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Flowable vs n8n comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 5, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Automation Anywhere
Sponsored
Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
661
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (2nd), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (2nd), Process Mining (1st), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) (1st), Agentic Automation (1st), AI Legal & Compliance (1st), AI Finance & Accounting (2nd), AI Procurement & Supply Chain (1st)
Flowable
Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies
27th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Process Automation (25th)
n8n
Ranking in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Workload Automation (7th), Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (8th), AI Agent Builders (2nd), AI Scheduling & Coordination (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies category, the mindshare of Automation Anywhere is 6.1%, down from 7.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Flowable is 2.3%, down from 5.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of n8n is 3.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Automation Anywhere6.1%
n8n3.7%
Flowable2.3%
Other87.9%
Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Sivaprakash - PeerSpot reviewer
Management Consultant at Accenture
Has significantly improved document-driven workflows and reduced processing time across finance and HR functions
Automation Anywhere has evolved significantly and upgraded itself to provide agentic AI and AI-based automation solutions for document automation. The product has matured considerably over time. We can create workflows that can call an API. We can include prompts in particular workflows for ChatGPT-related functions, connecting to an LLM and RAG to perform tasks. For document automation, modern features are available to train documents, ensuring high accuracy and repeatability over time. The system is very easy to use. I recently completed a course in document automation, typically designed for people involved in coding and technical aspects. Though I understand coding comprehensively, I don't do actual coding. The course was very accessible. Currently, extensive coding isn't necessary due to the hybrid model incorporating GenAI aspects, low-code, no-code capabilities, APIs, and numerous pre-built objects in Automation Anywhere. The features include GenAI-driven prompting methods and workflow creation capabilities. In these workflows, we can create decision boxes and call APIs without coding. We simply pull objects, drop them, connect them, and add minimal coding when needed. The most crucial aspect isn't coding but rather sizing the automation and fleshing out the details. Automation Co-pilot takes notes and performs automated analysis. It can extract details from videos, summarize conversations, and provide detailed information. During calls, it identifies instructions and performs tasks such as preparing reports and reconciliation. Automation Anywhere can also connect with Microsoft Co-pilot. Through Co-pilot, real-time operations can be executed, allowing direct interaction between vendors and automation through this component.
Simon Greener - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at Cohga Pty Ltd
Helps to control the workflow and business process components of customers' operations but OSGi integration can be challenging
I'd rate my experience with the initial setup of Flowable at about a three out of ten, but for our developers, it's probably closer to a six. I found it challenging due to the complexity of the user and help documents and the fact that much of the Flowable documentation and tutorials are focused on cloud-based implementations. Since we're primarily interested in basic components like BPMN models and form design, which aren't included in the product, the learning process was more difficult for me. In contrast, our developers are more comfortable diving into the code and technology stack, which allows them to be more proactive in their approach. The deployment took three months to complete. We're still in the deployment process. Our main challenge is integrating the Flowable process engine into our product, which uses OSGi. This has led to complexity in managing the Java versions and dependencies, as the tool has around 150 Java files. We could have chosen to interact with Flowable via a Docker container and the REST API, which would have isolated the OSGi Java dependencies, but we decided to integrate it directly. This has required resolving Java version control issues and upgrades, leading to various development challenges that must be addressed. It is a learning process for all of us. As an integrated solutions architect, I would have probably opted for the Docker route rather than the direct OSGi integration chosen by the developers. However, since they went with the OSGi integration, it's taking us longer to complete the deployment. Currently, we have one full-time developer dedicated to deployment, along with one part-time developer, and my involvement at about a quarter of my time. So, we have about two people working on deployment. As for maintenance, we're not entirely sure yet. Given our direct OSGi integration choice instead of Docker and REST, maintenance may be more challenging. However, we'll have a clearer picture once deployment is complete.
NR
ERP recommendation specialist at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
Automation has transformed complex workflows and has empowered non‑technical teams to build flows
Regarding improvements for n8n, I would highlight two areas. First, while there is a growing community, the ecosystem of pre-built nodes for niche or proprietary systems still lags behind some commercial competitors. I often have to build custom HTTP request nodes or create my own node packages, which is doable but adds to project timelines. Second, features for team collaboration and lifecycle management are still evolving. Moving workflows from development to staging to production can be a manual export-import process, and native Git integration and more robust user roles for larger client teams would be a game-changer. Regarding needed improvements, I believe much of the existing documentation is not peer-reviewed. There is definitely a big community, but if the documentation or tutorials were approved or at least had a badge from n8n, customers would feel that this meets the standards of n8n editors themselves, which would give more confidence in the flows.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We have seen more efficient processing and less number of errors due to quality control."
"We have seen AA bringing immense value to the clients once operational."
"All the data that comes in has to be QC'd, and Automation Anywhere helps us by automating the QC part."
"Our organization used to have a process which took five business days to do: our monthly pricing update. This was a very manual process. Our very first bot built was to automate this process. Now, the bot runs in the background every month and the process takes less than a day to run."
"Automation Anywhere has been an integral part of this product's evolution in general. A hindrance that we were faced with was companies who did not have API integrations for Salesforce. This is where RPA and Automation Anywhere came in and helped us with integrating solutions which did not have API integrations within themselves. That's how we've evolved in the past two to three months."
"Automation Anywhere offers better value and is more effective for organizations seeking cost-effective solutions."
"It is highly scalable on cloud and virtual machines."
"Overall, Automation Anywhere is a very user-friendly and easy-to-use tool, and if clients are looking to implement automation into their business, I would definitely recommend Automation Anywhere over other tools because it is well-suited for their purposes and can be easily utilized."
"The tool's most valuable feature is the process engine. It allows us to define BPM-based workflows, deploy them into our process engine, and interact with them within our product."
"The best features n8n offers are automation and integration with different tools including Calendar, Gmail, WATI, and many other tools, which help me complete my work faster."
"The best features of n8n are its low-code capabilities with everything at your disposal."
"n8n has positively impacted my organization because we previously needed to write product descriptions manually for over 50,000 products on our website, so we created an automation that automatically writes all meta descriptions and titles, which significantly supports our growth and is very helpful and time-saving for us."
"Our business is growing faster because we have created workflows that help us improve our business."
"For lead generation, I gave all the contacts to n8n and made it write the email and automated the email sending workflow for lead generation, and the conversion rate was around 70%."
"The user-friendly interface positively impacted the team's workflow efficiency."
"We see roughly a 70% reduction in manual processing time on the document pipeline side, which means our clients can focus on higher-value audit and compliance work rather than data entry."
"Our customers do see a return on investment with this solution; it absolutely offers value for money."
 

