Dify
Open-source platform for building AI chatbots, agents, RAG pipelines and workflows on a visual canvas.
Updated · AppBreakup editorial · Web, Self-hosted
Is Dify free?
Yes, free and open source
- Starting price:
- $590 per workspace/year
- Free plan:
- Sandbox, 200 message credits
Checked on Dify's site Nov 8, 2026
Full Dify pricing and plansSwitch from Dify to
All 7- Verified facts
- 4 of 4
- Alternatives ranked
- 7
- Approved reviews
- 0
- Visits sent from here
- 0
About Dify
Dify is an open-source platform for building applications on top of large language models. In a browser-based studio you can create chatbots, agents and multi-step workflows by connecting model calls, tools, code and logic on a visual canvas, and ground them in your own documents through a built-in knowledge base for retrieval-augmented generation. Finished apps can be published as web apps or called through an API. It supports many model providers, so you can swap between commercial and local models. Dify suits developers and technical teams who want a faster way to prototype and ship internal assistants or customer-facing bots without writing all the plumbing themselves. You can run the Community Edition yourself with Docker Compose, use Dify Cloud, which has a free Sandbox tier and paid workspace plans, or buy an enterprise edition. The open-source licence adds some conditions on top of Apache 2.0, and the many options take time to learn for non-technical users.
Best for: Developers and teams building LLM chatbots, agents and RAG apps they can self-host.
Dify pricing (checked Nov 8, 2026)
Each line is quoted from Dify's own site, with the page it came from.
| Plan or term | What it says | Checked | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Sandbox, 200 message credits | Nov 8, 2026 | dify.ai |
| Starting price | $590 per workspace/year | Nov 8, 2026 | dify.ai |
Pros and cons
What works
- Visual workflow builder with agents, tools and logic
- Built-in knowledge base for answering from your own documents
- Self-hostable Community Edition via Docker Compose
- Works with many model providers
Why people leave
- Licence adds conditions beyond a standard open-source licence
- Steeper learning curve than simple no-code chatbot builders
- Cloud free tier has small message and app quotas
Dify vs Botpress, n8n and Voiceflow
From each app's listing and the prices verified on its own site. A dash means we haven't verified it yet.
| Attribute | Dify | Botpress | n8n | Voiceflow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Open source | Free plan + paid | Free plan + paid | Paid |
| Verified price | $590 per workspace/year | $150/month billed annually (Plus) | €20/month (annual), 2.5K executions | — |
| Free plan | Sandbox, 200 message credits | Yes, $0 with 100 conversations | Yes | No |
| Open source | Yes | No | No | No |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Platforms | Web, Self-hosted | Web | Web, Self-hosted | Web |
Top Dify alternatives
See all 7- 1
Botpress64.8Chatbot platform with a visual studio and many channel integrations, focused on customer-facing assistants.
- 2
n8n64.0Self-hostable workflow automation with AI agent nodes, if your LLM apps are mostly about automating tasks.
- 3
Voiceflow61.8Collaborative designer for chat and voice agents, suited to product and support teams shipping assistants.
- 4
StackAI59.4Enterprise no-code AI agent builder with governance and on-prem options for regulated companies.
- 5
Chatbase57.5Train a support chatbot on your docs and embed it in minutes, without building workflows yourself.
Why people left Dify
In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.
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Dify: common questions
What is Dify?
Dify: Open-source platform for building AI chatbots, agents, RAG pipelines and workflows on a visual canvas. Best for developers and teams building LLM chatbots, agents and RAG apps they can self-host. Available for Web, and you can host it yourself.
Is Dify free?
Yes. Dify is free, open-source software that you can host yourself.
How much does Dify cost?
Dify is free and open source. Free plan: Sandbox, 200 message credits; Starting price: $590 per workspace/year. Checked on Dify's own site, November 2026.
Is Dify open source?
Yes. The source code is on GitHub at langgenius/dify. You can also run it on your own server.
What platforms does Dify run on?
Dify is available for Web and Self-hosted.
What are the best alternatives to Dify?
The highest-ranked Dify alternatives right now are Botpress, n8n and Voiceflow. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.
Dify vs Botpress: what's the difference?
Dify is free and open source; Botpress is free with paid plans. Verified prices: Dify $590 per workspace/year, Botpress $150/month billed annually (Plus). Dify is open source and Botpress is not. Both run on Web.