Camunda vs Windmill (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Windmill grades higher than Camunda: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 6, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Windmill grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Camunda
BPMN process orchestration, self-hosted or as a cloud service
Windmill
Open-source platform for scripts, workflows and internal apps
Which one is for you
Pick Camunda if
- Fits if your team writes process logic and wants BPMN in a standard format
- Works for developers who start on the free local edition
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a published price, as production plans are sold through sales
- Not for you if you need the free edition in production, as it is for non-production use
- Watch out: after 30 days the SaaS account can model but not run processes
- Too heavy for a quick no-code job, as it expects engineers
Pick Windmill if
- Fits if your automations are a pile of cron jobs and stray scripts that need one home
- Works for engineering teams who want every change reviewed as a diff before it goes live
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if nobody on the team writes code, because most steps are written in a programming language
- Tight if you're on Cloud Free, where each extra second of compute counts as another of your 1,000 executions
- Tight if you self-host for free, as Community stops at 3 workspaces and 50 users and keeps run details for 30 days
- Pricey if you self-host and need audit logs or SAML, as that's Enterprise from $120 a month
- Watch out: there's no connector library, and paid self-hosted instances report seat and memory use to Windmill
How we grade them
| 2.2GPACamundaFair | 2.6GPAWindmillGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo production prices are published, and both production options go through sales. It sits in the middle. | BCloud Team is $10 a seat a month with 10,000 executions in each seat, which sits inside this category's lowest-priced quarter, under $15. Self-hosting costs more, oddly: Pro is $48 a month minimum and only open to firms under 10 people, and audit logs or SAML mean Enterprise from $120. |
| Free plan and trial | CSelf-Managed is free for local and non-production use only. The SaaS trial lasts 30 days, then a free account can model but not run processes. | BThe Community Edition is free and open source with unlimited executions for up to 50 users, which a small team could run on forever, as long as somebody is willing to look after Docker or Kubernetes. The no-effort route, Cloud Free, is thinner: 1,000 executions a month, no card. |
| Features | BBPMN and DMN modeling, a process engine, connectors, Operate and Tasklist, reporting and document processing. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core work. | BFor an engineering team it covers the job: scripts in 20-odd languages turned into endpoints, flows with retries, approvals and parallel branches, internal apps in React or Svelte, AI agents across 12 model providers, and forks, diffs and rollback. What it hasn't got is a connector library. |
| Ease of use | DProcess models need BPMN skills, and the free edition means hosting it yourself. | DNo rating on record, and the listing is blunt about it: scripts and most flow steps are written in a programming language. The free edition means hosting it yourself with Docker or Kubernetes. Hand this to someone who doesn't code and nothing happens. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb tools with connectors to SAP, ServiceNow and Microsoft Teams. No desktop or phone app. | BWeb only, with nothing for phones or the desktop, though you can run it on Windmill Cloud or your own Docker or Kubernetes. It reaches GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Stripe, Snowflake and PostgreSQL, and every script you write becomes an API endpoint. |
| Best for | BPMN process orchestration for engineers | engineers who want automations kept as code |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Camunda and Windmill. How we grade
Where they differ
- Windmill is open source, according to its own site.
- Camunda also covers dashboards.
- Windmill also covers app builder.
At a glance
| Camunda | Windmill | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $10 per seat / month (Cloud Team); self-hosted Pro from $48 / month |
| Free plan | Self-Managed is free for local development and non-production use; production needs an Enterprise license. | Self-hosted Community Edition: unlimited executions, up to 3 workspaces and 50 users. Windmill Cloud Free: 1,000 executions a month, with no credit card required. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial of Camunda SaaS with full process execution, then a free account limited to modeling. | One-month free trial of the self-hosted Enterprise Edition |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Camunda | Windmill Labs, Inc. |
| Price read from | camunda.com | windmill.dev |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 6, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Camunda
- No production prices are published; both production options are sold through sales.
- The free Self-Managed edition is for development and non-production use only.
- After the 30-day SaaS trial, a free account keeps modeling but cannot execute processes.
- SaaS Console and Modeler are hosted in the EU, and clusters can be created in other regions.
Windmill
- Windmill is code-first: scripts and most flow steps are written in a programming language, so it suits engineers more than non-technical users.
- The free self-hosted edition stops at 3 workspaces, 50 users and 10 SSO users, has no audit logs and keeps run details for up to 30 days.
- Cloud Free covers 1,000 executions a month, and an execution is one job of under a second; each extra second of compute counts as another.
