Is Activiti or Fivetran better?

Neither clearly leads. Activiti starts at Free and Fivetran at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Activiti or Fivetran?

Activiti starts at Free and Fivetran at Free.

Does Activiti or Fivetran run on more platforms?

Activiti runs on Linux, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes. Fivetran runs on Web, Cloud.

Can I use Activiti for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Activiti best used for?

Activiti is most often used for an alfresco or hyland content services deployment where activiti is already the embedded workflow engine, a java application that needs to embed a bpmn engine as a library under a permissive licence, an organisation that has ruled out camunda 8 on licence grounds and needs an apache 2.0 alternative, document-centric approval workflows where the process engine sits inside the content management stack rather than beside it. Of those, an alfresco or hyland content services deployment where activiti is already the embedded workflow engine and a java application that needs to embed a bpmn engine as a library under a permissive licence are not what Fivetran is typically brought in for.

What can Activiti do that Fivetran cannot?

Activiti covers BPMN 2.0 engine, Activiti Cloud, Modeler, Java and REST APIs. Fivetran covers Automated data pipeline, Change Data Capture, Data transformation, Real-time sync.

Automation Integration · head to head

Activiti vs Fivetran

Activiti

Automation Integration

Apache 2.0 BPMN engine under Hyland, from which Flowable and Camunda were forked

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Fivetran

Automation Integration

The most trusted data movement platform

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Activiti the last stable release was 8.2.0 in January 2024, and while release candidate builds continue, a two-year gap between stable versions is a real risk signal for a production dependency.; Fivetran billed on monthly active rows, so the bill tracks how much source data changes rather than how much is stored or queried
They diverge on capability: Activiti covers BPMN 2.0 engine, Fivetran covers Automated data pipeline.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Activiti and Fivetran actually diverge.

Attributes where Activiti and Fivetran differ
Attribute	Activiti	Fivetran
Pricing model	Open source, no licence fee	usage-based
Platforms	Linux, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes	Web, Cloud
Founded	Unknown	2012

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Automation Integration).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Activiti

BPMN 2.0 engine
Activiti Cloud
Modeler
Java and REST APIs
Pluggable persistence
Identity integration

Only in Fivetran

Automated data pipeline
Change Data Capture
Data transformation
Real-time sync
Monitoring
Data quality
Scheduling
Notifications

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Activiti

An Alfresco or Hyland content services deployment where Activiti is already the embedded workflow enginenot Fivetran
A Java application that needs to embed a BPMN engine as a library under a permissive licencenot Fivetran
An organisation that has ruled out Camunda 8 on licence grounds and needs an Apache 2.0 alternativenot Fivetran
Document-centric approval workflows where the process engine sits inside the content management stack rather than beside itnot Fivetran

Fivetran

Managed data pipelines from SaaS sources into a warehousenot Activiti
Keeping a warehouse in sync with production databases without writing connectorsnot Activiti

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Activiti

The last stable release was 8.2.0 in January 2024, and while release candidate builds continue, a two-year gap between stable versions is a real risk signal for a production dependency.
Both Camunda and Flowable forked away and took large parts of the contributor base with them, so the community, tutorials and third-party tooling around Activiti are much thinner than around either fork.
Commercial support is only realistically available by buying Hyland Alfresco subscriptions, so there is no way to pay for Activiti support on its own.
Activiti Cloud imposes a distributed architecture of several Spring Boot services plus Keycloak, which is heavy for teams who simply wanted an embeddable engine.
Documentation is dated and partly split between old Alfresco sites and Hyland Connect, and the transition between Activiti 6, 7 and 8 architectures makes much of the older material actively misleading.

