job or flowable-engine?
Choose xxl-job if you want the larger community (30,648 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose flowable-engine if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.