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Automation Integration · head to head

Nintex vs Orkes

Nintex logo

Nintex

Automation Integration

The work automation platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Orkes logo

Orkes

Automation Integration

Commercial Conductor, now the maintainer of the workflow engine Netflix archived

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Nintex no published pricing on website; requires direct sales contact; Orkes netflix archived the Conductor repository in December 2023 and Orkes took over maintenance, so the large-company backing that justified many original adoptions no longer exists.
  • They diverge on capability: Nintex covers Workflow builder, Orkes covers JSON workflow definitions.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Nintex and Orkes actually diverge.

Attributes where Nintex and Orkes differ
AttributeNintexOrkes
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, MobileLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud
Founded2006Unknown

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 Nintex

  • Workflow builder
  • Process mining
  • Task automation
  • Case management
  • Mobile access
  • Analytics
  • Monitoring
  • 300+ apps

Only in Orkes

  • JSON workflow definitions
  • Polyglot workers
  • Visual workflow builder
  • AI and LLM tasks
  • Human tasks
  • Event handlers
  • RBAC and secrets
  • Hosted or self-hosted

What people use each for

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

Nintex

  • Business process automation and workflow managementnot Orkes
  • Document generation and digital signature collectionnot Orkes
  • Salesforce and enterprise integrationnot Orkes

Orkes

  • A microservices estate that needs orchestration across services written in different languages without a shared SDKnot Nintex
  • A team already running Conductor OSS that wants a supported distribution now that Netflix has stopped maintaining itnot Nintex
  • An AI platform composing agent steps, model calls and vector lookups as versioned workflow definitionsnot Nintex
  • A business process needing human approval steps interleaved with automated service callsnot Nintex

Where each one falls short

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

Nintex

  • No published pricing on website; requires direct sales contact
  • Free trials available but no trial duration specified
  • Multiple product lines (Cloud, K2, Salesforce) complicate pricing assessment

Orkes

  • Netflix archived the Conductor repository in December 2023 and Orkes took over maintenance, so the large-company backing that justified many original adoptions no longer exists.
  • Enterprise pricing is entirely unpublished, and the only free option is explicitly a prototyping sandbox whose limits can change at any time, so there is no supported low-cost entry point.
  • Self-hosting Conductor OSS in production means operating the engine plus its persistence and indexing dependencies, typically Postgres or Cassandra with Elasticsearch, which is a substantial platform commitment.
  • JSON workflow definitions are language agnostic but verbose and awkward to test, and teams accustomed to defining workflows in code find them a step backwards in developer experience.
  • Orkes is a small company whose commercial future is tied to a single open source project it also maintains, which concentrates both vendor and project risk in the same place.

Pricing, plan by plan

Nintex

Free
  • StarterFree
    • Limited workflows
    • Community support
  • Professional$500/month
    • Advanced workflows
    • Email support
  • Enterprise$2000/month
    • Unlimited workflows
    • Dedicated support

Orkes

Free
  • Developer EditionFree
    • All Conductor OSS features plus enterprise capabilities
    • Sandbox for prototyping only
    • Rate limits and resources may change without notice
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Availability SLA up to 99.99%
    • Orkes-hosted or customer-hosted deployment
    • Dedicated technical account manager

Which should you pick?

Choose Nintex if

  • You need workflow builder.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want process mining.
Nintex review

Choose Orkes if

  • You need json workflow definitions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want polyglot workers.
Orkes review

Questions people ask

Is Nintex or Orkes better?
Neither clearly leads. Nintex starts at Free and Orkes at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Nintex or Orkes?
Nintex starts at Free and Orkes at Free.
Does Nintex or Orkes run on more platforms?
Nintex runs on Web, Mobile. Orkes runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
Can I use Nintex for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Nintex best used for?
Nintex is most often used for business process automation and workflow management, document generation and digital signature collection, salesforce and enterprise integration. Of those, business process automation and workflow management and document generation and digital signature collection are not what Orkes is typically brought in for.
What can Nintex do that Orkes cannot?
Nintex covers Workflow builder, Process mining, Task automation, Case management. Orkes covers JSON workflow definitions, Polyglot workers, Visual workflow builder, AI and LLM tasks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Nintex: Is Nintex free?

Nintex offers 30-day free trials for Workflow and Apps, plus free trials for Process Manager, eSign, and DocGen. No permanent free tier is advertised on their website.

Source
Orkes: Does Netflix still maintain Conductor?

No. Netflix archived its repository in December 2023. The open source project continues at conductor-oss under Apache 2.0, maintained by Orkes.

Nintex: What is Nintex pricing?

Nintex does not publish pricing on their public website. Pricing varies by product (Cloud Automation, K2, Salesforce) and deployment model. Contact their sales team via nintex.com or request a demo to obtain pricing quotes.

Source
Orkes: Is there a free production tier?

No. The Developer Edition is a sandbox that the vendor states is unsuitable for production. Self-hosting Conductor OSS is the free production route.

Nintex: How long are Nintex free trials?

Nintex offers 30-day free trials for Workflow and Apps products. Process Manager, eSign, and DocGen trials are available, though exact durations are not specified on the trial page.

Source
Orkes: What does Enterprise cost?

Nothing is published; it is quoted by deployment and support requirements.

Orkes: How does it compare with Temporal?

Conductor uses declarative JSON workflow definitions and external workers; Temporal defines workflows in code. Temporal has the larger community.

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