# Flowable — Workflow Management

Flowable by Flowable AG holds a panel rating of 2/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 2/5), as of 2026-10-15. Provenance: UK / wider Europe; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Flowable AG (https://www.flowable.com)
- Category: [Workflow Management](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): UK / wider Europe
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/flowable
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/flowable/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/flowable/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-10-20 · evaluated 2026-10-15 · oldest source captured 2026-10-13

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Flowable AG
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026

## The panel's verdict

Flowable — Flowable AG of Zurich, with Flowable Deutschland GmbH in Stuttgart — is strongest on hosting and portability, 6 to 8: the engine is a free download, BPMN, CMMN and DMN definitions are described as portable by design with no vendor lock-in, with an Enterprise Cloud alongside. Process design, 4 to 6, rests on standards the vendor says it has run for 15+ years, dynamic routing and escalation in case management, and human-in-the-loop agents — but the pages give no information on forms, role-assigned approvals or substitutes. Integration and connector scores sit at 3 to 4, the pages documenting no per-connector triggers, no API and no SAP or DATEV. Sovereignty spans 1 to 3: the head of IT credited the European legal entities; the skeptic weighed wholly unknown residency and subprocessors. Run reliability spreads 2 to 4 — the operations analyst scored 2 on absent retries, error paths and limits, while others credited stated retention — 30 days for server logs, 3 to 12 months for operational data. No price figures appear; only a free trial, free download and free/paid connector flags.

**Speaks for it:**
- Free download of an engine built on the BPMN, CMMN and DMN standards, with definitions the vendor calls portable by design and free of vendor lock-in
- Case management with dynamic routing and escalation, plus agents with people in the loop where it matters
- Thirty connectors across six categories with free-or-paid status flagged per connector — Apache Camel and RPA Framework free, Salesforce, SharePoint, ABBYY and GenAI paid
- Retention and destruction stated concretely: server logs 30 days, operational data 3 to 12 months, contract data ten years after termination, with irreversible destruction once retention ends
- An audit-and-replay claim covering every decision, step and override, with runtime policy enforcement over what each agent may do

**Held against it:**
- We found no public information on forms, approval steps assigned to roles, substitutes, deadlines, or how running instances are treated when a process definition changes
- We found no public information on per-connector triggers and actions, a generic HTTP or webhook step, a documented API, or connectors for SAP, DATEV or Microsoft Dynamics
- We found no public information on retries, error paths, failure alerting, runtime and throughput limits, or a public status page
- We found no public information on single sign-on, permission roles, where connection credentials are stored, separate environments with publishing approval, or certifications
- The published sovereignty attributes — contracting entity jurisdiction, ownership, data residency, subprocessor exposure — all read unknown

**Best for:**
- You want an exit path before committing: a free engine download, open BPMN, CMMN and DMN definitions and a stated no-vendor-lock-in position earned hosting and portability its 6 to 8, the table's top scores
- You run long-lived, regulated cases — banking, insurance, public sector and healthcare are the vendor's named industries — needing dynamic routing, escalation and agents with people in the loop
- Your data-protection review needs stated retention and destruction commitments, which the privacy notice gives in concrete figures

**Avoid if:**
- You must document data residency or subprocessor exposure before sign-off; sovereignty scored 1 to 3 and the published attributes read unknown
- Your runbook needs retries, error paths and failure alerting for a live month-end process; run reliability spans 2 to 4 on exactly that gap
- Your stack centres on SAP, DATEV or Microsoft Dynamics; the captured catalog of thirty connectors names none of them

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price.

| Criterion | The Process Owner | The Integration Engineer | The Operations Analyst | The Head of IT | The Data Protection Officer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Process design, forms & approvals | 2/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Connectors, API & on-premise reach | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Execution, error handling & monitoring | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Governance, credentials & audit trail | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Hosting options & portability | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 4/5 |
| European sovereignty | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 0.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r | n/r |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2.5/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** |

### The judges

- **The Process Owner** (v1.0): Runs purchase approvals and invoice release for a 400-person Mittelstand company. Wants approvers set by role rather than by name, a substitute when someone is on holiday, deadlines that escalate, and a process change that does not break the forty requests already in flight.
- **The Integration Engineer** (v1.0): Wires the ERP to the shop, the shop to DATEV and the CRM to everything else. Wants connectors documented by action rather than counted in logos, a generic HTTP step for the rest, an on-premise agent that reaches the SQL server without a hole in the firewall, and a failed run replayable from the step that failed.
- **The Operations Analyst** (v1.0): Is asked every Monday why invoices took eleven days. Wants a searchable execution history, cycle times per step, alerts that reach a channel rather than an unread mailbox, runtime and throughput limits published before the month-end run hits them — and to know what a loop over 5,000 rows costs in tasks.
- **The Head of IT** (v1.0): Answers for every automation a department builds without asking. Wants SSO, separate test and production, an inventory of workflows with their owners — and an exit: definitions exportable as BPMN or documented JSON, a self-hosted edition, and an engine licence that will still apply in five years.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Reads every workflow as a chain of transfers. Asks where the execution log keeps its copy of the payload and for how long, which subprocessors and AI model providers a step sends data to, whether payloads can be masked, and what the approval trail records about employees before the works council asks.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Knows that "7,000 integrations" counts connectors nobody maintains, that "unlimited workflows" says nothing about the tasks each run consumes, and that "no-code" ends at the first API without a connector. Reads for what counts as a task, how long failed runs are kept, which model an "AI agent" step sends data to, and whether the workflows can leave the platform at all.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Ownership | Not determined | — | — |
| Data residency | Not determined | — | — |
| Subprocessors | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Breach notification: yes [S2]
- GDPR: yes [S2]
- Security measures: yes [S2]
- Transfer safeguards: yes · yes · yes [S2]

