Cline vs Dify
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Cline
Autonomous coding agent for your editor
VS
Dify
Open-source platform for building production LLM apps
| Feature | Cline | Dify |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 65,848 | ★ 151,746 |
| First released | 2024 | 2023 |
| Replaces | GitHub Copilot, Cursor | OpenAI Assistants, Vertex AI Agent Builder |
Why pick each one
Choose Cline if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 65.8k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Choose Dify if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Mature project with 151.7k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is Cline or Dify better?
Neither is universally better. Dify has the larger community, while Cline is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Cline and Dify free and open-source?
Yes. Cline is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Dify under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Cline and Dify with Docker?
Cline: check the project docs for container support. Dify: yes.