Dify
Open-source platform for building LLM apps with visual agent workflows
What is Dify?
Dify is an open-source LLM application development platform that provides a visual interface for building AI agents, chatbots, RAG pipelines, and workflow automations. With 55,000+ GitHub stars, it has rapidly become one of the most popular tools for teams wanting to build production AI applications without deep infrastructure work.
The platform's visual workflow editor lets users design complex AI pipelines by connecting nodes for LLM calls, knowledge retrieval, code execution, conditional logic, HTTP requests, and tool use. It supports agent mode where LLMs autonomously select and use tools based on the task, as well as structured workflow mode for deterministic pipelines.
Dify's knowledge base system handles document ingestion, chunking, embedding, and retrieval with support for multiple vector databases (Weaviate, Qdrant, Pinecone, pgvector). Users can upload PDFs, Word docs, web pages, and structured data, then connect this knowledge to any application for grounded responses.
The platform supports all major LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure, local models via Ollama) with unified API access and model management. It includes prompt engineering tools, annotation-based fine-tuning, built-in analytics, and API publishing for integrating AI features into existing products.
Dify can be self-hosted via Docker or used through its cloud service. The open-source edition includes most features, making it accessible for startups and individual developers while enterprise features cover SSO, audit logs, and custom model hosting.
Key Features
Pros & Cons
Pros
- ✓ Open-source with Apache 2.0 license and active 55K+ star community
- ✓ Visual builder dramatically reduces time-to-production for AI apps
- ✓ Flexible model support — switch between cloud and local LLMs easily
- ✓ Comprehensive RAG pipeline built in without needing separate tooling
Cons
- ✗ Visual workflows can become complex for very advanced agent logic
- ✗ Cloud pricing per-message model can get expensive at scale
- ✗ Self-hosted setup requires understanding of Docker and infrastructure
Pricing
Free self-hosted (Apache 2.0); Cloud free tier with 200 messages; Pro at $59/mo
Community (Self-host)
$0
- ✓Unlimited apps
- ✓All core features
- ✓Docker deployment
- ✓Community support
- ✓Apache 2.0 license
Sandbox (Cloud)
$0
- ✓200 GPT-4 messages
- ✓5 team members
- ✓5 MB document upload
- ✓Basic features
Professional
$59/mo
- ✓5,000 messages included
- ✓Unlimited apps
- ✓50 team members
- ✓Custom branding
Team
$159/mo
- ✓10,000 messages
- ✓Unlimited members
- ✓Priority support
- ✓Advanced analytics
Enterprise
Custom
- ✓On-premise deployment
- ✓SSO/SAML
- ✓SLA
- ✓Dedicated support
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Who is Dify for?
Building customer-facing AI chatbots with enterprise knowledge bases
Creating internal AI assistants for HR, legal, or operations teams
Prototyping and deploying RAG applications over company documents
Developing AI-powered API endpoints for product integration
Multi-step agent workflows for research and data processing
User Reviews
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dify free?
Dify is open source and free to use. Free self-hosted (Apache 2.0); Cloud free tier with 200 messages; Pro at $59/mo
What are Dify's key features?
Dify's standout features include Visual workflow editor for AI agent and pipeline design, RAG knowledge base with multi-format document ingestion, Support for 100+ LLM providers including local models via Ollama, Agent mode with autonomous tool selection and execution. It offers 8 features in total designed for building customer-facing ai chatbots with enterprise knowledge bases.
Can I pay for Dify with cryptocurrency?
Dify does not currently accept cryptocurrency directly. However, you can use the Coda One Card to pay for Dify with USDT, USDC, or other crypto through a virtual Visa card.
What are the best alternatives to Dify?
Popular alternatives to Dify include Coze, LangChain, Make. Each offers different strengths in pricing, features, and specialization.
Does Dify have an API?
Yes, Dify offers an API. The API uses a usage-based pricing model.
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