Find my tool
VsResearch-based comparison·Updated Oct 19, 2026·published Aug 21, 2026, revised 3 times

Prices verified through .

Dify vs n8n

Dify when the product is an LLM app or RAG pipeline. n8n when the job is general workflow automation. Prices checked 2026-10-06.

Moneda may earn a commission from some product links. Partner economics do not affect our recommendations. This page is research-based — conclusions come from product evidence and documentation, not a claim that we personally purchased every product listed.

Reviewed by Signal, human editor & operator
Evaluation criteria: RAG app scaffolding, Cross-app automation, Ops ownership burdenMethodology

No single winner

Depends on the job

Choose Dify when the product is an LLM app, RAG pipeline, or agent experience. Choose n8n when the job is general automation across apps and ops systems.

Try Dify

Best alternative

n8n

Technical teams building complex or self-hosted AI workflows

Try n8n

How we evaluated this

Evaluation note: We assessed RAG app scaffolding, Cross-app automation, Ops ownership burden against vendor docs, product pages, and workflow fit — not synthetic benchmark scores. 5 primary sources checked. No single tool led for most teams. The segment recommendations are the decision.

Which of these are you?

Your pick

Dify

Visual LLM app builder oriented to AI products.

Tradeoff

n8n can be better when the task is mostly ops teams automating saas workflows.

Try Dify

Highlighted = better for Builders shipping RAG/agent products

CriterionDify
Self-hostedFree tierEnterprise
n8n
Self-hostedFrom €20/mo
Pricing
Self-hostedFree tierEnterprise

Free Sandbox: 200 message credits (Source: https://dify.ai/pricing, Checked: 2026-10-06) · Professional: $590 per workspace/year, 5,000 message credits/month, 3 team members (Source: https://dify.ai/pricing, Checked: 2026-10-06) · Team: $1590 per workspace/year, 10,000 message credits/month, 50 team members (Source: https://dify.ai/pricing, Checked: 2026-10-06) · Enterprise: custom. Community self-host is free for the open-source core (Source: https://dify.ai/pricing, Checked: 2026-10-06)

Self-hostedFrom €20/mo

Self-hosted Community Edition: no license fee; infrastructure is separate (Source: https://n8n.io/pricing/, Checked: 2026-10-19) · Cloud Starter: €20/month billed annually. Includes agents, MCP, and AI nodes. One execution is a full workflow run, not a step (Source: https://n8n.io/pricing/, Checked: 2026-10-19) · Cloud Pro: €50/month billed annually (Source: https://n8n.io/pricing/, Checked: 2026-10-19) · Cloud Business: €667/month billed annually. For companies with fewer than 100 employees. Adds SSO and LDAP, multiple environments, version control using Git, and queue mode (Source: https://n8n.io/pricing/, Checked: 2026-10-19)

Free tier✅⚠️
RAG app scaffolding✅❌
Cross-app automation✅✅
Ops ownership burden❌✅
Best forBuilders shipping RAG/agent apps without starting from scratchTechnical teams building complex or self-hosted AI workflows

✅ Included · ❌ Missing · ⚠️ Partial or add-on. Shaded cell = stronger option for your segment.

Don't pick Dify if

Your work is mostly ops teams automating saas workflows — n8n wins that workflow.

Don't pick n8n if

Your work is mostly builders shipping rag/agent products — Dify wins that workflow.

What we evaluated

Evaluation criteria: RAG app scaffolding, Cross-app automation, Ops ownership burden. Conclusions are based on primary documentation, product evidence, and workflow fit — not hands-on benchmark runs unless noted. 5 primary sources checked.

Dify is the default when you are shipping an LLM/RAG/agent product. n8n is the alternate when the job is automation glue across systems. When that ops layer is the decision, n8n vs Make splits self-host control from visual scenario ops.

Dify prices checked 6 October 2026. Dify Sandbox is free with 200 message credits. Professional is $590 per workspace per year (5,000 message credits a month, 3 members). Team is $1,590 per workspace per year (10,000 message credits a month, 50 members). Enterprise is custom. Community self-host is free. n8n Cloud plans checked 19 October 2026. Cloud Starter is €20/month billed annually, Pro is €50/month billed annually, and Business is €667/month billed annually. Business is for companies with fewer than 100 employees and adds SSO and LDAP, multiple environments, version control using Git, and queue mode. One n8n execution is a full workflow run, not a step. Sources: Dify pricing and n8n pricing. The n8n button stays on n8n.io.

Pick Dify for AI apps. Pick n8n for ops workflows. Many stacks eventually use both for different layers.

What we evaluated: RAG scaffolding, cross-app automation, and ownership. Dify won for AI apps. n8n won for general automation.

This call changes if the alternate matches the winner on your primary criteria without switching pain. Until then, follow the verdict above.