Dify vs n8n
A side-by-side comparison of capabilities, autonomy, integrations, and pricing to help you choose.
Short answer: choose Dify if you want open-source platform for building llm apps and agentic workflows (Supervised agent, freemium); choose n8n if you want fair-code workflow automation with built-in ai agent nodes, self-hostable (Supervised agent, freemium).
| Dify | n8n | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source platform for building LLM apps and agentic workflows | Fair-code workflow automation with built-in AI agent nodes, self-hostable |
| Type | platform | platform |
| Autonomy | Supervised agent | Supervised agent |
| Pricing | freemium · Self-host free; Dify Cloud has a free sandbox plan | freemium · Self-hosted free; Cloud Starter EUR 20/mo |
| Best for | developers, smb, mid-market | developers, smb, mid-market, enterprise |
| Deployment | self-hosted, saas, on-prem | saas, self-hosted, on-prem, api |
| Modalities | text, api | text, code, api, email |
| Models | model-agnostic, open-source | model-agnostic, gpt, claude, open-source |
| Protocols | function-calling, rest-api, mcp | mcp, function-calling, rest-api |
| Integrations | OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Llama, Kubernetes, Docker | OpenAI, Anthropic, Slack, Google Sheets, Postgres, HTTP/REST |
| Capabilities | 4 documented | 4 documented |
Dify
- +Open source and self-hostable (Docker, Kubernetes) with no vendor lock-in
- +Combines workflows, RAG, agents, model management, and observability in one stack
- +Broad model support including any OpenAI-API-compatible endpoint
- -A building platform: you design and operate the apps and their guardrails
- -Self-hosting at scale requires infrastructure expertise
n8n
- +Genuinely flexible: visual no-code builder plus inline JavaScript/Python and HTTP-to-any-API
- +Self-hostable community edition is free with unlimited executions, giving full data control
- +Strong native AI: agent nodes, MCP support, model-agnostic LLM connections built into workflows
- -Not truly open source: the Sustainable Use License restricts commercial use such as reselling n8n as a service
- -Execution-based cloud pricing can balloon for high-frequency workflows
Which should you choose?
Dify is open-source platform for building llm apps and agentic workflows, best for developers, smb, mid-market. n8n is fair-code workflow automation with built-in ai agent nodes, self-hostable, best for developers, smb, mid-market, enterprise. The right choice depends on the autonomy level you want, your existing integrations, and your budget, all compared above.
This comparison is generated from the sourced Dify and n8n profiles. Open either profile to review its evidence and last-reviewed date.