FlowForma vs K2: Which Workflow Automation Platform Is Right for You in 2026?

FlowForma is a Microsoft 365-native no-code process automation platform, actively maintained with regular AI feature releases. K2 is a legacy workflow platform now owned by Nintex, with K2 blackpearl unsupported since 31 December 2025, K2 Five supported into 2027, and K2 Cloud supported indefinitely.

For most K2 customers already committed to Microsoft 365, FlowForma is a common migration target. For customers prioritizing minimum re-platform disruption, staying within the Nintex product family may fit better.

In this article I'll cover how the two platforms compare on Microsoft 365 integration, AI capabilities, licensing, and total cost of ownership, and how the K2-to-FlowForma migration path works in practice. If you're comparing K2 against a wider set of alternatives, I'll cover the broader replacement landscape briefly too.

FlowForma vs K2 at a glance

Here's how the two platforms compare across the criteria most K2 customers consider during a migration decision.

Microsoft 365 and SharePoint integration

FlowForma

• FlowForma is designed to run natively inside Microsoft 365. The platform installs into your existing SharePoint environment, uses SharePoint lists and libraries as the data layer, and delivers workflow actions across SharePoint, Teams, and Outlook without any additional infrastructure.

• Data stays inside your Microsoft 365 tenant, permissions inherit from SharePoint, and audit trails live alongside the process records themselves.

K2

• K2 is architecturally different. K2 blackpearl and K2 Five both run on-premises, with the K2 platform, its SQL Server database, and the surrounding integrations installed on servers separate from Microsoft 365.

• K2 Cloud provides a hosted alternative, but the platform still exists as a distinct service rather than living inside your Microsoft 365 tenant.

• Integration with SharePoint and Microsoft 365 is possible across every K2 deployment model, but it happens via connectors rather than native residency inside M365.

For organizations already invested in Microsoft 365, this architectural difference has practical consequences.

A native M365 platform inherits Microsoft's own security, compliance, and governance controls automatically. A platform that lives outside M365, even one with strong M365 connectors, becomes a separate vendor system that needs to be secured, backed up, and managed in its own right.

AI and Copilot capabilities

On AI capability, the two platforms sit furthest apart, and it's the strongest single argument for a K2-to-FlowForma migration.

FlowForma AI Copilot

Builds working processes from a plain-language description or an uploaded workflow diagram. For teams migrating from K2, this materially accelerates the rebuild, since existing K2 process documentation can often be fed directly to Copilot rather than manually recreated step by step.

FlowForma AI Agents

For evidence-heavy processes like vendor risk assessment, FlowForma's AI Agents (including Quinn, the questionnaire agent inside FlowAssure) read submitted documents, extract structured data, and validate it against your policies. This is native AI capability inside the workflow rather than a bolt-on integration.

FlowForma AI Assistants

These provide in-context guidance to users as they work through a process, and summarize submissions for reviewers so approval decisions are faster and better-informed.

K2's AI position

K2 blackpearl doesn't receive new features, since it's unsupported. K2 Five and K2 Cloud can integrate with Microsoft's AI services via connectors or custom development, but there's no equivalent of Copilot workflow generation native to the K2 platform. Any AI capability layered onto K2 is typically a bolt-on rather than a first-class feature.

Pricing and licensing model

K2 has historically used per-CPU licensing for on-premises deployments, plus subscription pricing for K2 Cloud. For on-premises customers, the total cost includes the platform license, the underlying Windows Server and SQL Server infrastructure, and specialist developer resource to build and maintain workflows.

Even where the K2 license itself compares favorably against modern alternatives, the wrap-around costs can push total cost of ownership higher than the sticker price suggests.

FlowForma uses flat process based pricing. You pay for processes within tiers: Essentials is up to 3 processes, Professional is up to 30 processes and Enterprise is bespoke pricing. Because FlowForma runs inside your existing Microsoft 365 tenant, there's no separate infrastructure to license, host, or maintain. So what you see on the licensing invoice is closer to the true total cost.

For K2 customers evaluating a migration on cost grounds, the comparison rarely comes down to license price alone. It's the infrastructure, the developer resource, and the ongoing maintenance overhead that typically drive the total cost difference.

For current confirmed pricing, FlowForma's pricing is published here, and K2 pricing is available directly from Nintex.

Migrating from K2 to FlowForma

A K2-to-FlowForma migration is a rebuild rather than a lift-and-shift. K2 workflows are recreated as no-code FlowForma processes inside SharePoint, typically starting with an inventory of existing K2 workflows, prioritization by business criticality, rebuild with support from FlowForma Copilot, and parallel testing before cutover.

For the full migration guide, including timelines and what to expect for K2 blackpearl versus K2 Five customers, see our K2 workflow replacement page . That page also covers the migration urgency question in more depth for customers still on the now-unsupported K2 blackpearl.

Broader K2 alternatives beyond FlowForma

If you're looking at K2 alternatives more broadly rather than comparing FlowForma specifically, three replacement paths tend to dominate most shortlists.

Power Automate

Microsoft's own connector-based automation tool. Best fit for teams whose K2 use is genuinely simple, and who are comfortable pairing Power Automate with Power Apps and Dataverse for forms and structured data. Our FlowForma vs Power Automate comparison covers the trade-offs and our Power Automate alternatives page list more options to consider. 

Staying within the Nintex portfolio

For customers whose priority is minimum re-platform disruption, upgrading K2 blackpearl to K2 Five (now being rebranded as Nintex Automation On-Prem) or moving to K2 Cloud keeps you on familiar Nintex tooling. Worth being aware that Nintex has ongoing end-of-life work across its own product line too. Our Nintex end of life page covers the current picture, and our Nintex alternatives page sets out the wider set of Nintex-family and non-Nintex options.

FlowForma

A Microsoft 365-native no-code platform, purpose-built for structured business processes with forms, approvals, and document generation. For K2 customers already committed to Microsoft 365, this is typically the modernization path rather than a lateral move.

Which of the three fits best depends on how much appetite you have for modernization versus continuity, and whether your K2 use is genuinely simple or involves the multi-stage business processes K2 was often deployed for.

See FlowForma in action

If you're evaluating FlowForma against K2 and want to see how the two platforms differ in practice, the fastest way is to see FlowForma running on a workflow you're already running (or would want to run) in K2.

Book a demo, and we'll walk through a live process that mirrors your K2 use case, and show you what a rebuild in FlowForma would look like end-to-end.