Interview Prep
Flow or Apex? Explain the tradeoff
Make an architecture decision using complexity, scale, maintainability, and ownership.
By Vishal Verma · Reviewed October 5, 2026
Scenario
A customer asks you to automate record updates with several related objects and an external service. Would you choose Flow or Apex?
Start by clarifying volume, transaction boundaries, error recovery, existing automation, and who will maintain the solution.
- Flow is useful for declarative orchestration and many record and screen workflows.
- Apex can suit complex logic, reusable code, precise transaction handling, or requirements that need capabilities beyond declarative tools.
- A combined approach can keep orchestration in Flow and bounded logic in invocable Apex.
Explain the chosen approach with the actual requirement. Consider bulk behavior, security, testing, observability, and operational ownership. Neither tool is automatically the right answer.