**Data**
- Contract retention: 10 [S2]
- Destruction: irreversible destruction once retention no longer needed [S2]
- Log retention: 30 [S2]
- Operational retention: 3-12 [S2]
- Portability: yes [S2]
- Recruit retention: 12 [S2]
- Subject rights: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S2]

**Legal**
- Canada entity: Flowable IT Services Canada Inc. · 181 University Avenue, Suite 2100, Toronto, ON, M5H 3M7 · Canada [S3]
- Canada VAT: 740732078RC0001 · Flowable IT Services Canada Inc. [S3]
- Controller: Flowable AG · Baslerstrasse 60, 8048 Zurich, Switzerland [S2]
- Copyright: Flowable AG [S3]
- Copyright holder: Flowable AG [S4]
- Entity: Flowable AG · 2026 [S1]
- EU representative: Flowable Deutschland GmbH · Schloßstraße 70, 70176 Stuttgart, Germany [S2]
- Germany entity: Flowable Deutschland GmbH · Schlossstrasse 70, 70176 Stuttgart · Germany [S3]
- Germany registration: Flowable Deutschland GmbH · HRB-758941 [S3]
- Germany VAT: DE815681236 · Flowable Deutschland GmbH [S3]
- Liability disclaimer: No responsibility, guarantee or liability for website information [S3]
- Notice changes: 30 [S2]
- Poland entity: Flowable Polska s.p. z. o.o. · ul. Mogilska 43, 31-545 Kraków · Poland [S3]
- Poland VAT: 6751767975 · Flowable Polska s.p. z. o.o. [S3]
- Privacy contact: privacy@flowable.com [S2]
- Switzerland entity: HQ · Flowable AG · Baslerstrasse 60 CH-8048 Zurich · Switzerland [S3]
- Switzerland registration: Flowable AG · CHE-105.136.021 [S3]
- Switzerland VAT: CHE-193.842.582 MWST · Flowable AG [S3]
- Usa entity: Flowable USA Inc. · 309 East Paces Ferry Rd. NE Suite 20, Atlanta, GA 30305-2367 · USA [S3]
- Usa VAT: 47-0764919 · Flowable USA Inc. [S3]

**Product**
- Abbyy connector: no · ABBYY · Intelligent Document Processing [S4]
- Agent orchestration: agent orchestration · yes [S1]
- Apache camel connector: yes · Apache Camel [S4]
- Case management: case management · yes · yes [S1]
- Children: 16 [S2]
- Connector catalog categories: Enterprise Application · Data Integration & Analytics · Automation & Workflow · AI & Intelligence · Cloud & Infrastructure · Collaboration & Communication [S4]
- Connector count: 30 [S4]
- Cookies: yes [S2]
- Customer count: 600 [S1]
- Event recording: yes [S2]
- Events per day: 1000000000 [S1]
- Free trial: free trial · yes [S1]
- Free trial available: yes [S4]
- Gartner recognition: Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies 2026 [S1]
- Genai connector: no · GenAI [S4]
- Industry leaders clients: 2/3 [S1]
- Newsletter optin: yes [S2]
- Observability audit: observability and audit trail [S1]
- Open source: yes [S1]
- Open standard engines: yes · yes [S1]
- Platform components: Agentic Case Platform · Enterprise Cloud · Case Management · Process Orchestration · Agentic AI · Integrations & Connectors · Business Orchestration & Automation (BOAT) [S1]
- Platform name: The Agentic Case Platform [S1]
- Platform offerings: Agentic Case Platform, Enterprise Cloud, Case Management, Process Orchestration, Agentic AI, Integrations & Connectors, BOAT, Free Download [S4]
- Policy controls: runtime policy enforcement [S1]
- Regulated industries: Banking & Wealth Management · Insurance · Public sector · Healthcare [S1]
- Rpa framework connector: yes · RPA Framework [S4]
- Salesforce connector: no · Salesforce [S4]
- Sharepoint connector: no · Sharepoint [S4]
- Standards: BPMN · CMMN · DMN · 15 [S1]
- Target industries: yes [S1]
- Traceability: yes · yes [S1]
- Training certification: yes [S1]
- Trust center: yes · yes [S1]

**Support**
- Channels: documentation · forum · support [S1]

## Questions

### Is Flowable European?

Yes, though not from the EU. whats-best.ai classifies Flowable as UK / wider Europe.

### Where does Flowable store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026.

### Does Flowable have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Flowable?

As of 15 Oct 2026, the panel rates [Tray.ai (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/tray-ai), [n8n (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/n8n) and [Camunda (2.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/camunda) highest among the other 16 Workflow Management products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [n8n](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/n8n) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Flowable alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/flowable/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- We found no public information on pricing on the pages we read (flowable.com, flowable.com/privacy-notice, flowable.com/imprint, flowable.com/product/platform/connectors). If the vendor publishes it somewhere else, send us the page.
- 2 subprocessors facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 compliance fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 legal fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage: https://www.flowable.com/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S2] Privacy policy: https://www.flowable.com/privacy-notice (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S3] Legal notice: https://www.flowable.com/imprint (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S4] Connectors, API & on-premise reach — found from sitemap: https://www.flowable.com/product/platform/connectors (checked 2026-10-13)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Flowable — Workflow Management", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-10-20. https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/flowable

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/556?target=page