Dify is an open-source platform for building LLM applications: prompt orchestration, RAG pipelines, agents and evaluation, deployable to your own infrastructure. It is the most complete self-hostable option in this category and supports many model providers. The trade-off is that you own the operations.
Who it is for
A team that needs LLM app infrastructure with data residency requirements and someone to run it.
Key features
- Visual prompt and agent orchestration
- Built-in RAG with vector store options
- Multi-model support including local models
- Annotation, evaluation and monitoring
- Self-host or use the managed cloud
Where it falls short
You own the operations: upgrades, vector store choices, model keys and evaluation are all yours, and the docs assume you know how RAG pipelines fail.
Pricing
The open-source edition is free to self-host but you pay for compute and your own time. The managed cloud has a free tier and paid plans that scale on messages and model tokens. Self-hosting is cheaper at volume and more expensive in attention.
Prices move; the tier structure is the part that stays true. Check current pricing on Dify.
Alternatives to Dify
Frequently asked
Is Dify free?
Partly. The open-source edition is free to self-host but you pay for compute and your own time. The managed cloud has a free tier and paid plans that scale on messages and model tokens. Self-hosting is cheaper at volume and more expensive in attention.
What is Dify best for?
A team that needs LLM app infrastructure with data residency requirements and someone to run it.
What are the best alternatives to Dify?
The closest substitutes we list are Relevance AI. They sit in a similar price bracket but make a different trade-off, so read the weaknesses section of each review before switching.
Which platforms does Dify run on?
Dify is available on Web and Self-hosted.