difference between workflow and flow designer

[mohitbhadan]

Explain me difference between workflow and  flow 

[Vinay Mishra3]

Workflow (Old Way)

Workflows are part of the legacy automation engine in ServiceNow.
They were used before Flow Designer came into picture.
You build them using the Workflow Editor, where you drag activities like approvals, notifications, or record updates and connect them with transitions.

Example:
Let’s say when a Change Request is raised, it should:

1. Go for approval,

2. Once approved, create a change task,

3. And finally send a notification.

Earlier, you’d build this process in the Workflow Editor — connect the approval activity → task creation activity → notification activity.
That was your Workflow.

It works fine, but it’s server-side, harder to debug, and the UI is pretty old.

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Flow (New Way)

Flow Designer is the modern automation tool that replaced the old Workflow engine.
It’s more user-friendly, no-code, and integrates well with IntegrationHub (for APIs and external systems).

Example:
Suppose you have an Onboarding process —
When a new employee record is created, you want to:

1. Automatically create IT and HR tasks,

2. Send a welcome email,

3. Notify the manager.

This can be built easily in Flow Designer:

• Trigger → “When Employee is created”

• Actions → “Create Task”, “Send Email”, “Send Notification”

All steps are configurable through a clean interface — no need for legacy activities or script-heavy configurations.

[1__AnithaHV]

Hi @mohitbhadan ,

Please refer to the below thread where you can find more answers for your questions.

What is the difference between flow designer and w... - ServiceNow Community

Thanks,

Anitha H V

[prerna_sh]

Hi @mohitbhadan 

Flow Designer:
Flow Designer enables process owners to use natural language to automate approvals, tasks, notifications, and record operations without having to code.
Workflow
Workflow is a legacy application that provided a drag-and-drop interface for automating multi-step processes across the platform. Each workflow consists of a sequence of activities, such as generating records, notifying users of pending approvals, or running scripts.

Please through for better understanding:
Flow Designer vs Workflow - Support and Troubleshooting
Flow Designer
Classic Workflow

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If my response solves your query, please marked helpful by selecting accept as Solution and Helpful. Let me know if anything else is required.
Thanks,
Prerna

[RaghavSh]

There are multiple articles on community related to this, one being 

https://www.servicenow.com/community/servicenow-ai-platform-forum/what-is-the-difference-between-flo... 

SN promotes using flow designers from last many releases as they are more convenient to use and get latest upgrades.

Workflow don’t seem to get latest functionality now and flow designers also promote low code/no code.

Please mark the answer correct/helpful accordingly.