THE COMPARISON / A CLOSER LOOK

Dify vs n8n

Compare the listed plans, useful capabilities, and practical tradeoffs.

Prices and features reflect editorial records. Check vendor terms before you buy; documentary checks do not imply hands-on testing.

Dify

🟡Low Code

LLM application platform

Dify review covering visual LLM workflows, agents, RAG, self-hosting, verified cloud pricing, deployment tradeoffs, practical use cases, pros, and cons.

SOURCE-CHECK COVERAGE

No scoped source-check record shown. Check current pricing and vendor terms before buying.

Starting Price

Free

n8n

🟡Low Code

AI Automation

Source-available workflow automation platform with native AI agent and LangChain nodes, popular for self-hosted AI workflows.

SOURCE-CHECK COVERAGE

No scoped source-check record shown. Check current pricing and vendor terms before buying.

Starting Price

Free

Feature Comparison

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FeatureDifyn8n
CategoryLLM application platformAI Automation
Pricing Plans4 listed plans4 listed plans
Starting PriceFreeFree
Key Features
  • • Agentic workflow builder for LLM applications
  • • Chatbot and assistant development workflows
  • • RAG-backed app patterns for knowledge products
  • • Visual AI-agent canvas with traceable steps
  • • 500+ integrations and 10,000 workflow templates
  • • JavaScript, Python, HTTP, webhook, API, and CLI escape hatches

Dify - Pros & Cons

Pros

  • ✓Combines workflow, knowledge, testing, and deployment
  • ✓Open-source edition enables self-hosting
  • ✓Multiple providers reduce model lock-in
  • ✓Visual graphs aid cross-functional collaboration

Cons

  • ✗Self-hosting shifts upgrades, security, backups, and scaling to customers
  • ✗Message credits do not include every model or infrastructure cost
  • ✗Large visual graphs become hard to review
  • ✗RAG still requires retrieval evaluation and data governance

n8n - Pros & Cons

Pros

  • ✓Self-hosted Community edition is free and runs anywhere — no per-task pricing tax
  • ✓Native AI Agent node and LangChain blocks let you build real agents on a visual canvas
  • ✓MCP Client node integrates n8n into the emerging MCP agent ecosystem
  • ✓JavaScript code nodes provide escape hatches for anything the visual editor cannot express

Cons

  • ✗Visual editor becomes noisy on workflows with dozens of branches and tool calls
  • ✗Debugging long-running agent loops is still painful versus a real code IDE
  • ✗Cloud tier execution caps can surprise heavy users — self-hosting is the practical path at scale
  • ✗Sustainable Use License is fair-code, not OSI-approved open source, which some procurement teams flag

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🔒 Security & Compliance Comparison

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Security FeatureDifyn8n
SOC2——
GDPR——
HIPAA——
SSO✅ Yes✅ Yes
Self-Hosted✅ Yes🔀 Hybrid
On-Prem✅ Yes✅ Yes
RBAC✅ Yes✅ Yes
Audit Log✅ Yes✅ Yes
Open Source✅ Yes❌ No
API Key Auth✅ Yes✅ Yes
Encryption at Rest✅ Yes✅ Yes
Encryption in Transit✅ Yes✅ Yes
Data Residency—EU
Data Retentionconfigurableconfigurable
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