# Alternatives to Dify > Source: https://theagentsindex.com/dify/alternatives (current datasheets, evidence-ranked) Candidates share the baseline category or are previously researched peers. Requirements, preserved strengths, explicit trade-offs and research coverage decide the order; paid tier does not. ## Shortlist ### 1. n8n Workflow automation platform for building and running AI agents on a visual canvas, with code where needed. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on Dify:** - [Agent permissions: yes — Approval is wired per tool: the workflow pauses and a reviewer approves or denies through Chat, Slack, Discord, Telegram, Gmail or Outlook. Tools with no review step execute unattended.](https://docs.n8n.io/build/integrate-ai/ai-examples/human-in-the-loop-for-tools) - [Open models: yes — Ollama chat and embedding nodes run local open-weight models; OpenRouter, Hugging Face Inference, DeepSeek and Mistral nodes cover hosted open-weight options.](https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/builtin/cluster-nodes/sub-nodes/n8n-nodes-langchain.lmchatollama) - [In your pipeline: yes — Git source control with workflow diffs gates what reaches production, the n8n CLI page names CI/CD pipeline integration as a fit, and the GitHub Trigger node fires on pull request events.](https://n8n.io/enterprise/) **Trade-offs against Dify:** - [Open source: partial — Source-available under the fair-code Sustainable Use License: free to use, modify and redistribute for internal business purposes, but not to resell or host for others. Files named .ee. sit under a separate enterprise licence.](https://docs.n8n.io/privacy-and-security/sustainable-use-license) - [Seat model: no — Not sold per seat. Users are unlimited on every plan and the quota is executions, so there is no seat floor or ceiling to negotiate; shared projects are what step up by tier (1, 3, 6, unlimited).](https://n8n.io/pricing/) [View n8n](https://theagentsindex.com/n8n) ### 2. Sim Open-source AI workspace for building, deploying and running agents across 1,000+ integrations. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on Dify:** - [Agent permissions: yes — A Human in the Loop block pauses a run indefinitely for approval; Enterprise permission groups block disallowed models and block types mid-execution.](https://docs.sim.ai/workflows/blocks/human-in-the-loop) - [Open models: yes — Open-weight models run through Groq/Cerebras/OpenRouter, or locally via Ollama or vLLM at no API cost.](https://docs.sim.ai/introduction) - [Data residency: yes — United States only on the hosted service, in AWS us-east-1. No EU region is offered, so self-hosting is the alternative.](https://www.sim.ai/privacy) **Trade-offs against Dify:** - [Admin controls: partial — Enterprise Access Control groups restrict which model providers and block types users may run, enforced in the executor; not available below Enterprise.](https://docs.sim.ai/platform/enterprise/access-control) - [Opt out of training: partial — No customer-facing training opt-out switch; the vendor commits that Google-API data is never used for generalized model training, and self-hosting keeps data on your own infrastructure.](https://www.sim.ai/privacy) [View Sim](https://theagentsindex.com/sim) ### 3. Tale Open-source project workspace where teams assign tasks to AI coding agents running in sandboxes. **Research coverage:** 33/35 criteria **Where it improves on Dify:** - [Done-for-you service: partial — You run the software, but the Enterprise plan adds professional operation, installation and maintenance, with consulting and custom development charged hourly rather than a built-for-you agent.](https://tale.dev/pricing) - [Open models: yes — A custom provider credential points at a self-hosted model server such as vLLM or Ollama, or any internal gateway speaking the OpenAI or Anthropic API.](https://docs.tale.dev/platform/admin/providers) - [Audit log: yes — An audit trail records actions and approval decisions with their actor and time, and the vendor documents audit-log integrity for tamper evidence.](https://tale.dev/platform/governance) **Trade-offs against Dify:** - [Runs autonomously: partial — An agent completes a task unattended and posts its report, but it must stop at In review and cannot approve its own result, so a person or a separate reviewer agent closes the loop.](https://docs.tale.dev/platform/projects/task-automation) - [On the command line: partial — A Tale CLI exists for deployment and configuration projects, and terminal agents can call the REST and MCP endpoints, but agent runs themselves are driven from the web app.](https://docs.tale.dev/develop/ai-assisted-development) [View Tale](https://theagentsindex.com/tale) ### 4. Agno Python SDK, open-source AgentOS runtime and hosted control plane for building and operating agents. