Softwr

Automation Integration · head to head

Activiti vs Lytics

Activiti logo

Activiti

Automation Integration

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
L

Lytics

Automation Integration

The customer data platform for personalization

From
$400/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Activiti has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Lytics billed in credits where one credit is an update to a user profile, so the bill tracks how often profiles change rather than how many exist
  • They diverge on capability: Activiti covers BPMN 2.0 engine, Lytics covers Data collection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Activiti and Lytics actually diverge.

Attributes where Activiti and Lytics differ
AttributeActivitiLytics
Starting priceFree$400/month
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeusage-based
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Docker, KubernetesWeb
FoundedUnknown2013

Identical on both: 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 Lytics

  • Data collection
  • Audience segmentation
  • Predictive analytics
  • Personalization
  • Real-time activation
  • Analytics
  • API access
  • 100+ integrations

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 Lytics
  • A Java application that needs to embed a BPMN engine as a library under a permissive licencenot Lytics
  • An organisation that has ruled out Camunda 8 on licence grounds and needs an Apache 2.0 alternativenot Lytics
  • Document-centric approval workflows where the process engine sits inside the content management stack rather than beside itnot Lytics

Lytics

  • Building unified customer profiles from behavioural and marketing datanot Activiti
  • Segmenting audiences and syncing them to marketing destinationsnot 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.

Lytics

  • Billed in credits where one credit is an update to a user profile, so the bill tracks how often profiles change rather than how many exist
  • Most inbound events consume a full credit each, and Cloud Connect sync events consume half a credit per updated row
  • The free Developer tier is capped at 2M monthly credits and 10 domains
  • The Growth plan is $500 a month for 5M credits, with additional credits at $500 per 10M
  • Enterprise begins above 10M credits and is quoted rather than published

Pricing, plan by plan

Activiti

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

Lytics

$400/month
  • Professional$400/month
    • Core CDP features
  • Advanced$1200/month
    • Advanced personalization
    • Priority support
  • Enterprise$3000/month
    • Custom solutions
    • 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 Lytics if

  • You need data collection.
  • You also want audience segmentation.
Lytics review

Questions people ask

Is Activiti or Lytics better?
Neither clearly leads. Activiti starts at Free and Lytics at $400/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Activiti or Lytics?
Activiti has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Activiti and $400/month for Lytics.
Does Activiti or Lytics run on more platforms?
Activiti runs on Linux, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes. Lytics runs on Web.
Can I use Activiti for free?
Yes. Activiti has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Lytics starts at $400/month.
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 Lytics is typically brought in for.
What can Activiti do that Lytics cannot?
Activiti covers BPMN 2.0 engine, Activiti Cloud, Modeler, Java and REST APIs. Lytics covers Data collection, Audience segmentation, Predictive analytics, Personalization.

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.

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.

Activiti: What licence is it?

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

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.

Share

Related pages

More on Activiti

More on Lytics

Keep looking

Other head to heads