Dify vs n8n

Dify

• Teams building retrieval-backed agents and chatbots on their own data
• Organizations that need to self-host or deploy in a private cloud
• Developers who want to bring their own model API keys

n8n

• Technical teams that want to host their automation on their own servers
• Developers who mix visual workflows with JavaScript or Python
• Building AI agents where every step can be inspected

Dify

• The Sandbox plan's 200 message credits are a one-time grant; after that you supply your own model API keys.
• Cloud plans are priced per workspace with member caps: 1 on Sandbox, 3 on Professional and 50 on Team.
• SSO, multiple workspaces and a commercial license are part of the Enterprise edition only.
• The free Community Edition is limited to a single workspace and uses Dify's own Apache-2.0-derived license.

n8n

• n8n Cloud has no free plan; the free option is self-hosting the Community Edition, which you run and maintain yourself.
• The Community Edition leaves out SSO, projects, environments, Git version control and workflow sharing.
• The Business plan is self-hosted only and starts at €667 a month, billed annually.
• The pricing page showed prices in euros when checked; no US dollar price list was found on n8n's site.

Dify

Workflow Studio

A visual canvas for workflows and chatflows, where blocks define how an app retrieves data, makes decisions, calls tools, asks for human input and completes a task.

Agents

Agents are built by chatting or by manual configuration with skills, tools and knowledge, then used as an app, embedded in a website or reused as a node inside a workflow.

Knowledge pipeline

Repeatable pipelines extract, clean, chunk and index files, websites, online documents and drives into a knowledge base, with retrieval testing before it is connected to an app.

Marketplace and plugins

Model providers, tools, data sources and MCP integrations are installed from the Marketplace or defined yourself, and reused across the apps in a workspace.

Publishing and monitoring

Apps ship as hosted web apps, API endpoints, embeds or MCP-compatible tools, with logs, feedback, annotations, latency and usage data to review.

Cloud, enterprise or self-hosted

Use Dify Cloud, deploy the Enterprise edition in your own VPC or on Kubernetes with a Helm chart, or self-host the Community Edition with Docker.

n8n

Visual builder with code steps

Workflows are built on a canvas, and JavaScript or Python can be written anywhere in them. Single steps can be re-run and earlier data replayed while debugging.

AI agents

Agents are assembled from AI nodes on the same canvas, with each step of their reasoning open to inspection and the option to require human approval.

Self-hosting

n8n can run on your own infrastructure with Docker, including air-gapped setups. The Community Edition is free; Business and Enterprise add SSO, environments and Git version control.

Execution-based pricing

One run of a whole workflow counts as a single execution, however many steps it has. Going over the plan quota does not stop workflows, but overage charges may apply.

Integrations and custom APIs

The homepage cites 500+ integrations, including Google Sheets, Slack and OpenAI, and other services can be reached through custom API connections.

Shared projects

Shared projects group workflows for a team: 1 on Starter, 3 on Pro, 6 on Business and unlimited on Enterprise. Pro adds admin roles and workflow history.

Dify

• SandboxFree

  1 member, 5 apps, 50 knowledge documents, 50 MB of knowledge storage, 200 one-time message credits and 30 days of log history.

• CommunityFree

  Open-source edition you self-host with Docker: all core features in the public repository, a single workspace and community support.

• Professional$59

  per workspace / month ($590 per year billed annually)

  3 team members, 50 apps, 5,000 message credits a month, 500 knowledge documents, 5 GB of storage and 20,000 trigger events a month.

• Team$159

  per workspace / month ($1,590 per year billed annually)

  50 team members, 200 apps, 10,000 message credits a month, 1,000 knowledge documents, 20 GB of storage and unlimited trigger events.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Self-hosted or VPC deployment with a commercial license, multiple workspaces, SSO, advanced security controls and professional support.

n8n

• Community Edition€0

  Self-hosted from GitHub. Almost the complete feature set, without SSO, projects, environments, Git version control or workflow sharing.

• Starter€20

  per month, billed annually, for 2,500 executions

  Hosted by n8n. Unlimited steps per workflow, 1 shared project, 5 concurrent executions, and agents, MCP and AI nodes.

• Pro€50

  per month, billed annually, for 10,000 executions

  Hosted by n8n. 3 shared projects, up to 50 concurrent executions, 7 days of insights, admin roles and workflow history.

• Business€667

  per month, billed annually, for 40,000 executions

  Self-hosted only. 6 shared projects, SSO with SAML and LDAP, multiple environments, Git version control, queue mode and 30 days of insights.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Hosted or self-hosted. Custom executions, unlimited shared projects, 200+ concurrent executions, external secret store, log streaming and SLA support.

Dify

• Annual discount

  Save 17% with annual billing

  Dify's pricing page lists a 17% saving for annual billing: Professional is $590 a year instead of $59 a month, and Team is $1,590 a year instead of $159 a month.

• Education

  Free Professional plan for students and educators

  Verified students, teachers and school staff aged 18 or over can use the Yearly Professional plan at no cost, re-verified each year. Message credits stay at the Sandbox level of 200.

n8n

• Annual discount

  Save 17% with annual billing

  n8n's pricing page shows a 17% saving when a plan is billed annually instead of monthly. The prices listed here are the annual rates.

• Startups

  Start-up Plan: 50% off Business

  Companies with fewer than 20 employees can check whether they qualify for the Start-up Plan, which takes 50% off the Business plan.