Exclusive gateway
A point where the process takes exactly one of several paths. The exclusive gateway is a diamond, often with an X inside.
Easily confused with
How to read it
In BPMN 2.0.2, only one of the paths leaving an exclusive gateway can be taken in any one run of the process, chosen by the conditions on the paths. The X is optional: the standard lets an empty diamond mean the same thing, but says a diagram should be consistent, with the X on all its exclusive gateways or on none. The same diamond also merges paths again; Politecnico di Milano’s exercise book shows it used both to split and to join. Montali’s slides and the exercise book call it the XOR gateway.
Also searched as: bpmn decision, bpmn exclusive gateway, exclusive gateway symbol, x diamond bpmn, xor gateway.
Look-alikes
A plus sign in the diamond is a Parallel gateway, which takes every path; a circle is an Inclusive gateway, which takes one or more. An empty diamond in a flowchart is a decision and in a UML activity diagram a decision node; both pick one path, as this gateway does.
Read next
- Next in BPMN symbolsParallel gatewayA point where the process splits into paths that all run, or where parallel paths wait for one another. The parallel gateway is a diamond with a plus sign inside.
- A flowchart decision diamond also picks one path.DecisionA point where the flow branches. The decision symbol is a diamond holding a question or condition, with one path leaving it for each possible answer, often labelled Yes and No.
More BPMN symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with crosses or diamonds.
Sources
- Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), Version 2.0.2, OMG document formal/2013-12-09, December 2013 (also ISO/IEC 19510), Object Management Group, Sections 10.6.1 and 10.6.2
- Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN): Modeling Exercises, Cinzia Cappiello, Pierluigi Plebani and Monica Vitali, v.1.1, 2016 (CC BY-SA), Politecnico di Milano, Chapter 2, 2.1 Exclusive Gateway (XOR)
- Data and Process Modelling, 8a. BPMN: Basic Modelling, Marco Montali, lecture slides, A.Y. 2014/2015, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Slides 13–14, Main Gateways and Exclusive Gateway
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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