Dify vs Flowise
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Dify
Open-source platform for building production LLM apps
VS
Flowise
Archived
Drag-and-drop builder for LLM apps and AI agents
| Feature | Dify | Flowise |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 157,021 | ★ 55,475 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces | OpenAI Assistants, Vertex AI Agent Builder | Vertex AI Agent Builder |
What are Dify and Flowise?
Dify
Dify is an LLM application development platform that combines workflow orchestration, RAG pipelines, agent capabilities, and observability. It lets teams build and operate generative AI applications with a visual interface.
- Visual workflow builder
- Built-in RAG engine
- Agent and tool support
- Prompt and dataset management
Flowise
Flowise is a low-code tool for building customized LLM applications and AI agents using a visual flow editor. It connects models, vector stores, and tools into chatbots and workflows that can be deployed as APIs.
- Visual LLM flow builder
- RAG and agent components
- Deployable as API or widget
- Many integrations
Dify vs Flowise: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Flowise's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Dify is actively maintained. Both projects are written in TypeScript. Flowise is the lighter option, starting around 2,048 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Dify. Dify has the considerably larger community, at 157,021 GitHub stars versus 55,475.
Why pick each one
Choose Dify if…
- Visual workflow builder
- Built-in RAG pipelines
- Growing plugin ecosystem
Watch out for
- Heavy multi-container stack
- Enterprise features paid
Choose Flowise if…
- Visual flow editor
- Deploys flows as APIs
- Many integrations included
Watch out for
- Upstream development stopped
- Complex flows get unwieldy
Frequently asked questions
Is Dify or Flowise better?
Neither is universally better. Dify has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Dify and Flowise free and open-source?
Yes. Dify is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Flowise under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Dify and Flowise with Docker?
Dify: yes. Flowise: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Dify or Flowise?
Flowise has the smaller minimum footprint at 2,048 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Dify. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.