Dify vs Vellum

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

Vellum

• People who want one assistant that remembers them across devices and chat apps
• Handing off email triage, calendar work and recurring background tasks
• Users who want to inspect or self-host the assistant's open-source runtime

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.

Vellum

• The Base plan is free to host, but model usage, web search and image generation are paid for in prepaid credits at $1 per credit.
• Included monthly usage does not roll over, and pay-as-you-go credits expire twelve months after purchase.
• The docs describe the Windows app as a dev build tied to Vellum's development environment, and no Linux desktop client is shipped.
• The iOS and Android apps are clients for a cloud assistant; they do not run a local assistant on the phone.

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.

Vellum

Long-term memory

The assistant keeps facts, preferences and people in a personal knowledge base and recalls them across conversations. On your own machine the workspace is plain-text files plus a SQLite database.

Skills for your work tools

Built-in skills and OAuth integrations cover Google Workspace, Outlook, Slack, Notion, Linear, GitHub, HubSpot, Asana and Todoist. More skills come from a catalog or are written yourself.

Permission prompts

Sensitive actions such as file access, shell commands or emailing a new contact show an Allow or Deny prompt with a risk badge until you create a trust rule for them.

One assistant on every channel

The same identity, memory and schedules are available from the web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android apps, a CLI, Telegram, Slack, email, voice and phone calls.

Computer and browser control

The desktop app adds voice input and computer control, and a Chrome extension lets the assistant read open tabs, fill in forms and act on the page in front of you.

Cloud, local or self-hosted

Run it in Vellum Cloud, locally on a Mac or Windows PC, or self-hosted on a Linux host or your own Google Cloud project, bringing your own model API key.

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.

Vellum

• Base$0

  Free forever: a Small cloud machine (1 vCPU, 2 GiB RAM), 6 GiB of storage and managed model access paid for with pay-as-you-go credits.

• Self-hosted$0

  The open-source runtime on your own Mac, Windows PC, Linux host or GCP project, with your own model API key and no platform or machine fees.

• Mighty$30

  per month

  Small machine, 10 GiB of storage and a monthly Mighty Usage allowance. Leaves out the custom subdomain, static IP and priority support.

• CustomFrom $50

  per month

  Pick a machine size, storage tier and optional usage bundle yourself. The minimum is a Medium machine with 10 GiB and no usage bundle.

• Super$100

  per month

  Medium machine (2.5 vCPU, 5 GiB), 30 GiB of storage and Super Usage, plus an assistant email, custom subdomain, static IP and priority support.

• Ultra$200

  per month

  Large machine (4 vCPU, 8 GiB), 60 GiB of storage and Ultra Usage, with the same assistant email, subdomain and support as Super.

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.

Vellum

No public discounts listed.