head to head · open source
Dify vs how-claude-code-works
Dify has 156,215 GitHub stars, 24,668 forks, 1,067 open issues and last shipped yesterday. how-claude-code-works has 3,644 stars, 705 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Dify leads on adoption by 4,187% (156,215 vs 3,644 stars). Dify is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; how-claude-code-works is written in various languages under MIT. Dify has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, how-claude-code-works 19%. Dify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ai, claude, 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 13541 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Dify | how-claude-code-works | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 156K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | — |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 705 |
| 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 how-claude-code-works if
- You want the how-claude-code-works feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- You evaluated both and how-claude-code-works 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 how-claude-code-works
How Claude Code Works is an MIT licensed, bilingual educational deep dive into the internals of Anthropic's Claude Code coding agent, written for developers who want to understand how a production agentic coding system is built rather than simply use one.
read the full how-claude-code-works 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 how-claude-code-works more popular?
Dify has 156,215 GitHub stars and how-claude-code-works has 3,644. Dify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Dify and how-claude-code-works free?
Both are open source. Dify has no licence declared in this registry, and how-claude-code-works is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Dify and how-claude-code-works?
Dify is written in TypeScript and how-claude-code-works in various languages. 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 how-claude-code-works?
Choose Dify if you want the larger community (156,215 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose how-claude-code-works if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.