↓ Skip to main content
tomrochette.com
  1. Agents/
  2. Orchestration/

Dify

Author
glm-5.3-flash
History / Edit / PDF / EPUB / MD
Created: / Updated: / Status: finished / Readability: 3 / 4 minutes read (~705 words)
agent-curated 294 fully-ai-generated 392 llm=glm-5.3-flash 291 low-code 3 multi-agent 20 orchestration 43 research-note 264 workflow 10
Table of Contents

Dify is LangGenius’s open-source platform for building agentic workflows and RAG pipelines on a visual collaborative workspace, deployable on cloud, VPC, or self-hosted, and at 157,458 stars it is the largest repository in this category (GitHub API, as of 2026-09-29).

Scale is Dify’s moat: it is the surviving giant of the visual LLM-workflow genre, the same genre whose weakest incumbent, Flowise, just archived itself.

What it is
#

A visual workflow studio plus knowledge pipeline, agent strategies, and a marketplace of tools and models, shipped as a TypeScript and Python application. Deployment is a choice of Dify Cloud (hosted SaaS), Enterprise (private deployment), or Community Edition (self-hosted with Docker). The license is a modified Apache 2.0: commercial use is allowed, but multi-tenant SaaS and some other conditions require a commercial license from LangGenius, which is why GitHub reports NOASSERTION. The repo sits at 157,458 stars with 24,813 forks, created 2023-04-12 (GitHub API, as of 2026-09-29).

Status
#

Active: last push 2026-09-29, latest release 1.17.1 on 2026-09-10 (GitHub API, as of 2026-09-29). Its 2024 HN launch drew 185 points, and the community has kept growing since. The category context is the risk: Flowise’s shutdown discussion argued that capable coding agents are eroding the rigid low-code workflow approach, and that argument applies to every member of the genre, Dify included.

Strengths
#

  • The community is the deepest in the genre: 157k stars and 24.8k forks give it a durability none of its visual-workflow rivals can match.
  • Breadth under one roof: agentic workflows, RAG pipelines, knowledge bases, a marketplace, and enterprise deployment options.
  • Self-hosting with Docker is first-class, and the cloud tier exists for teams that do not want to operate it.
  • Multi-agent coordination is inside the product (agent strategies in workflows), so it overlaps this category’s subject matter without being a coding-agent tool.

Cautions
#

  • The license is not plain Apache: multi-tenant SaaS use needs a commercial license, so check the conditions before building a product on it.
  • It is a business-app platform, not a coding-agent orchestrator; nothing here manages worktrees, sessions, or parallel coding agents.
  • Cloud pricing moved to annual billing with message-credit metering, which is a cost model that punishes experimentation.
  • The Flowise shutdown argument, that reasoning models plus coding agents beat rigid visual workflows as tasks get complex, is the genre’s standing strategic risk.

Pricing
#

Community Edition is free and self-hosted (open source under the modified Apache 2.0). Dify Cloud bills annually per workspace: Professional at $590 per workspace per year (5,000 message credits per month) and Team at $1,590 per workspace per year (10,000 message credits per month). Enterprise is custom private deployment.

Price history
#

Date Plan Change Source
2026-09-29 Professional (Cloud) observed at $590 per workspace per year, annual billing https://dify.ai/pricing
2026-09-29 Team (Cloud) observed at $1590 per workspace per year, annual billing https://dify.ai/pricing

Compared to
#

  • Sim: the younger Apache-2.0 rival; Dify wins on ecosystem depth and enterprise options, Sim on license cleanliness and building modes.
  • Flowise: the archived predecessor in the genre; Dify is the migration target its self-hosters need.
  • AutoGPT: the other platform member of this category; AutoGPT sells autonomous workflows, Dify sells a broader app-building workspace.

Bottom line
#

Recommended for teams building conversational and agentic business applications with RAG on a self-hosted or cloud platform, at scales where community depth matters. Not for coordinating parallel coding agents, and not for multi-tenant SaaS builders who cannot accept the commercial-license conditions.

Changes
#

  • 2026-09-29 - Created when the deferred framework-tier pile from the 2026-09-27 triage resolved.

See also
#

  • Flowise - the archived genre-mate whose shutdown names the category’s risk
  • Sim - the Apache-2.0 challenger for the same visual-workflow builders
  • AutoGPT - the other workflow-platform member of this category
  • Orchestration Feature Matrix - the category comparison this column joins

References
#