Head-to-head · facts checked 13 Sept 2026
CrewAI vs Dify
Dify uniquely has 13 features · CrewAI uniquely has 6 features.
The verdict
CrewAI or Dify?
Section 01
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
CrewAI
Basic
Free
50 workflow executions/month, visual editor, GitHub integration, AI copilot
Enterprise
Custom
Unlimited executions, dedicated VPC, SSO, RBAC, on-site support, 50 hours dev/month
Dify
Sandbox
Free
200 message credits, 1 workspace, 1 team member
Community
Free
All core features, single workspace, open source
Professional
$59/mo · $590/yr
6000 message credits, 1 workspace, 2 team members
Team
$159/mo · $1590/yr
10000 message credits, 3 workspaces, 50 team members
Enterprise
Custom
Advanced security, compliance, dedicated support
Section 02
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
CrewAI
Pros
- Supports both no-code visual editor and code-first Python API, making it accessible to non-developers and engineers alike.
- All visual editor work exports to Python, preventing vendor lock-in and enabling clean handoffs to engineering teams.
- Open-source foundation is active on GitHub, giving developers transparency, community support, and a free entry point.
- Already embedded in 63% of Fortune 500 companies according to the vendor, suggesting strong enterprise credibility.
- Supports multiple LLMs including OpenAI and Anthropic, offering flexibility in how the platform is configured.
- Multi-agent orchestration enables complex task completion that single LLM prompts cannot achieve alone.
- Enterprise control plane layered on top of open-source allows teams to start free and scale up to commercial tier naturally.
Cons
- Not listed on G2 or Capterra yet, making it difficult to find verified third-party user reviews or ratings.
- Trying to serve both no-code and developer audiences simultaneously risks being a poor fit for both if execution falls short.
- No hands-on testing data available from independent reviewers, so real-world performance claims are hard to verify.
- The dual-path approach (visual editor plus code-first API) adds complexity that teams must evaluate carefully before committing.
- Enterprise positioning means it is unlikely to be cost-effective or appropriate for small teams or solo developers.
- Born in 2023, the platform is still very young, and long-term stability and support are unproven.
Dify
Pros
- Supports over 100 AI models including OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Mistral, and local Llama models through a consistent visual interface.
- RAG pipeline support is built natively into the workflow builder, eliminating the need to bolt on document retrieval separately.
- Flexible deployment options including cloud, VPC, and fully self-hosted via Docker or Kubernetes with official support for all three.
- Visual Workflow Studio uses drag-and-drop nodes covering agents, RAG steps, and decision branches for rapid development.
- Strong open-source traction with 151K+ GitHub stars indicating active community and ongoing development momentum.
- Ideal for development teams who want to ship production-ready AI applications without rebuilding infrastructure from scratch.
- Data residency and enterprise security requirements are accommodated through self-hosting options, a rarity at this price point.
Cons
- The platform is genuinely difficult to categorize, suggesting an unclear or overly broad product identity that may confuse buyers.
- User base claims of 500K+ cannot be independently verified, raising questions about the reliability of vendor-provided metrics.
- The review was not based on hands-on workflow building, meaning real-world usability limitations may not be fully captured.
- Moving faster than competitors in a fast-moving space increases the risk of instability, incomplete features, or shifting roadmaps.
- As a platform founded in 2023, long-term enterprise reliability and support track record remain unproven.
- Complexity of supporting 100+ models and multiple deployment methods may lead to inconsistent or under-documented edge cases.
Side by side
| Company | ||
| Founded | 2023 | 2023 |
| HQ | San Francisco, USA | San Francisco, USA |
| AI model | Multi-LLM (OpenAI, Anthropic, and others) | Multi-model (OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Llama, and 100+ others) |
| User base | 63% of Fortune 500 + large developer community | 151K+ GitHub stars |
| Platforms | Web, CLI, API | Cloud, Docker, Kubernetes, VPC |
| Languages | English primarily | 25+ |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | No |
| Starting price | Free — Basic | $59/mo |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
| All plans | Basic — Free Enterprise — Custom | Sandbox — Free Community — Free Professional — $59/mo Team — $159/mo Enterprise — Custom |
| Positioning | ||
| Best for | Enterprises and developers building, deploying, and managing multi-agent AI workflows | Independent developers, small to medium teams, and enterprises building production AI apps |
| Differentiator | The only platform combining no-code visual builder, code-first API, and a full enterprise control plane (tracing, RBAC, human-in-the-loop, LLM optimization) for multi-agent workflows — used by 63% of the Fortune 500. | Three deployment modes: managed cloud, self-hosted enterprise with SSO/RBAC/ISO27001, and open-source community edition |
| Competitors | LangChain, AutoGen, n8n, Make, Zapier, LlamaIndex | Flowise, LangChain, n8n, Botpress, Relevance AI |
| Features | ||
| API Rate Limit Control | — | ✓ |
| Document Processing | — | ✓ |
| Full Agent Runtime + Workflow Editor | — | ✓ |
| Github Integration | ✓ | — |
| Helm Chart for K8s Deployments | — | ✓ |
| Knowledge Base | — | ✓ |
| Pii Redaction | ✓ | — |
| Publish As Web App or API | — | ✓ |
| Rbac | ✓ | — |
| SOC 2 Type Ii + Iso 27001 | — | ✓ |
| SSO | ✓ | — |
| SSO (Enterprise) | — | ✓ |
| SSO / Saml & Rbac | — | ✓ |
| Single Command Docker Deploy | — | ✓ |
| Trigger Events | — | ✓ |
| Vpc Deployment | ✓ | — |
| Visual Editor and AI Copilot | ✓ | — |
| Workflow Automation | — | ✓ |
| AI Agents | ✓ | ✓ |
| API Webhooks | ✓ | ✓ |
| Conditional Logic | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom Code | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data Transform | ✓ | ✓ |
| Error Handling | ✓ | ✓ |
| Execution Logs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Human in Loop | ✓ | ✓ |
| Num Integrations | Standard tools, enterprise connectors, MCP server export, UI component export; exact count not stated | 100+ AI models plus plugin marketplace integrations |
| Scheduled Runs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Team Features | ✓ | ✓ |
| Trigger Types | Webhook / schedule (cron) / Slack/Teams / API / human-in-loop gates | webhook / schedule / API / workflow trigger events / external app triggers |
| Visual Builder | ✓ | ✓ |
| Integrations | ||
| API Access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google Workspace | — | ✓ |
| Key Integrations | Slack, Microsoft Teams, GitHub, Arize, Galileo, DataDog, Patronus, Okta, Microsoft Entra | OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Mistral, Llama (Meta), Azure OpenAI |
| Openai Integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Slack | ✓ | ✓ |
| Webhook Support | ✓ | ✓ |
Section 03
CrewAI vs Dify: common questions
Is CrewAI or Dify cheaper?
CrewAI's cheapest paid plan is Free — Basic and Dify's is $59/mo. Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
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