head to head · open source
Dify vs PI-Desktop
Dify has 156,215 GitHub stars, 24,668 forks, 1,067 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PI-Desktop has 4,258 stars, 357 forks, 102 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Dify leads on adoption by 3,569% (156,215 vs 4,258 stars). Dify is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; PI-Desktop is written in TypeScript under LGPL-3.0. Dify has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, PI-Desktop 8%. PI-Desktop was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Dify | PI-Desktop | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 156K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | Custom / other | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 357 |
| 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 PI-Desktop if
- You want the PI-Desktop feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and PI-Desktop 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 PI-Desktop
PI Desktop is a local first desktop workspace for AI coding agents, built on an Electron shell with a Rust host core and the pi Agent Harness, extensible through user installable plugins, and aimed at developers who want agents working inside their own local projects against model providers they configure themselves.
read the full PI-Desktop overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Dify or PI-Desktop more popular?
Dify has 156,215 GitHub stars and PI-Desktop has 4,258. Dify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Dify and PI-Desktop free?
Both are open source. Dify has no licence declared in this registry, and PI-Desktop is licensed under LGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Dify and PI-Desktop?
Dify is written in TypeScript and PI-Desktop in TypeScript. 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 PI-Desktop?
Choose Dify if you want the larger community (156,215 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose PI-Desktop if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.