Dify
FreemiumThe platform for production-ready agentic workflows.
Published 2 October 2026
Scores
Popularity4/5
Close to 158K GitHub stars places it among the most-starred projects on the platform, and it is the reference name for visual LLM app builders, especially across Asia, while its reach outside AI work is narrower than n8n's.
Learning Curve2/5
Templates and a drag-and-drop canvas let non-developers ship a RAG chatbot in an afternoon; complex workflows with variables, iteration, and code nodes take longer to master.
Flexibility4/5
Workflows, chatflows, agents, a RAG pipeline, plugins, MCP tools, and code nodes cover most LLM application patterns, though anything outside the canvas model needs custom code or another tool.
Performance3/5
Adequate for typical chatbot and workflow traffic; the multi-service architecture is heavier than single-process builders and needs tuning of workers and the vector store at scale.
Portability4/5
Self-hosts anywhere Docker or Kubernetes runs and works with any model provider, but apps live in Dify's own DSL format and the license restricts multi-tenant hosting.
About Dify
Dify is an open-source platform for building LLM applications visually. Its canvas connects models, prompts, knowledge bases, tools, conditions, and code blocks into workflows, chatflows (conversational workflows with memory), and agents, and every app it produces can be published as a web app, embedded in a site, or called through a backend-as-a-service API. It is one of the most-starred open-source projects on GitHub, with close to 158K stars.
Around the canvas sits most of what a production AI app needs. A RAG pipeline ingests PDFs, slides, and web pages, chunks and embeds them, and serves them as knowledge bases with hybrid search. Hundreds of models from dozens of providers are configured once and shared across apps, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and self-hosted ones through Ollama or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Agent nodes call tools from the Dify Marketplace, MCP servers, or custom APIs, and a plugin system extends models, tools, and data sources. Logs, annotations, and integrations with Langfuse, Opik, and Arize Phoenix cover monitoring.
Dify is built by LangGenius, which raised a $30M Series Pre-A in March 2026 and reports Dify running on more than 1.4 million machines. It comes in three forms. The Community Edition is self-hosted with Docker Compose or Kubernetes Helm charts and needs at least 2 CPU cores and 4 GB of RAM. Dify Cloud is the managed version, with a free Sandbox plan and paid workspace plans that add message credits, team members, and apps. Dify Enterprise adds SSO, access control, and support.
The code uses the Dify Open Source License, Apache 2.0 with two added conditions: running Dify as a multi-tenant service for outside customers needs a commercial license, and the Dify logo and copyright in the frontend may not be removed. Internal use and using Dify as a backend for other products are allowed.
Key Features
- Visual canvas for workflows, chatflows, and agents
- RAG pipeline with document ingestion, hybrid search, and knowledge bases
- Hundreds of models from dozens of providers, including local ones via Ollama
- Agent nodes with tools from the Marketplace, MCP servers, or custom APIs
- Every app published as a web app, embeddable widget, or REST API
- Plugin system for models, tools, and data sources
- Logs, annotations, and Langfuse, Opik, and Arize Phoenix integrations
- Self-hosted with Docker Compose or Helm, or managed Dify Cloud
Pros
- Covers RAG, agents, and workflows in one product, so a team does not need to stitch several tools together
- Non-developers can build and adjust working AI apps on the canvas
- Very large open-source community, so templates, plugins, and answers are easy to find
- Free self-hosted edition with no feature cap for internal use
Cons
- The modified license forbids offering Dify as a multi-tenant service without a commercial agreement
- Self-hosting runs several services and needs at least 4 GB of RAM, more than n8n or Langflow
- Far fewer business-app integrations than n8n, so general automations still need another tool
- Can feel heavy for a single chatbot or one RAG endpoint
Dify Pricing
Freemium- · Self-hosted with Docker Compose or Helm
- · No usage limits; model costs paid to the providers
- · Free Dify Cloud plan
- · 200 message credits, 1 member, and 5 apps
- · Per workspace on Dify Cloud, with 3 members and 50 apps
- · 5,000 message credits a month
- · Per workspace on Dify Cloud, with 50 members and 200 apps
- · 10,000 message credits a month
- · SSO, access control, multi-workspace management, and support SLAs
- · Quoted by sales
Tools Related to Dify
Integrates with Dify(4)
Dify has a built-in Langfuse integration: adding Langfuse keys in an app's monitoring settings sends every workflow run and model call to Langfuse as traces with token and cost data.
OpenAI is one of Dify's official model provider plugins: GPT models can be picked in any workflow, chatflow, or agent node, either with your own API key or with Dify Cloud's message credits.
Dify's official Anthropic model provider plugin makes Claude models selectable in any workflow, chatflow, or agent node, and Dify Cloud's message credits can be spent on them.
Dify's official Ollama model provider plugin connects a self-hosted Dify to models served locally by Ollama, so workflows, knowledge bases, and agents run without a hosted model API.
Alternatives to Dify(3)
Dify is built around LLM apps, with knowledge bases, chatflows, and agents published as web apps or APIs; n8n is a general automation tool with 500+ app integrations and an AI Agent node. Pick Dify when the product is the AI app itself, n8n when the workflow has to reach many business systems.
Dify is a full LLM app platform with a workflow canvas, built-in RAG knowledge bases, team workspaces, and published web apps; Langflow is a lighter MIT-licensed canvas for wiring LangChain-style components into flows served as an API. Pick Dify for a complete product non-developers can run, Langflow to embed a pipeline in your own code.
Dify is a platform for building your own workflows, RAG chatbots, and agents and publishing them as apps or APIs; AutoGPT pairs a workflow canvas with ready-made business Experts and a hosted subscription. Pick Dify to build AI apps for others to use, AutoGPT for business tasks run for you.
Vendor
LangGenius
Website →Tags
Details
- Maintained
- Yes
- Agent type
- Visual Builder
- Primary language
- Python
- Open source
- Yes
- Hosting
- Cloud & Self-hosted
- GitHub stars
- 158k
- Stars updated
- 2026-10-01