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on Dify:** - [Open models: yes — Local runtimes llama.cpp, LM Studio, Ollama and vLLM are first-class provider keys, alongside Llama, Mistral, DeepSeek and Qwen.](https://docs.agno.com/models/providers/model-index) - [In your editor: yes — `agno connect` writes MCP config for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex and Cursor so those clients can run your agents.](https://docs.agno.com/cli/connect) - [Data residency: yes — You pick the jurisdiction: AgentOS is a container in your VPC writing to your own database.](https://www.agno.com/pricing) **Trade-offs against Dify:** - [In your pipeline: no — The enumerated serving surfaces are REST, MCP in Claude/ChatGPT and chat apps; no pull-request or CI surface appears.](https://www.agno.com/) - [Open source: partial — SDK and AgentOS are Apache 2.0; the control plane is the commercial part and is not published as source.](https://www.agno.com/compare/agno-vs-langgraph) - [Pooled budget: partial — There is no metered balance to pool; seats share access to the same connected runtimes and usage inside a connection is unlimited.](https://www.agno.com/pricing) [View Agno](https://theagentsindex.com/agno) ### 5. LangChain Open source agent frameworks plus LangSmith, a hosted platform to trace, evaluate, deploy and govern agents. **Research coverage:** 34/35 criteria **Where it improves on Dify:** - [Done-for-you service: partial — You run the software yourself on every self-serve plan; only Enterprise buyers get LangChain engineers, architectural guidance and team training alongside the product.](https://www.langchain.com/pricing) - [Agent permissions: yes — Human-in-the-loop interrupts gate agent actions in the framework, dcode gates code execution behind approval modes, and Fleet agents can run as themselves or as the calling user.](https://www.langchain.com/langgraph) - [Open models: yes — Open-weight models run through local Ollama, vLLM, Hugging Face and Together integrations, and the gateway can front a self-hosted OpenAI-compatible endpoint you operate yourself.](https://docs.langchain.com/oss/python/integrations/chat/ollama) **Trade-offs against Dify:** - [Self-hosted: partial — The open source frameworks run anywhere, but self-hosting or hybrid-hosting the LangSmith platform on Kubernetes is an Enterprise-plan option; Developer and Plus are cloud-only.](https://www.langchain.com/pricing) - [Open source: partial — The frameworks and the dcode coding agent are MIT-licensed and free, while the LangSmith platform that carries the price, seats and governance is proprietary and hosted.](https://www.langchain.com/langchain) - [Bring your own key: partial — You can bring your own provider keys through the gateway on every plan, or buy inference as Gateway Credits, but Engine refuses your keys and bills its model use as compute units.](https://docs.langchain.com/langsmith/engine) [View LangChain](https://theagentsindex.com/langchain) ### 6. Gumloop Multiplayer AI agent builder: teams build agents over their apps while IT keeps governance and spend control. **Research coverage:** 32/35 criteria **Where it improves on Dify:** - [Agent permissions: yes — Per-connector approval modes range from always-allow to never-allow, with a read-free write-gated middle setting and per-tool custom rules.](https://docs.gumloop.com/core-concepts/human_in_the_loop) - [Open models: yes — Open-weight families are runnable as hosted agents, but always through Gumloop's US-based inference providers rather than weights you host yourself.](https://docs.gumloop.com/core-concepts/ai_models) - [Certifications: yes — SOC 2 Type II attestation, HIPAA with BAAs on eligible plans, a GDPR-aligned programme and EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification including the UK extension.](https://www.gumloop.com/solutions/security) **Trade-offs against Dify:** - [Self-hosted: partial — Virtual Private Cloud deployment is an optional Enterprise line item only, and Gumloop operates the stack inside your cloud rather than handing you software to run.](https://www.gumloop.com/solutions/security) - [Free tier: partial — There is a self-serve 14-day free trial of Pro but no standing free plan in the published table, so continued use requires the $37/month tier.](https://www.gumloop.com/pricing) - [Admin controls: partial — Pro limits connector guardrails to a single agent's scope; org-wide policies, role-based access and model access control are Enterprise-only rows in the same table.](https://www.gumloop.com/pricing) [View Gumloop](https://theagentsindex.com/gumloop) ## Method Unknown data is never treated as a benefit or a trade-off. Featured placement is labelled but cannot alter recommendation order.