Cons

"AA sometimes poses compatibility problems with new web browser versions like Chrome."
"They have incorporated many latest technologies, such as AI, and there is always scope to improve the processes and have more stability."
"The integration is not always seamless. Sometimes, it takes a while to get everything to communicate and be ready to go into production."
"They need to make the solution more robust."
"There was a time when I would have rated it at around fifty-fifty percent, but now Automation Anywhere uses AI for customer support."
"The biggest issue was that the new license required upgraded hardware infrastructure so we were getting all new tech stuff procured which meant that we were getting updated RAMs and things like that. Getting the licenses was easier but building the infrastructure which was required to support the new version was difficult."
"SMTP mail features should come with migration options. All kind of VB scripts and Java scripts which we built using exiting version should support in this version."
"AA has many features but the issue is with the loss of overhead on computing resources."
"In my opinion, areas of improvement for Flowable include the management and creation of forms within the open-source components and the documentation and examples provided. While the cloud-based Flowable implementation with no-code features is attractive, we prefer more control over integration, especially since we deploy our product onto AWS. We also want to avoid additional licensing fees for Flowable runtime user components on top of our software development and implementation charges."
"From my experience, n8n is stable, though the part that can be less stable is that you must stay connected to many APIs."
"I have set up n8n on our local server, which is on a Contabo-based server, and sometimes it was losing connection."
"They haven't fully helped tailor solutions for our needs."
"The localized implementation is a bit complex and we definitely need some developers involved within this process."
"n8n has a bit of a learning curve to it; you have to learn a lot."
"The setup of n8n is sometimes very complicated, especially with the HTTP node, which is complex to set up."
"There are limitations in scalability."
"I don't think it is highly scalable, but it is scalable at a moderate level for companies which have 200 to 500 clients daily; the daily throughput is of 200 to 500 clients."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Yearly, our licensing costs are about $90,000 to $100,000. There will be additional licensing costs when we add more Bot Runners to our infrastructure."
"It's justified because we have saved quite a bit of money at the company and many manual hours. Overall, it justifies the cost."
"We have purchased licenses, but are trying to obtain more bot programmer licenses."
"The ROI is really good. We have saved time and money."
"It saves on the quality of work, because the quality can be bad when somebody's doing it. If a bot does the work, it's faster and comes with good quality. These are two important things along with the cost saving in the long run. That's where the value is."
"We are restricted to use one license on one PC. However, if my license is not working, I want to be able to use it somewhere else. This would be a nice improvement to the licensing, as other competitors in the market have better licensing terms."
"It is subscription-based. They have different schemes. The price depends on how you negotiate with the local partner or local representative in your country."
"Automation Anywhere is cheaper than UiPath and Blue Prism. From a market point of view, Automation Anywhere is reasonable. Any organization can adopt Automation Anywhere."
"Since the tool is open-source, we don't have to pay anything for it. It's free to download and use, which is great for us. If Flowable hadn't been available as open source and required a license fee for us to integrate it into our product, we might not have chosen it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business161
Midsize Enterprise82
Large Enterprise558
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It depends on your use case. Is it simply to automate a couple of processes? Is it to augment a human team? AA is ver...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
From my experience using AA tool, it depends on the applications that you want to automate, because there some applic...
How good is Automation Anywhere for RPA processes?
It is a highly preferred RPA tool. You can check my Automation Anywhere Review to know more.
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for n8n?
Since we self-hosted, we avoided n8n's SaaS pricing entirely. Our costs are primarily on the Hostinger VPS subscripti...
What needs improvement with n8n?
n8n could improve the onboarding and debugging experience for users who are not deeply technical. The platform is pow...
What is your primary use case for n8n?
My main use case for n8n is in the area of HubSpot marketing CRM AI agent project. I built and implemented CRM market...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Automation Anywhere, Testing Anywhere, Automation Anywhere Enterprise, Agentic Process Automation System (Now Certified for WorkSpaces)
No data available
n8n.io n8n
 

Interactive Demo

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Google, Linkedin, Cisco, Juniper Networks, DellEMC, Comcast, Mastercard, Quest Diagnostics
1. Adobe 2. BMW 3. Cisco 4. Dell 5. Ericsson 6. Ford 7. General Electric 8. Honda 9. IBM 10. Johnson & Johnson 11. Kia Motors 12. LG Electronics 13. Microsoft 14. Nike 15. Oracle 16. PepsiCo 17. Qualcomm 18. Red Bull 19. Samsung 20. Toyota 21. Uber 22. Visa 23. Walmart 24. Xerox 25. Yahoo 26. Zara 27. Accenture 28. Bank of America 29. Citigroup 30. Deutsche Bank 31. ExxonMobil 32. Facebook
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Find out what your peers are saying about UiPath, Automation Anywhere, n8n.io and others in Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies. Updated: August 2026.
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