Automation Integration · head to head
Kogito vs Orkes
Kogito
Automation Integration
Cloud-native business automation for Quarkus, now an Apache KIE component
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Orkes
Automation Integration
Commercial Conductor, now the maintainer of the workflow engine Netflix archived
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Kogito kogito is a developer framework, not a product, so there is no equivalent of Camunda Operate for business users and any process monitoring interface has to be built or bought separately.; 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: Kogito covers Build-time code generation, Orkes covers JSON workflow definitions.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Kogito and Orkes actually diverge.
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 Kogito
- Build-time code generation
- Quarkus and Spring Boot support
- DMN decision services
- Drools rules engine
- Serverless workflow
- Kubernetes operator
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.
Kogito
- A Quarkus microservice that must expose a DMN decision model as a REST endpoint with millisecond start-upnot Orkes
- Serverless deployment of business rules where a traditional BPM server would be far too heavynot Orkes
- A Red Hat shop that wants the upstream of Red Hat process automation with the option of a supported build laternot Orkes
- Replacing hand-coded conditional logic with DMN tables that business analysts can review and amendnot Orkes
Orkes
- A microservices estate that needs orchestration across services written in different languages without a shared SDKnot Kogito
- A team already running Conductor OSS that wants a supported distribution now that Netflix has stopped maintaining itnot Kogito
- An AI platform composing agent steps, model calls and vector lookups as versioned workflow definitionsnot Kogito
- A business process needing human approval steps interleaved with automated service callsnot Kogito
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Kogito
- Kogito is a developer framework, not a product, so there is no equivalent of Camunda Operate for business users and any process monitoring interface has to be built or bought separately.
- Long-running stateful processes need external persistence and messaging that you configure and operate yourself, which removes much of the convenience a BPM server normally provides.
- It sits inside the Apache KIE incubator, and incubating status means graduation is not guaranteed and the project name and artefact coordinates have already changed once.
- Red Hat is by far the dominant contributor despite ASF stewardship, so the roadmap follows Red Hat product priorities rather than community demand.
- Documentation is spread across legacy JBoss sites, the old Kogito site and the new Apache KIE site, and search results routinely land on outdated versions, which costs real time during adoption.
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
Kogito
Free- KogitoFree
- Apache 2.0 licence
- Apache KIE incubating project
- No usage limits
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 Kogito if
- You need build-time code generation.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
- You also want quarkus and spring boot support.
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.
Questions people ask
- Is Kogito or Orkes better?
- Neither clearly leads. Kogito 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, Kogito or Orkes?
- Kogito starts at Free and Orkes at Free.
- Does Kogito or Orkes run on more platforms?
- Kogito runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Orkes runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
- Can I use Kogito for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Kogito best used for?
- Kogito is most often used for a quarkus microservice that must expose a dmn decision model as a rest endpoint with millisecond start-up, serverless deployment of business rules where a traditional bpm server would be far too heavy, a red hat shop that wants the upstream of red hat process automation with the option of a supported build later, replacing hand-coded conditional logic with dmn tables that business analysts can review and amend. Of those, a quarkus microservice that must expose a dmn decision model as a rest endpoint with millisecond start-up and serverless deployment of business rules where a traditional bpm server would be far too heavy are not what Orkes is typically brought in for.
- What can Kogito do that Orkes cannot?
- Kogito covers Build-time code generation, Quarkus and Spring Boot support, DMN decision services, Drools rules engine. Orkes covers JSON workflow definitions, Polyglot workers, Visual workflow builder, AI and LLM tasks.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Kogito: Is Kogito still maintained?
Yes. It is an Apache KIE incubating project with active commits, with Red Hat as the dominant contributor.
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.
Kogito: How does it differ from jBPM?
Kogito compiles process and rule definitions into application code at build time; jBPM was a runtime engine that loads definitions.
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.
Kogito: Does it need Quarkus?
It is designed for Quarkus and supports Spring Boot; both are Java frameworks rather than a standalone server.
Orkes: What does Enterprise cost?
Nothing is published; it is quoted by deployment and support requirements.
Kogito: Is there commercial support?
Not from Apache. Red Hat sells supported builds of this lineage as part of its subscriptions.
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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