Prompt flow vs promptfoo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Prompt flow | promptfoo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 78 · Good | 97 · Excellent |
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | bare-metal, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,244 | ★ 25,409 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces | LangSmith, Vertex AI | LangSmith |
What are Prompt flow and promptfoo?
Prompt flow
Prompt flow is an open-source development toolkit from Microsoft for building, testing, and evaluating LLM-powered applications. It provides a visual flow editor, batch evaluation, and tooling to debug prompt pipelines locally.
- Visual flow authoring
- Batch evaluation runs
- Local debugging tools
- VS Code extension
promptfoo
promptfoo is a developer-friendly tool for testing and evaluating prompts, models, and RAG systems. It supports automated evaluations, comparisons, and security red-teaming with a local web viewer.
- Automated prompt evals
- Model comparison matrix
- Red-teaming and security tests
- Local web viewer
Prompt flow vs promptfoo: key differences
Prompt flow is written in Python, while promptfoo is built with TypeScript. Promptfoo is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Prompt flow. Promptfoo has the considerably larger community, at 25,409 GitHub stars versus 11,244. Prompt flow lists first-class Docker deployment; promptfoo does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Prompt flow if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 11.2k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Choose promptfoo if…
- Simple YAML configs
- Red-teaming built in
- Runs fully locally
Watch out for
- CLI-centric workflow
- Node.js required
Frequently asked questions
Is Prompt flow or promptfoo better?
promptfoo is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Prompt flow if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Prompt flow and promptfoo free and open-source?
Yes. Prompt flow is licensed under MIT and promptfoo under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Prompt flow and promptfoo with Docker?
Prompt flow: yes. promptfoo: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Prompt flow or promptfoo?
promptfoo has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Prompt flow. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.