Automation is hardly a new concept in business. You’ve likely adopted automation tools to handle repetitive tasks, from robotic process automation (RPA) bots managing data entry to software handling customer support tickets. Yet, you may still find yourself facing frustrating gaps. Workflows break down when they need to move between different systems, teams work in silos, and you lack a clear view of a process from start to finish. This is where the real challenge lies: not in automating individual tasks, but in making all your automated processes work together harmoniously.
This is the power of business process orchestration. It’s the next crucial step in your digital transformation journey, moving beyond simple task process automation to strategically coordinate every component of your business processes. Think of it as the conductor of your operational orchestra, ensuring every instrument—every app, team member, and bot—plays in perfect sync. This guide will walk you through the world of business process orchestration software, helping you find the best process orchestration software to unify your operations and unlock true end-to-end efficiency.
Best process orchestration software shortlist
Finding the right orchestration tool can be daunting, so I've compiled a quick list of top contenders to get you started. Each platform offers a unique approach to unifying complex business workflows.
Lark: Streamlining end-to-end workflows with integrated, no-code automation.
Camunda: Orchestrating complex business processes with BPMN technical standards.
Workato: Integrating applications and automating workflows with an enterprise iPaaS.
Flowable: Designing and deploying business processes with low-code case management.
Appian: Unifying data, AI, and automation on a low-code platform.
Blue Prism: Orchestrating a digital workforce of RPA bots and people.
SAP Process Orchestration: Integrating diverse applications and systems in the SAP ecosystem.
ActiveBatch: Coordinating and automating IT workflows and business services.
Enate: Governing human and digital workforces with service orchestration.
Workato: The leading enterprise platform for integration and automation.
What is process orchestration?
Process orchestration refers to the strategic coordination of all the moving parts involved in a business workflow to achieve a specific outcome. It’s about managing the end-to-end journey of a business process, which often involves a mix of people, legacy systems, modern applications, RPA bots, and IoT devices. Rather than just automating a single task, process orchestration ensures that all these components work together seamlessly, even when dealing with high process complexity or long-running workflows.
Imagine an orchestra. Each musician can play their instrument perfectly, which is like having individual automation tools. But without a conductor to guide them, the result is noise, not music. A process orchestration tool acts as that conductor. It directs the flow of work, calls on the right resource at the right time—be it a human for approval or a bot for data processing—and provides a complete, real-time view of the entire performance. This strategic oversight turns disconnected manual tasks into a streamlined, resilient, and efficient business process.
Process orchestration vs. process automation
While often used interchangeably, process orchestration and process automation are not the same. Understanding the difference is key to building a truly effective operational strategy. Process automation focuses on executing individual, repetitive tasks without human intervention. Think of it as putting a specific activity on autopilot, like automatically sending an email when a form is filled out.
Process orchestration, on the other hand, is the big-picture strategy. It coordinates multiple automated tasks, manual activities, and system interactions across a full end-to-end workflow. If automation is a single musician playing their part, process orchestration is the conductor making sure the entire orchestra plays a symphony together. A good orchestration tool manages the handoffs, exceptions, and logic that connect all the individual automated tasks into a cohesive business process.
Here’s a simple breakdown to clarify the distinction:
Why you need process orchestration software
As your organization grows, so does its process complexity. You have more applications, more data, and more specialized teams than ever before. This growth often leads to operational silos, where crucial information gets trapped within departments and critical business processes grind to a halt at manual handoff points. Effective business process management starts here. Process orchestration software is designed to solve exactly this problem, providing a central brain to manage your workflows from start to finish and streamline operations.
Here are the core reasons why you need to adopt this process orchestration technology:
To break down operational silos. When your finance, sales, and support teams use different applications, it’s difficult to manage a seamless business process like quote-to-cash. An orchestration tool acts as a universal translator, integrating these disparate systems so data can flow freely and business processes can run without interruption.
To gain end-to-end visibility. Without process orchestration, it’s nearly impossible to see where a process stands. You can’t easily identify bottlenecks or tell how long a customer has been waiting. An orchestration platform gives you a real-time dashboard view of your entire workflow, allowing you to monitor progress and proactively address issues before they become critical. For instance, you could use the user-friendly interface in Lark Base to build a visual dashboard to track every stage of a support ticket, from submission to resolution, regardless of what systems are involved.
To increase business agility and resilience. Markets change, and your business processes need to adapt quickly. Process orchestration platforms, especially low-code ones, allow you to modify workflows without extensive IT involvement. Through visual process modeling, you can add new approvals, integrate a new service, or adjust logic in response to new regulations, ensuring your business remains agile. Many platforms make this easy; with Lark’s visual workflow builder, for example, even non-technical users can drag and drop new steps into a process to update it on the fly. This makes it far easier to manage complex workflows.
