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Comparison · PM

Flowable vs Fibery

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Flowable and Fibery — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Flowable vs Fibery: at a glance

FeatureFlowableFibery
SectorPMPM
Velocity score0.06.3
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesbpmn-cmmn, spring-boot-upgrades, breaking-changes, engine-only-scopework-management, custom-apps, mcp, ai-automation
Last editorial update1mo ago5d ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Flowable?

Flowable ships once a year and spends it on the Java platform, not on the process engine.

Flowable's release history is a slow major-version cadence — 7.0.0 in 2023, 7.1.0 in 2024, 7.2.0 in 2025, 8.0.0 in February 2026 — and each major is anchored to a Java-ecosystem jump rather than to process modelling itself. Flowable 8 moves to Spring Framework 7 and Spring Boot 4, makes Jackson 3 the default, and removes JUnit 3 and JUnit 4 support outright. The engine-level additions that do arrive, like lambda expressions in expressions, are incremental extensions to BPMN and CMMN semantics.

Read the full Flowable trajectory →

What is Fibery?

Fibery's Custom Apps go GA, completing its turn from work tracker to embedded app platform

Fibery spent the past quarter building and shipping Custom Apps — AI-generated mini-apps buildable inside the platform via Claude, ChatGPT, or MCP. Custom Apps launched publicly in mid-August after two months of experimental iteration. In the same period, Fibery added AI-driven automation creation, a usage dashboard tracking AI and integration consumption, and expanded MCP coverage to rich text editing and direct Custom Apps authoring. The platform is shipping weekly with a mix of headliner features and steady bug fixing.

Read the full Fibery trajectory →

Flowable vs Fibery: editorial side-by-side

F0.0

Flowable ships once a year and spends it on the Java platform, not on the process engine.

◆ Current state

Flowable's release history is a slow major-version cadence — 7.0.0 in 2023, 7.1.0 in 2024, 7.2.0 in 2025, 8.0.0 in February 2026 — and each major is anchored to a Java-ecosystem jump rather than to process modelling itself. Flowable 8 moves to Spring Framework 7 and Spring Boot 4, makes Jackson 3 the default, and removes JUnit 3 and JUnit 4 support outright. The engine-level additions that do arrive, like lambda expressions in expressions, are incremental extensions to BPMN and CMMN semantics.

◆ Where it's heading

This is a project whose roadmap is largely set by the platform underneath it. Each major forces a coordinated upgrade on adopters — Java 17 and Jakarta 9 at 7.0.0, Spring Boot 4 and Jackson 3 at 8.0.0 — and in exchange delivers query, variable and migration refinements aimed at large existing deployments. The 7.0.0 decision to drop the UI applications and the content, form and Mule modules set the pattern: narrow to the engines and the REST APIs, and let everything else go.

◆ Prediction

Expect the next major to track the following Spring and Java LTS jump on roughly the same annual rhythm. Nothing in these entries points to an AI or agent-facing direction, so any such move would be a genuine departure rather than a continuation.

F6.3

Fibery's Custom Apps go GA, completing its turn from work tracker to embedded app platform

◆ Current state

Fibery spent the past quarter building and shipping Custom Apps — AI-generated mini-apps buildable inside the platform via Claude, ChatGPT, or MCP. Custom Apps launched publicly in mid-August after two months of experimental iteration. In the same period, Fibery added AI-driven automation creation, a usage dashboard tracking AI and integration consumption, and expanded MCP coverage to rich text editing and direct Custom Apps authoring. The platform is shipping weekly with a mix of headliner features and steady bug fixing.

◆ Where it's heading

Fibery is repositioning from a flexible project tracker into a platform where teams build custom tooling on top of their own data, without leaving the workspace. The Custom Apps launch — AI-generated, embeddable in documents, now on a versioned platform — is the clearest statement of that direction. MCP integration at multiple layers (rich text, apps, automations) shows Fibery making itself a first-class target in AI-native workflows rather than bolting on a chat widget.

◆ Prediction

The next likely move is tying Custom Apps directly into Fibery's automation engine — AI-built apps that trigger and respond to automations — which would close the loop between the platform's two main new capability axes. The breaking platform update to Custom Apps in September signals further architectural changes are coming before the feature stabilizes.

Alternatives to Flowable and Fibery

Other PM products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Flowable or Fibery.

See all Flowable alternatives → · See all Fibery alternatives →

Recent activity from Flowable and Fibery

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 6d agoFiberyHierarchical filter improvements and whiteboard color coding
  2. 13d agoFiberySeptember 3, 2026 / Custom Apps updates, Set a load limit for Lists and Tables on Entity View, Multi-window support in the desktop app
  3. 20d agoFiberyAugust 27, 2026 / Usage dashboard, manually edit custom apps
  4. 27d agoFiberyAugust 20, 2026 / Batch undo, create automations with AI, Views history
  5. 1mo agoFiberyAugust 13, 2026 / Custom Apps, See how each change was made (UI, API, automation, AI)
  6. 1mo agoFiberyAugust 6, 2026 / Custom Apps improvements, Convert Select field to Database, Update small part of rich text and add comments via MCP
  7. 6mo agoFlowableSpring Boot 4 and Jackson 3 required; JUnit 4 support removed
  8. 1y agoFlowableAsync variables, skip expressions and broader query filters
  9. 1y agoFlowableLiquibase dropped from App, CMMN, DMN and event registry engines
  10. 2y agoFlowableBug-fix release adding async leave and LocalDate timers
  11. 2y agoFlowableSpring Boot 3.1.6 support and dynamic event subscriptions
  12. 2y agoFlowableJava 17 rebase; UI apps, content and form engines removed

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Flowable and Fibery?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Fibery is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Flowable better than Fibery?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Fibery is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other PM products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Flowable?

Top Flowable alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Flowable alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/flowable for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Fibery?

Top Fibery alternatives in PM are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Fibery alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/fibery for the full list with editorial commentary on each.