Platform or framework
Dify and LangChain both help you build LLM apps, but they answer different questions.
- Dify is a platform. You build on a visual canvas, test in place, and publish an app that comes with its own API. Knowledge bases, a RAG pipeline, agents, tools and monitoring are already wired in.
- LangChain is a framework. It’s a library you import into your own code, with standard interfaces to models, embeddings and vector stores, and a
create_agentharness for agents.
Building with Dify
You pick a model, design the workflow on the canvas, attach knowledge bases and tools (from the Dify Marketplace, MCP servers or your own APIs), and publish. Non-developers can change prompts and documents without a deploy, and developers call the result through its API. Tracing goes to Opik, Langfuse or Arize Phoenix.
Building with LangChain
You write the app. create_agent handles the model loop with your tools and middleware, and when you need custom control flow, you drop down to LangGraph, which LangChain’s agents are built on. Everything lives in your repository, so it goes through your normal code review, tests and deployment. LangSmith, the optional paid platform, adds tracing, evals and deployment.
Licensing matters
LangChain is MIT-licensed: you can embed it, modify it and ship it in anything.
Dify uses its own license, based on Apache 2.0 with two extra conditions. You need written permission to run Dify as a multi-tenant service, and you must keep the Dify logo and copyright in its console and apps when you use its frontend. A single-workspace deployment for your own company isn’t multi-tenant, but the branding rule still applies.
Cost
Both have free starting points. Dify’s Community Edition is free to self-host, and Dify Cloud starts with a free Sandbox plan, then costs $59 a month (Professional) or $159 a month (Team) per workspace. LangChain is free; if you add LangSmith, the Developer plan is free for one seat and Plus is $39 per seat per month. Either way, your model provider’s bill can easily outgrow the platform fee.
The bottom line
- Ship an internal assistant or RAG chatbot quickly: Dify.
- Build a product where the AI logic is core code: LangChain, with LangGraph when flows get complex.
- Offer Dify itself to many customers as a service: talk to Dify about a commercial license first.
Running models locally? Read Ollama vs LM Studio vs llama.cpp.
How we compared
Facts come from Dify’s and LangChain’s official repositories, documentation, license and pricing pages, checked on 1 November 2026 and listed below. Check the official pages before committing, and tell us if something has changed.