To scale your automation efforts. RPA bots are great for individual tasks but are notoriously brittle and difficult to manage at scale. An orchestration platform provides the governance layer needed to deploy, monitor, and manage a digital workforce effectively. It ensures that bots are deployed to the highest-value tasks and can handle exceptions gracefully when a system they rely on changes. This is critical for successful process orchestration at scale.
Ultimately, process orchestration software connects your entire operational landscape. By providing robust integration capabilities and empowering teams with no-code automation tools, a platform like Lark ensures your workflows are not only automated but also intelligent, visible, and adaptable to future demands. This level of oversight is a cornerstone of modern business process management.
Top 10 process orchestration software in 2025
Choosing the right orchestration software is critical, as it will become the backbone of your business operations. Here’s a detailed look at ten of the best process orchestration software options available today, each with its unique strengths and ideal use cases.
1. Lark: Streamlining end-to-end workflows with integrated, no-code automation
Overview
Lark is a comprehensive work platform that embeds powerful process orchestration capabilities directly into the collaborative tools teams use every day. More than just a standalone orchestration tool, it combines communication, data management, and process automation in one place. This unique, all-in-one approach allows businesses to design, execute, and monitor end-to-end workflows without the friction of context switching, making it exceptionally easy for business teams to build and adapt their own solutions. It is an excellent choice for teams looking for a versatile process orchestration solution.
Key features
No-code workflow automation: Lark Base provides a visual, user friendly interface for building custom workflows. You can trigger automations based on record updates, form submissions, or schedules, connecting every step of a business process without writing any code.
Integrated application platform: With AnyCross, Lark’s native integration platform, you can seamlessly connect your Lark workspace to external systems like Salesforce, Jira, or your company’s internal ERP and CRM. These extensive integration capabilities ensure data flows smoothly across your entire tech stack.
Unified task and approval management: The platform includes a centralized approval center and workflow engine. This allows you to standardize critical business processes like expense reporting, vacation requests, and IT support, ensuring consistency and compliance across the organization.
Collaborative process execution: Because workflows are built inside your collaboration hub, tasks can be automatically assigned to people or groups in Lark Messenger or sent as notifications via Lark Mail. Team members can discuss issues in a shared document, update progress in a connected database, and join a video meeting to resolve an exception, all within one continuous experience. This helps manage complex workflows efficiently.
AI-powered process enhancement: Lark infuses AI throughout its platform to make workflows smarter. You can use AI to generate complex formulas, while AI nodes automatically categorize incoming requests within your workflow. When human decisions are needed, AI Meeting Notes captures action items and feeds them back into the process. This intelligent layer provides insights into bottlenecks, significantly speeding up both development and optimization.
Centralized and visual process design: You can map out entire business processes using built-in triggers, logic components, and data processors. Pre-built connectors for Lark apps like Calendar and Docs, alongside webhook support, make it simple to orchestrate both internal and external activities from one central canvas.
Pricing
Starter: Free for small teams, offering core collaboration and limited Base automation.
Pro: $12 per user/month, providing expanded features, more automation runs, and greater storage.
Enterprise: Custom pricing for large organizations seeking advanced security, analytics, and dedicated support.
Best for: Businesses of all sizes looking for a user-friendly, all-in-one automation platform that empowers both IT and business teams to orchestrate business processes directly within their daily collaborative environment.
2. Camunda: Orchestrating complex business processes with BPMN technical standards
Image source: camunda.com
Overview
Camunda is a flexible, developer-friendly orchestration platform that excels at coordinating complex processes and mission-critical workflows. It adheres to open standards like BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation), enabling deep collaboration between business stakeholders and developers to design and automate business processes with precision.
Key features
Visual process modeling with BPMN and DMN standards.
A powerful workflow engine capable of handling high-throughput scenarios.
Tools for human task management and user-centric forms.
Pricing
Free: Up to 5 user seats for seamless collaboration
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Best for: Organizations with strong development teams that need to orchestrate complex, microservices-based business processes with a high degree of technical control and precision. It is a solid choice for advanced business process management (BPM).
3. Workato: Integrating applications and automating workflows with an enterprise iPaaS
Image source: workato.com
Overview
Workato is an enterprise-grade iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) that focuses on wall-to-wall process automation. It uses "recipes" to connect thousands of applications and orchestrate workflows across different business functions, from HR and finance to marketing and IT.
Key features
A massive library of pre-built connectors for thousands of SaaS apps and third party applications.
Low-code/no-code user interfaces for building automation "recipes."
AI-powered features to assist with data mapping and process logic. Its integration capabilities are a key strength.
Pricing
Pricing is quote-based and tailored to each organization's needs, depending on the number of recipes and connected applications. Plans typically start in the five-figure range annually.
