head to head · open source
Dify vs Envoy AI Gateway
Dify has 160,251 GitHub stars, 25,336 forks, 1,067 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Envoy AI Gateway has 2,334 stars, 445 forks, 285 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Dify leads on adoption by 6,766% (160,251 vs 2,334 stars). Dify is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence; Envoy AI Gateway is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Dify has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, Envoy AI Gateway 19%. Dify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai, llm), 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 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Dify | Envoy AI Gateway | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 160K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 445 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Dify if
- You weight community size — 160K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Envoy AI Gateway if
- You want the Envoy AI Gateway feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Envoy AI Gateway fits your workflow better
About Dify
Dify Cloud · Self hosting · Documentation · Dify edition overview Dify is an open source LLM app development platform. Its intuitive interface combines AI workflow, RAG pipeline, agent capabilities, model management, observability features (including Opik, Langfuse, and Arize Phoenix) and more, letting you quickly go from prototype to production. Here's a list of the core features: Quick start Before installing Dify, make sure your machine meets the following minimum system requirements: CPU = 2 Core RAM = 4 GiB The easiest way to start the Dify server is through Docker Compose. Before running Dify with the…
About Envoy AI Gateway
The open source control plane for AI and agent traffic, powered by Envoy. An Agentic AI Foundation project. Formerly Envoy AI Gateway . Documentation · Quickstart · Blog · Release Notes · Talks Agent Router Agent Router gives application teams one consistent, OpenAI compatible API for every model and tool, from hosted providers to self hosted inference and MCP servers. Platform teams keep credentials, routing, quotas, failover, and usage attribution in one place, enforced by Envoy and Envoy Gateway. Agent Router controls. Envoy carries. Formerly Envoy AI Gateway Envoy AI Gateway is now Agent Router , an Agentic…
read the full Envoy AI Gateway overview →
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 Envoy AI Gateway more popular?
Dify has 160,251 GitHub stars and Envoy AI Gateway has 2,334. Dify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Dify and Envoy AI Gateway free?
Both are open source. Dify has no licence declared in this registry, and Envoy AI Gateway is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Dify and Envoy AI Gateway?
Dify is written in Python and Envoy AI Gateway in Go. 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 Envoy AI Gateway?
Choose Dify if you want the larger community (160,251 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Envoy AI Gateway if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.