head to head · open source
Dify vs cua
Dify has 156,167 GitHub stars, 24,658 forks, 1,067 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cua has 22,799 stars, 1,587 forks, 926 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Dify leads on adoption by 585% (156,167 vs 22,799 stars). Dify is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; cua is written in HTML under MIT. Dify has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, cua 7%. cua was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (agent), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Dify | cua | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 156K | ★ 23K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Dify if
- You weight community size — 156K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cua if
- You want the cua feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and cua fits your workflow better
About Dify
Dify is an open source LLM application development platform built in TypeScript. It provides a visual interface for designing, testing, and deploying AI workflows, RAG pipelines, and agentic systems without writing extensive code. The platform lives in the generative AI development ecosystem and targets teams needing to move from prototype to production using consistent tooling across environments.
About cua
Cua is an MIT licensed, open source platform that gives AI agents computers to use, packaging desktop automation drivers, isolated cloud desktops, local macOS virtual machines, and benchmarks for training, evaluation, and data generation — it is aimed at developers and teams building computer use agents who bring their own agent and model.
More in AI & Machine Learning
Related comparisons
More AI Development Platforms projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the AI Development Platforms field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Dify or cua more popular?
Dify has 156,167 GitHub stars and cua has 22,799. Dify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Dify and cua free?
Both are open source. Dify has no licence declared in this registry, and cua is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Dify and cua?
Dify is written in TypeScript and cua in HTML. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Dify or cua?
Choose Dify if you want the larger community (156,167 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose cua if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.