Best for: Enterprises that need to integrate a wide variety of cloud-based applications and automate tasks and workflows across multiple departments. It is a powerful orchestration tool for large-scale business operations.
4. Flowable: Designing and deploying business processes with low-code case management
Image source: flowable.com
Overview
Flowable is an open-source, low-code platform for business process management and case management. It provides a powerful and highly customizable engine for modeling, executing, and monitoring business processes, with a strong focus on handling complex processes and unstructured case work.
Key features
Flexible support for BPMN, CMMN (Case Management Model and Notation), and DMN.
Low-code interface for designing forms, workflows, and applications.
Scalable architecture suitable for a variety of use cases.
Pricing
Free: Only the community is open-source and free
On-prem: Custom pricing
Flowable Cloud: Custom pricing
Best for: Companies looking for a flexible, open-standard automation platform to manage complex case files and dynamic, unpredictable business processes.
5. Appian: Unifying data, AI, and automation on a low-code platform
Image source: appian.com
Overview
Appian is a low-code automation platform that combines process automation, data management, and artificial intelligence into a unified suite. It enables organizations to rapidly build and deploy applications that orchestrate complex workflows involving people, bots, and AI systems.
Key features
Visual, low-code application development environment with a focus on process modeling.
Built-in robotic process automation (RPA) and AI automation capabilities for intelligent process automation.
Strong case management and data integration features.
Pricing
Standard: Single data source; 4M rows/record type; Custom pricing
Advanced: Multiple data sources; 20M rows/record type; Custom pricing
Premium: Multiple data sources; 20M rows/record type; Custom pricing
Best for: Large enterprises that want a comprehensive, low-code orchestration platform to build and deploy custom process applications quickly.
6. Blue Prism: Orchestrating a digital workforce of RPA bots and people
Image source: blueprism.com
Overview
Blue Prism is a pioneer in the robotic process automation (RPA) space. Its platform focuses on providing a scalable and secure "digital workforce" of software bots and includes process orchestration capabilities to manage how these bots interact with human employees and enterprise systems. This focus makes it a key tool for business process automation.
Key features
Robust, enterprise-grade robotic process automation (RPA) for automating business processes that are rules-based.
Centralized control room for orchestrating workflows and managing digital workers.
Emphasis on security, compliance, and auditability.
Pricing
Enterprise: Automation platform; custom pricing
Cloud: Cloud automation platform; custom pricing
Desktop: Desktop automation platform; custom pricing
Chorus: Business process management platform; custom pricing
Best for: Organizations with a mature RPA program looking to scale their digital workforce and orchestrate complex tasks and interactions between bots and human employees.
7. SAP Process Orchestration: Integrating diverse applications and systems in the SAP ecosystem
Image source: sap.com
Overview
SAP Process Orchestration is a process orchestration tool designed to integrate SAP and non-SAP systems, both on-premise and in the cloud. It combines functionalities of business process management (BPM), process integration, and business rules management to streamline workflows within the SAP ecosystem.
Key features
Deep integration with the SAP product suite for seamless integration.
Automation tools for both process-level and data-level integration.
A business rules engine for managing complex logic centrally.
Pricing
Pricing is typically part of the broader SAP Integration Suite and is usage-based. Plans can start from around $2,000/month and scale with message volume and connections.
Best for: Companies heavily invested in the SAP ecosystem that need to orchestrate business processes and data flows between their core SAP systems and other third party applications.
8. ActiveBatch: Coordinating and automating IT workflows and business services
Image source: advsyscon.com
Overview
ActiveBatch is an IT automation and workload automation platform that also provides powerful process orchestration capabilities. It excels at managing complex, event-driven workflows that span different operating systems, servers, and applications, particularly within IT business operations.
Key features
Event-driven process automation triggers and granular scheduling.
Cross-platform support for Windows, Linux, UNIX, and more.
A rich library of pre-built job steps and integrations.
Pricing
Pricing is quote-based and depends on the number of servers, jobs, and specific features required for the environment.
Best for: IT departments that need to orchestrate complex, time-sensitive technical workflows like data warehousing, file transfers, and infrastructure management. It's a strong orchestration tool for technical business processes.
9. Enate: Governing human and digital workforces with service orchestration
Image source: enate.io
Overview
Enate is a service orchestration platform designed to manage work across a hybrid workforce of humans and bots. It provides a centralized governance layer to assign tasks to the right resource, monitor performance, and ensure that business processes are completed efficiently and compliantly. This approach is sometimes referred to as a universal process orchestrator.
Key features
Technology-agnostic platform that works with any RPA or AI vendor.
Advanced case management and work routing capabilities.
Dashboards for tracking productivity and ROI across the hybrid workforce.
Pricing
Pricing is quote-based and typically licensed per user, which can include both human employees and digital workers.
