Can I self-host Dify for free?

Yes — an open-source community edition is available to self-host alongside the paid cloud.

Which LLMs does it support?

Any major LLM, plus local models via Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs.

FrameworkOpen sourceNot yet hands-on tested

Dify

Build production-ready AI agents — a leading agentic workflow builder.

What it is

Dify is an open-source, largely no-code/low-code platform for building AI applications and agentic workflows, bundling visual workflow building, RAG pipelines, integrations, and observability. It is offered both as a hosted cloud and a self-hosted community edition.

At a glance

7/7 facts sourced

Pricing: Dify Cloud: Sandbox is free (200 message credits, 1 workspace, 5 apps); Professional is $59/workspace/mo (5,000 credits/mo); Team is $159/workspace/mo (10,000 credits/mo). A self-hosted community edition is available separately.source ↗
Hosting model: Managed cloud (dify.ai) or a self-hosted open-source community edition on your own infrastructure.source ↗
Memory & state: RAG knowledge pipelines to make your data LLM-ready, plus conversation and app state within workflows.source ↗
MCP support: Nativesource ↗
Integrations: Agentic workflows, RAG pipelines, bidirectional native MCP (consume tools and publish as an MCP server), a tool/plugin ecosystem, and observability.source ↗
Model providers: Model-agnostic — any major LLM, plus local models via Ollama and any OpenAI-compatible API.source ↗
Open source: Yessource ↗

3.7of 5

Editorial scorecard

Overall 3.7 / 5

Our opinion — the same 0–5 rubric is applied to every platform, including Alfe. See the rubric.

Developer experience4/5

Pricing transparency & value3/5

Scalability3/5

Memory & state3/5

Integrations4/5

MCP nativeness5/5

Strengths

Visual/no-code workflow building, RAG, and observability bundled in one platform.
Bidirectional native MCP — consume tools and publish an app as an MCP server.
Self-hostable community edition, with a free cloud tier to start.

Trade-offs

Cloud paid tiers are metered by message credits (5k/10k per month on the $59/$159 tiers), which can constrain volume.
It is a heavier platform, not a lightweight embeddable library like the SDKs here.
Its self-hosted edition uses a modified Apache-2.0-based license with some restrictions rather than a plain OSI license.

Our take

Editorial opinion — not a hands-on test result

In our opinion, Dify is a good fit for teams that want a visual, batteries-included way to build agentic workflows and RAG apps, with the option to self-host. Its bidirectional MCP support is a genuine strength. Watch the message-credit metering on the cloud tiers, and read the self-host license terms if you plan to embed or resell it.

FAQ

Can I self-host Dify for free?: Yes — an open-source community edition is available to self-host alongside the paid cloud.
Which LLMs does it support?: Any major LLM, plus local models via Ollama and OpenAI-compatible APIs.

Compare Dify

dify vs n8n

Sources

Dify homepage · accessed 2026-07-01
Dify pricing · accessed 2026-07-01
LangGenius (Dify) on GitHub · accessed 2026-07-01

The Agent Examiner editorial · last updated 2026-07-01. Facts are drawn from each vendor’s own public materials; scores are our editorial opinion (methodology).

Product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to identify the products under discussion.