For developers in the process automation space, the end-of-life of Camunda 7’s has created a critical decision point. The reliable engine that powered countless applications will no longer receive public updates or security patches, forcing teams to choose a new path forward. This decision isn’t just about finding a replacement; it’s about choosing the right technological foundation for the future of your applications.
The landscape presents three main options: remain on the now-static Camunda 7, or migrate to one of the two prominent open-source forks, Operaton or CIB seven.
As a developer, you need to look beyond marketing claims and evaluate these platforms on their technical merits, their philosophical approach, and their long-term viability. This guide aims to provide that deep, developer-focused comparison. At uubato, as the primary service and support partner for Operaton, we believe an informed choice is the best choice, and we want to equip you with the data to make it.
The Foundation: Camunda 7 as the Common Ancestor
Camunda 7 is the platform we all know. Its strengths are undeniable: it is a battle-tested, robust, and highly flexible BPMN engine with a massive knowledge base accumulated over a decade. However, its crucial weakness is now its status as a legacy platform. With the Community Edition frozen in time, staying on Camunda 7 means accepting a future without security updates and being permanently locked into an aging technology stack, including older versions of Java, Java EE, and Spring Boot. For any forward-looking development team, this is a significant technical liability.
This is the context in which both Operaton and CIB seven were born — to provide a future for the Camunda 7 codebase. While they share a common origin, they represent two fundamentally different philosophies for that future.
The Philosophical Divide: Community-Driven Modernization vs. Commercial Continuity
The most important distinction for a developer to understand is the core philosophy driving each project, as this dictates their technical roadmaps and governance.
Operaton is best understood as a community-driven modernization project. Its primary goal is not just to preserve the Camunda 7 engine, but to actively improve and future-proof it. The Operaton team, through a transparent and public governance model, is focused on tackling technical debt, removing deprecated code, and aggressively aligning with modern technology stacks. The clear commitment to supporting Java 17+, Jakarta EE 10, and Spring Framework 6 / Spring Boot 3 is a statement to this. Operaton’s spirit is that of a pure open-source project, where community collaboration drives the evolution towards a healthier, more maintainable, and more secure long-term future.
CIB seven, in contrast, presents itself as a commercially-backed continuity project. Driven by the established software company CIB, its main value proposition is to offer a seamless, stable, and immediate “drop-in” replacement for Camunda 7. The focus is on providing a straightforward continuation of service with the backing of a single commercial entity that provides both the software and the support. While this ensures stability, the approach to modernization appears more conservative, prioritizing immediate compatibility over a rapid shift to the latest technology stacks.
This philosophical difference is the key to understanding the technical distinctions that follow.
Technical Deep Dive: A Head-to-Head Comparison
Let’s break down the technical aspects that matter most to a development team. A brief summary highlights the key differences:
| Feature | Camunda 7 (Community EOL) | CIB seven | Operaton |
| Core Philosophy | Vendor-Led (Legacy) | Commercial Continuity | Community-Driven Modernization |
| Tech Stack Goal | Java 8+, Spring Boot 2.x | High C7 Compatibility | Java 17+, Spring Boot 3, Jakarta EE 10 |
| Governance | Corporate (Camunda) | Corporate (CIB) | Community-Led & Public |
| Support Model | Enterprise Subscription | Commercial (from CIB) | Ecosystem (from uubato) |
The most critical area for developers is the underlying technology stack. While both Operaton and CIB seven offer a low-effort migration path — primarily involving a dependency change in your pom.xml or build.gradle — their roadmaps diverge significantly. CIB seven focuses on maintaining high compatibility with the Camunda 7 environment, which simplifies the immediate switch. Operaton, however, sees the migration as an opportunity for modernization. Its support for Spring Boot 3 and Jakarta EE 10 is a game-changer. This allows you to finally upgrade your entire application, freeing you from the technical debt of being stuck on older frameworks. For a developer, this means access to better performance, modern libraries, and improved security in your whole technology stack, not just the process engine.
Regarding governance, the difference is stark. Camunda 7 and CIB seven follow a traditional corporate-led model where the roadmap and priorities are set internally. Operaton operates with a transparent, public governance model where decisions are made by the community. For developers who value the principles of free and open-source software, this provides an opportunity to directly influence the tools they use, report issues, and contribute to a project with a truly collaborative spirit.
The web applications (Cockpit, Tasklist) remain functionally similar across all three platforms, as they share the same codebase origin. All provide the essential tools for process monitoring and human task management. The key difference lies in the long-term vision, where Operaton’s modernization efforts will eventually lead to a more advanced and maintainable front-end architecture.
Making the Right Choice for Your Team
Your decision should be based on your team’s primary strategic goals.
- You should consider sticking with Camunda 7 only if you have a paid enterprise subscription with Camunda and plan to migrate to their cloud-native Camunda 8 platform. For users of the Community Edition, this path is a dead end.
- You should choose CIB seven if your top priority is a simple, stable continuation of your existing Camunda 7 setup with minimal disruption. It is a strong choice if you prefer a single vendor for both the software fork and commercial support and do not have an immediate need to modernize the underlying application stack.
- You should choose Operaton if your priority is long-term viability and technical excellence. It is the ideal path for development teams who want to escape the legacy trap of old frameworks, align their applications with modern Java technologies, and future-proof their investment. If you believe in a truly community-driven open-source model and want the flexibility of an ecosystem of service partners, Operaton is the clear choice for the future.
Conclusion: A Choice Between Continuity and Progress
Ultimately, the decision boils down to a choice between continuity and progress. CIB seven offers a safe harbor, a stable continuation of the world you know. Operaton offers a path forward—a modernized, community-driven, and more powerful engine for the future.
At uubato, we are committed to making that path to progress both safe and effective. We provide the enterprise-grade support, expert consulting, and development services that give you the confidence to build on Operaton. By choosing Operaton, you get a superior open-source engine from the community and a dedicated, expert partner in uubato to ensure your success.