Fivetran

Billed on monthly active rows, so the bill tracks how much source data changes rather than how much is stored or queried
Each connection follows its own cost curve, so total spend is hard to predict before running a pipeline
The free plan allows 500,000 monthly active rows, 3,500 activation rows and 5,000 model runs
Transformations are metered separately, from $0.01 per model run above 5,000 down to $0.002 above 100,000
A schema change upstream that touches many rows raises the bill without any change on the customer's side

Pricing, plan by plan

Activiti

Free

ActivitiFree
- Apache 2.0 licence
- Embeddable Java library or Activiti Cloud services
- No usage limits

Fivetran

Free

FreeFree
- Limited connectors
- Basic support
Standard$300/month
- 500+ connectors
- Priority support
Enterprise$1000/month
- Custom connectors
- Dedicated support

Which should you pick?

Choose Activiti if

You need bpmn 2.0 engine.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
You also want activiti cloud.

Activiti review

Choose Fivetran if

You need automated data pipeline.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Cloud.
You also want change data capture.

Fivetran review

Questions people ask

Is Activiti or Fivetran better?: Neither clearly leads. Activiti starts at Free and Fivetran at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Activiti or Fivetran?: Activiti starts at Free and Fivetran at Free.
Does Activiti or Fivetran run on more platforms?: Activiti runs on Linux, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes. Fivetran runs on Web, Cloud.
Can I use Activiti for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Activiti best used for?: Activiti is most often used for an alfresco or hyland content services deployment where activiti is already the embedded workflow engine, a java application that needs to embed a bpmn engine as a library under a permissive licence, an organisation that has ruled out camunda 8 on licence grounds and needs an apache 2.0 alternative, document-centric approval workflows where the process engine sits inside the content management stack rather than beside it. Of those, an alfresco or hyland content services deployment where activiti is already the embedded workflow engine and a java application that needs to embed a bpmn engine as a library under a permissive licence are not what Fivetran is typically brought in for.
What can Activiti do that Fivetran cannot?: Activiti covers BPMN 2.0 engine, Activiti Cloud, Modeler, Java and REST APIs. Fivetran covers Automated data pipeline, Change Data Capture, Data transformation, Real-time sync.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Activiti: Is Activiti still maintained?

Yes, Hyland continues to publish builds, but the last stable release was 8.2.0 in January 2024.

Fivetran: What does Fivetran's free plan include?

The free plan includes 500,000 monthly active rows for connections, 3,500 monthly active rows for activations, and 5,000 monthly model runs for transformations.

Source

Activiti: What is its relationship to Camunda and Flowable?

Both are forks of Activiti: Camunda in 2013 and Flowable in 2016, when core developers left Alfresco.

Fivetran: What is the trial period for Fivetran?

Fivetran offers a 14-day risk-free trial for new accounts. Each new connection also includes 14 days of free use, with trial extensions available by contacting support.

Source

Activiti: What licence is it?

Apache 2.0, which distinguishes it from Camunda 8’s source-available licence.

Fivetran: How much do I save by paying annually instead of monthly?

Annual contracts save up to 22.6% compared to monthly pricing, with tiered discounts starting at 5% and increasing based on annual list price.

Source

Activiti: Should I choose Activiti for a new project?

Only if the Apache licence or an existing Alfresco deployment is decisive. Flowable and Camunda have far larger ecosystems.

Fivetran: Can I cancel or modify my Fivetran subscription anytime?

Plans can be upgraded at any time. Connections can be added or removed at any time, and you can block tables or schemas to reduce usage. Downgrade or cancellation policies are not specified on the pricing page.

Source

Fivetran: What is the pricing for Fivetran transformations?

Transformations cost $0.01 per run for 5,001 to 30,000 monthly runs, with per-run costs declining as volume increases.

Source

Activiti vs Fivetran

Activiti

Fivetran

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Activiti

Only in Fivetran

What people use each for

Activiti

Fivetran

Where each one falls short

Activiti

Fivetran

Pricing, plan by plan

Activiti

Fivetran

Which should you pick?

Choose Activiti if

Choose Fivetran if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Activiti

More on Fivetran

Keep looking

Other head to heads