Flowable vs Workflow Engine
Flowable
flowable.comWorkflow Engine
workflowengine.ioSide by side
| Figure | Flowable | Workflow Engine |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $99/mo | $666.67/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 7 |
| Spec score · Workflow Orchestration Software | 9.1 (#2) | 7.8 (#25) |
| Deployment | Flowable engines can run embedded in a Java application or as services on a server, cluster, or in the cloud. | Workflow Engine NEO adds an HTTP API and multitenancy, while Workflow Server is a standalone Docker service called over HTTP. |
| Integrations | The connector catalog lists 30 connectors, including Salesforce, SharePoint, ABBYY, GenAI, RPA Framework and Apache Camel. | The maker lists plugins including Approval, Loops, File, Active Directory and Entra ID, Real-Time Tracking, and support for custom plugins. |
| Product | Flowable describes itself as an agentic case platform that orchestrates people, systems, and AI agents around cases and processes. | Workflow Engine is an embeddable .NET workflow library that persists business process state in your database and supports timers, audit history, and process versioning. |
| Support | Flowable lists Silver, Gold, and Platinum support levels, with support hours and incident response times varying by level. | The maker directs existing customers to technical support under their support plan and offers public GitHub Discussions for questions. |
| Trial | The trial provides 30 days of fully functional Flowable access without installation and includes Work, Design and example applications. | The pricing page lists product trial periods from 30 to 90 days, depending on the commercial edition. |
Plans
Flowable
- Community EditionFree
- Flowable Open SourceFree
- Flowable Platform$99 a month
- Agentic Case PlatformPriced on request
- Case PlatformPriced on request
Workflow Engine
- Workflow Engine FreeFree
- Workflow Engine Team$2,000, paid once
- Workflow Engine Complete$5,000, paid once
- Workflow Engine NEO Subscription$8,000 a year
- Workflow Engine NEO Business$10,000, paid once
- Workflow Engine NEO SaaS$15,000, paid once
- Workflow Engine NEO EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Workflow Engine
Workflow Engine is an embeddable.NET library for managing business processes while saving their state in your database. It supports timers, audit history, and process versioning, and includes an HTML5 visual designer that can be embedded in an application. Designer packages are available for React, Angular, and vanilla JavaScript, with a documented Blazor integration. The core package supports.NET Framework 4.6.2 through.NET 10 and is deployed on-premises or in a customer's cloud. Supported databases include SQL Server, Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Azure Cosmos DB, MySQL, Oracle, and SQLite. It imports BPMN 2.0 diagrams as native schemes, but does not export diagrams back to BPMN. Workflow Engine Free is licensed for personal, non-commercial use and costs nothing; it is limited to 10 schemas and 4 execution threads. Paid options include one-time licenses and subscriptions. NEO adds an HTTP API and multitenancy, while Workflow Server is a standalone Docker service called over HTTP. The core engine has no user store; authentication is the host application's responsibility.