Best for: Service-oriented organizations like BPOs and shared service centers that need a robust orchestration tool to manage work between large teams and multiple bot technologies, improving overall service management.
10. Zapier: The leading enterprise platform for integration and automation
Image source: zapier.com
Overview
While often categorized as an integration tool, Zapier provides lightweight process orchestration for small to medium-sized businesses. It allows users to connect thousands of web apps and create simple, automated processes ("Zaps") based on triggers and actions without any code.
Key features
Connectors for over 6,000 web applications and cloud services.
Simple, user-friendly trigger-action interface.
Multi-step Zaps and logic paths for orchestrating workflows of moderate complexity.
Pricing
Free: Automate AI-powered workflows with 100 tasks per month.
Pro: Starts from $19.99/month.
Team: Starts from $69/month.
Enterprise: Custom pricing.
Best for: Small businesses or individual teams that need to quickly connect cloud-based apps and automate tasks and simple, linear business processes.
How to choose the right process orchestration software
Selecting the right process orchestration software is a critical decision that will shape your company's operational efficiency for years to come. The ideal orchestration platform should not only meet your current needs but also scale with your future ambitions. To make an informed choice, consider the following key factors.
Integration capabilities. Your chosen orchestration software must be able to connect with your existing technology stack, from modern SaaS applications to legacy systems. Look for a platform with a rich library of pre-built connectors and robust API support. A process orchestration tool with a native integration platform, like Lark’s AnyCross, simplifies the process of connecting disparate systems like your CRM and ERP, ensuring seamless integration and data flow for your business processes.
Ease of use and accessibility. The best solutions empower both IT and business users. A low-code or no-code, user-friendly interface is essential for enabling the people who actually run the business processes to build and modify their own workflows without being dependent on developers. This democratization of orchestration and automation, a core strength of orchestration platforms like Lark Base, accelerates innovation and drives wider adoption across the organization.
Scalability and performance. As your business grows, so will the volume and process complexity of your business processes. Ensure the platform's architecture can handle an increasing number of workflows and transactions without performance degradation. It should be able to support everything from simple departmental tasks to mission-critical, enterprise-wide operations. Poor performance can create more problems than it solves.
Governance and visibility. A strong orchestration tool must provide a centralized way to monitor and manage all your automated processes. Look for features like real-time dashboards, detailed audit logs, and robust access controls. This ensures you can track performance, identify bottlenecks, and maintain security and compliance across all workflows. This helps with continuous improvement of business outcomes.
Ultimately, the right process orchestration tool should align with your team’s technical skills and business goals. By prioritizing a platform that combines powerful integration capabilities with a user-friendly interface, such as Lark, you can equip your organization to build resilient, transparent, and efficient business processes from the ground up.
Conclusion
Moving beyond simple task automation is an operational necessity. The fragmentation caused by disconnected automation tools and siloed teams creates inefficiency, limits visibility, and hinders your ability to adapt. Process orchestration software provides the strategic solution, acting as the central nervous system for your business by unifying your people, systems, and bots into a cohesive, high-performing unit. One of the key benefits of process orchestration is gaining the end-to-end visibility needed to identify bottlenecks, the agility to adapt to market changes, and the resilience to scale your business operations effectively.
The journey to operational excellence begins with choosing a process orchestration tool that not only automates but also orchestrates. For teams seeking a solution that is both powerful and accessible, a platform that embeds process orchestration directly into the flow of work is the ideal starting point. To see how seamless integrating process automation and collaboration can be, consider starting your journey with Lark.
FAQs
What is the most popular orchestration tool?
There isn't one single "most popular" orchestration tool, as the best choice depends on the specific need. Developers often prefer highly technical platforms like Camunda, while large enterprises may lean on Workato for its vast integration capabilities. For businesses seeking a user-friendly, all-in-one solution, a platform like Lark is rapidly gaining popularity as a leading process orchestration platform.
What is a process orchestration platform?
A process orchestration platform is a centralized software solution that enables businesses to design, execute, monitor, and optimize their end-to-end workflows. It acts as a control center, coordinating the flow of tasks between different people, applications, bots, and systems to ensure a business process is completed efficiently.
What is orchestration software?
Orchestration software is the technology used to manage and coordinate multiple automated tasks and human interventions within a larger business process. It functions like a conductor for an orchestra, ensuring that every component—from an API call to a manual approval—is triggered at the right time and in the right sequence. This is a core component of business process management.
What is the meaning of process orchestration?
Process orchestration is the strategic, high-level management of all the elements involved in an end-to-end business process. It focuses on coordinating the interactions between different systems, people, and automated bots to achieve a specific business outcome, providing visibility and control over the entire workflow. Effective process orchestration transforms how business processes are managed.
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