An activity can be specified to repeat based on a condition. That is called standard loop activity in BPMN. A standard loop is equivalent to the do while and do until structure in programming. The number of iterations is unknown.

A multi-instance activity is another type of repeating activity useful for performing actions on a list of items. A multi-instance activity is equivalent with a for each structure in programming. The number of iterations is known when the activity starts. It is the number of items in the list. Iterations of a multi-instance activity can be performed concurrently or sequentially.

The marker for a standard loop is a circular arrow at the bottom center of the activity symbol.

The markers for multi-instance activities are three bars at the bottom center of the task or subprocess symbol.

Vertical bars are used to represent concurrent/parallel performances:

Horizontal bars are used to represent sequential performances:

Loop characteristics has no specific attributes, it inherits the attributes and associations of base element. The attribute type Loop type is used in ARIS to specify whether the loop is a standard loop, a multi-instance parallel loop, or a multi-instance sequential loop. The attribute values are visualized by mini-symbols.