head to head · open source
Dify vs zcf
Dify has 156,215 GitHub stars, 24,668 forks, 1,067 open issues and last shipped today. zcf has 6,083 stars, 420 forks, 42 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. Dify leads on adoption by 2,468% (156,215 vs 6,083 stars). Dify is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; zcf is written in TypeScript under MIT. Dify has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, zcf 7%. Dify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (agent, ai, claude, gpt), 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 | zcf | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 156K | ★ 6.1K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 420 |
| 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 zcf if
- You want the zcf feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and zcf 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 zcf
zcf is a zero config code flow CLI for Claude Code and Codex that installs the tooling, workflows, API/CCR provider settings, and MCP servers in a single command, and it is aimed at developers and teams who want a working AI coding agent setup without hand editing configuration files.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Dify or zcf more popular?
Dify has 156,215 GitHub stars and zcf has 6,083. Dify has the larger community by that measure.
Are Dify and zcf free?
Both are open source. Dify has no licence declared in this registry, and zcf is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Dify and zcf?
Dify is written in TypeScript and zcf 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 zcf?
Choose Dify if you want the larger community (156,215 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose zcf if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.