head to head · open source
Dify vs langchain
Dify has 156,167 GitHub stars, 24,658 forks, 1,067 open issues and last shipped yesterday. langchain has 146,538 stars, 24,504 forks, 492 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Dify leads on adoption by 7% (156,167 vs 146,538 stars). Dify is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; langchain is written in Python under MIT. Dify has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, langchain 17%. langchain was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), 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 | langchain | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 156K | ★ 147K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 25K |
| 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 langchain if
- You want the langchain feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and langchain 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 langchain
LangChain is an open source framework for building agents and LLM powered applications, written in Python and released under the MIT license. It lives in the AI and machine learning ecosystem, specifically among AI development platforms, and it works by chaining together interoperable components and third party integrations so that AI application development becomes simpler. The project describes itself as the agent engineering platform, and its abstractions are designed to keep applications working as the underlying technology evolves.
read the full langchain 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 langchain more popular?
Dify has 156,167 GitHub stars and langchain has 146,538. Dify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Dify and langchain free?
Both are open source. Dify has no licence declared in this registry, and langchain is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Dify and langchain?
Dify is written in TypeScript and langchain in Python. 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 langchain?
Choose Dify if you want the larger community (156,167 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose langchain if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.