- Enterprise and Pro bill at least 2 compute units, and their instances report seat and memory use to Windmill through license telemetry.
Key features
Camunda
- BPMN and DMN modeling
- Process models in BPMN and decision models in DMN, built in a Desktop Modeler or a collaborative Web Modeler with version history and Git Sync.
- Process engine and connectors
- The Zeebe engine runs BPMN processes and the decision engine runs DMN, with connectors and an integration framework and SDK.
- Operate and Tasklist
- Operate inspects running processes and decisions, and Tasklist handles human tasks with form integration.
- Optimize reporting
- Custom process reports, dashboards and KPI-based monitoring and alerts are listed under Optimize.
- Intelligent document processing
- IDP and RPA, plus SAP and ServiceNow integrations, appear in the feature comparison; IDP is listed for the hosted SaaS edition.
Windmill
- Scripts in more than 20 languages
- A function in TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust, Bash, SQL, PHP or another supported language becomes an API endpoint and a form. Imports are resolved and versions locked at each deploy.
- Workflows as a graph or as code
- Flows are drawn in a flow editor or written in Python or TypeScript and called as an API endpoint. Retries, approval steps and parallel branches are built in.
- Internal apps
- An app is a React or Svelte frontend whose backend is your existing scripts and workflows. It can be shared with teams, published publicly or embedded in another product.
- AI agents and AI-assisted building
- Agents run on any of 12 model providers or your own OpenAI-compatible endpoint, with scripts and MCP servers as their tools. Scripts and flows can also be generated with AI in the UI.
- Forks, review and rollback
- Changes are made in a fork of the workspace, reviewed as a diff, then deployed to staging and production. Each deployment keeps its version, so an earlier one can be redeployed.
- Run history and observability
- Every run keeps its inputs, logs and result, and a failure can alert a team on Slack, Teams or by email. Enterprise adds audit logs, queue metrics and OpenTelemetry tracing.
Plans
Camunda
Development (Self-Managed)$0
Build and test on your own machine, with no license, for non-production use only. You host it yourself.
Production (Self-Managed)Custom
Enterprise license to run in production on your own infrastructure, with 24x7 support and SLAs. Sold through sales.
Camunda SaaSCustom
Fully hosted by Camunda with the full orchestration platform and 24x7 support. Bought through sales or started with a trial.
Windmill
Free and Open-source$0
Self-hosted Community Edition with unlimited executions, capped at 3 workspaces, 50 users, 4 groups and 10 SSO users. Community support on Discord.
Free (Cloud)$0
Windmill Cloud with 1,000 executions a month, sign-in with Google, GitHub or GitLab, and community support on Discord. No credit card required.
Team (Cloud)$10
per seat / month, billed by usage each month
Set per workspace. A seat covers one developer or two operators and includes 10,000 executions a month. 10 seats at most, with audit logs kept for 7 days.
Pro (self-hosted)From $48
per month: $8 per seat plus compute units
For individuals, seed-stage startups and companies under 10 employees and $250k in revenue. Capped at 10 compute units and 10 SSO users, with no audit logs.
Enterprise (self-hosted)From $120
per month: $20 per builder seat, $50 per compute unit
Audit logs, SAML and SCIM, Git sync, autoscaling, a commercial license and 24/7 priority support with a 3-hour response time. Non-builders count as half a seat.
Enterprise (Cloud)From $840
per month: $40 per developer seat plus compute
A dedicated Windmill Cloud instance with isolated workers and database, unlimited audit log retention and 24/7 priority support.
Ways to pay less
Camunda
No public discounts listed.
Windmill
- Annual discount
16% off Enterprise and Pro with annual billing
With the Annually option selected, the pricing page applies a 16% annual discount to Enterprise and Pro subscriptions, which comes to 10 months' price for the year.
- Nonprofit
40% off Enterprise for nonprofits
Windmill gives non-profits the regular Enterprise plan at a 40% discount: $12 per developer seat a month instead of $20 when self-hosted.
- Education
40% off Enterprise for universities
Universities get the same 40% discount on the regular Enterprise plan that Windmill gives non-profits.
- Startups
Pro plan for seed-stage startups
The self-hosted Pro plan, at $8 per seat against $20 on Enterprise, is open to individuals, seed-stage startups and businesses with fewer than 10 employees and $250k in revenue.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Camunda or Windmill?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Camunda publishes no starting price, and Windmill starts at $10 per seat / month (Cloud Team); self-hosted Pro from $48 / month.
Which has a free plan, Camunda or Windmill?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Camunda and Windmill have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.

