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AgenticOS vs Dify

Both products self-host and both do document retrieval, so the difference is elsewhere. Dify is a visual canvas for LLM apps and workflows, with multi-workspace tenancy, SSO and audit logs in its Enterprise edition. AgenticOS is Apache-2.0 and multi-tenant in the open-source product, with budgets, approvals, directory sign-in and a tamper-evident audit log included.

Maintained by the AgenticOS team. Sources checked 25 September 2026. AgenticOS baseline: v0.0.504. Dify scope: the public repository at 1.17.1, its licence, documentation and pricing page, not a tested cloud plan or a pinned deployment.

At a glance

Area Dify Community Edition AgenticOS
How you build A visual canvas of workflow, chatflow and agent nodes Instructions, a model profile, capabilities, collections and a budget, published as a version
Licence Dify Open Source License: Apache 2.0 with added conditions Apache-2.0; see bundled component licences
Tenancy One workspace; several workspaces are Enterprise Many organizations in one deployment
Roles Four built-in roles; custom roles are Enterprise Six roles, 27 permissions and per-resource grants for people and groups
Sign-in Email; SSO is Enterprise Email, Google, OIDC SSO, LDAP and Kerberos, with directory group mappings
Audit Enterprise Tamper-evident audit log with CSV and JSONL export
Spend control Provider billing, or Cloud message credits A monthly budget per agent and per organization, checked before each model request
Human approval A Human Input node in a workflow Approval per capability and per tool for capability tools; the run parks until someone decides. MCP tools are not gated per tool
Surfaces Web app, embed, API, MCP server; Slack through a plugin Web chat, widget, hosted page, HTTP API, WebSocket, Slack, Telegram, Mattermost
Kubernetes Community Helm charts; official high availability is Enterprise Docker Compose on one host

Where AgenticOS goes further

Multi-tenant without a commercial licence

Dify's licence permits commercial use, and adds two conditions. You may not operate a multi-tenant environment without written permission, where one tenant is one workspace. You may not remove or change the logo or copyright information in its frontend. Contributors also agree that the producer can change the licence terms.

AgenticOS is Apache-2.0. Organizations are tenants, isolated in the schema, and one deployment can serve every department, subsidiary or client. You can change the console and brand it as your own. The deployment identity settings cover the name and notices.

The controls an enterprise asks for, in the open-source product

The Dify pricing page lists SSO as Enterprise-only, and its documentation puts custom roles and multiple workspaces in Enterprise. AgenticOS ships single sign-on and many organizations in the Apache-2.0 product, along with:

The six roles are fixed. Custom roles, like SCIM, are not available yet.

A budget that stops the next model call

Dify's documentation does not describe a spend cap enforced before model calls in the Community Edition. On your own keys, billing goes to each provider's account.

AgenticOS checks each agent's monthly budget and the organization's cap before each model request, and records the cost of a failed run too. Delegated work spends the parent agent's budget, so a sub-agent cannot spend around it.

Approval on the tool, not only in the flow

Dify's Human Input node pauses a workflow and sends a form, and the request closes after the first response. In AgenticOS an approval is set per capability and can be overridden per tool. It covers capability tools; an MCP tool is gated only when a web-chat conversation asks about everything. The run parks, the people you choose are alerted, and a second decision on a decided approval is refused.

A change a business team can make

In Dify you change a process by editing the canvas. In AgenticOS a business owner edits instructions or switches a capability on, then publishes. Every version stays readable, environments promote a tested version, and the spec exports as YAML for review in a pull request. Configuration can only reach what engineers registered, which keeps a no-code builder safe.

When Dify is the better fit

  • Your team thinks in flowcharts and wants a visual canvas of nodes, loops and branches. AgenticOS has no workflow canvas.
  • You need its marketplace plugins, its hybrid search with rerank, or its many observability integrations. AgenticOS has no reranker or trace dashboard yet.
  • One workspace is enough, or the Enterprise edition's terms suit you.

Compare a change, not only an answer

Use the same synthetic handbook, questions and reference checks. Record the version, model, source-processing settings and identity on each side. Then change the request owner in the source and repeat after processing.

Add two checks that show the differences above. Create a second tenant for a second team, and give an agent a budget of a few cents, then run it past the cap. Record what each product allows, refuses and logs, with the comparison method.

Frequently asked questions

Is AgenticOS an open-source alternative to Dify?

Yes. Both self-host and both handle document retrieval. AgenticOS is Apache-2.0 with no multi-tenant or logo conditions, and it includes SSO, roles, budgets, approvals and a tamper-evident audit log without an enterprise edition.

Can Dify run as a multi-tenant service?

Dify's licence requires written permission to operate a multi-tenant environment, where one tenant is one workspace. AgenticOS serves many organizations from one deployment under Apache-2.0.

Does AgenticOS have a visual workflow builder like Dify?

No. AgenticOS builds agents from instructions, capabilities, knowledge and a budget, and handles multi-step work with delegation, planning and triggers. If a node canvas is how your team works, Dify fits better.

Which one costs less to run?

Dify Community Edition and AgenticOS are both free to self-host; you pay for models and infrastructure. Dify's Enterprise features are priced by its sales team. In AgenticOS those controls are already in the open-source product.

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Sources