The clock is ticking. With support for the Camunda 7 ending in October 2025, organizations that have built their process automation on this powerful engine are urged with a critical decision – before all spirits are leaving their workflow solutions. And the path forward seems to present a difficult choice: either undertake a complex and costly migration to the entirely new architecture of Camunda 8 or find a more intelligent alternative.
For many, Camunda 8 represents a daunting challenge. It is not a simple upgrade but a complete re-platforming. Its cloud-native architecture, based on the Zeebe engine, is fundamentally different, requiring a full rewrite of existing process solutions and a new set of developer skills. This path is often fraught with high costs, significant risks, and a long project timeline.
But what if there was a better way? A path that not only secures your existing investment but also puts you on a trajectory for future innovation.
This is where Operaton emerges as the smart, strategic alternative – and may become the friendly sprit for your existing and future process automation tasks.
The Core Problem: Why a Move to Camunda 8 is a Major Hurdle
To appreciate the simplicity of Operaton, one must first understand the complexity of Camunda 8. Migrating from Camunda 7 to 8 is not a version update; it’s a paradigm shift.
Your existing process models are not directly compatible and need to be refactored. The underlying engine and its APIs are completely different, meaning all your integration code, such as Java Delegates, must be thrown away and rewritten to use the new external task client pattern. This level of change introduces significant risk and requires a massive investment in retraining your team and redeveloping and retesting every single process. It’s a “big bang” migration that few organizations have the appetite for, especially when their current Camunda 7 solutions are stable and effective.
The Smart Solution: Operaton as a Seamless Evolution
This is where Operaton provides a compelling and logical path forward. As a direct fork of the Camunda 7 engine, Operaton is designed to be a seamless evolution, not a disruptive revolution. The migration from Camunda 7 to Operaton is, in most cases, little more than changing the dependencies in your project’s build configuration.
Think about what this means for your existing assets:
- Your BPMN 2.0 process models, which encapsulate years of business knowledge, remain valid and executable.
- Your DMN decision tables continue to work as before.
- Your entire library of Java Delegate code and integration logic, which represents thousands of hours of development effort, is preserved.
By choosing Operaton, you are not discarding your investment; you are protecting it. The transition is a low-risk, low-effort update that allows your team to focus on building new features rather than rewriting old ones.
Beyond a Replacement: The Strategic Advantages of the Operaton Path
While the simplicity of the migration is the immediate benefit, the long-term strategic advantages of Operaton are even more significant. Operaton isn’t just about preserving the past; it’s about building a better future on a proven foundation.
- A Commitment to Modernization:
Operaton is an active modernization project. While Camunda 7 is locked into an aging tech stack, Operaton is aggressively moving towards supporting modern technologies like Spring Boot 3, Jakarta EE 10, and current Java LTS versions. This allows you to finally break free from legacy constraints and evolve your entire application architecture. With Operaton, your process engine is no longer a roadblock to modernization but a catalyst for it.
- True, Community-Driven Open Source:
Operaton is managed by the community, for the community. Its roadmap is public, and its governance is transparent. This is a fundamental shift away from a vendor-led model where decisions are driven by a single company’s commercial interests. With Operaton, the future of the platform is shaped by the needs of its users, ensuring its long-term health and alignment with the open-source ethos.
- Enterprise-Ready with Dedicated Support from uubato:
An open-source project thrives with a strong commercial support ecosystem. This is the role uubato proudly fills. We provide the enterprise-grade support, security patching, consulting, and development services that businesses require to run mission-critical applications with confidence. This model gives you the best of both worlds: a vibrant, innovative open-source core and a dedicated, expert partner focused entirely on your success.
Conclusion: Don’t Re-Platform When You Can Modernize
The end of support for Camunda 7 does not have to force you into a high-risk, high-cost migration to a completely new platform. There is a smarter choice. There is a friendly spirit moving into your process automation stack filling the void.
Operaton offers a path that respects your past investments while paving the way for a modern, secure, and innovative future. This friendly spirit provides the seamless transition of a fork with the forward-looking benefits of an active and transparently-governed open-source project. Paired with the enterprise-grade backing of uubato, the Operaton ecosystem represents the most logical, cost-effective, and technically sound choice for any organization currently running on Camunda 7.
Ready to make the smart move? Contact us at uubato today to discuss how we can help you transition to Operaton smoothly and securely.