head to head · open source
Dify vs UltraRAG
Dify has 156,215 GitHub stars, 24,668 forks, 1,067 open issues and last shipped today. UltraRAG has 5,699 stars, 448 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Dify leads on adoption by 2,641% (156,215 vs 5,699 stars). Dify is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; UltraRAG is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Dify has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, UltraRAG 8%. Dify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (deepseek, gpt, 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.
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Side by side
| Dify | UltraRAG | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 156K | ★ 5.7K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 448 |
| 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 UltraRAG if
- You want the UltraRAG feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and UltraRAG 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 UltraRAG
UltraRAG is a low code Python framework that builds complex retrieval augmented generation pipelines by standardising RAG components as independent Model Context Protocol servers, aimed at researchers and teams doing industrial prototyping.
read the full UltraRAG overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Dify or UltraRAG more popular?
Dify has 156,215 GitHub stars and UltraRAG has 5,699. Dify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Dify and UltraRAG free?
Both are open source. Dify has no licence declared in this registry, and UltraRAG is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Dify and UltraRAG?
Dify is written in TypeScript and UltraRAG 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 UltraRAG?
Choose Dify if you want the larger community (156,215 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose UltraRAG if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.