Kortix vs Dify, and the open source platform you own
Dify is an open-source platform for building agentic workflows and RAG pipelines on a visual canvas. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, skills, memory and connectors in one git repo you own, running on real cloud computers. One is a canvas you draw; the other is a workforce you own.
Two open source approaches to AI work
Dify builds workflows on a canvas. Kortix runs an agent workforce on cloud computers.
| Criteria | Our recommendationKortix | Dify |
|---|---|---|
| 01What it is | An open-source AI Operating System for agents that finish work. | A visual platform for building agentic workflows and RAG pipelines. |
| 02Open source | YesYes. The open-source AI Operating System. | Yes. Dify documents itself as open source. |
| 03How the work runs | Agents run sessions on cloud computers and finish real work. | You build workflows and agents on a visual canvas. |
| 04Where it runs | Kortix Cloud, your VPC, or your own on-prem network. | Dify Cloud, VPC, or the self-hosted Community Edition. |
| 05Who owns the config | You. Agents, skills, memory and triggers are files in your repo. | The workspace in Dify Cloud, or your infrastructure when self-hosted. |
| 06Model choice | Any provider with your own keys, or your ChatGPT plan. | Hundreds of proprietary and open-weight LLMs, or your own key. |
Both columns state what each project documents on its own site or repository, checked October 2026.
Canvas-building vs running a workforce you own
Dify gives you a visual canvas for agentic workflows and RAG pipelines. You drag nodes, wire a model to a knowledge base, test the flow, and publish it as an app or an API. It is a strong fit when the job is a pipeline you can draw: retrieval, a prompt, a branching decision, an output.
Kortix answers a different question. It is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory and every connector live in one git repo you own, and each session runs on its own cloud computer. You define an agent in markdown, give it a job, and it works across your connected tools. What it produces lands as a change request a person reviews.
The difference shows up in what you keep. In Dify Cloud, the workspace holds the apps, workflows and knowledge bases. In Kortix, the configuration is plain files in your repo (checked October 2026):
# kortix.yamlagents: support-triage: file: agents/support-triage.md connectors: alltriggers: - slug: daily-digest type: cron cron: '0 0 9 * * 1-5'That file is the company. grep it, diff it, roll it back, and run thousands of sessions from it. Both projects are open source, and both self-host. The choice is whether you want to draw flows on a canvas or run a workforce you own from a repo. For the longer argument, read the Kortix blog.
Questions Dify evaluators ask
- 01
Is Dify open source?
Yes. Dify documents itself as an open-source platform for building AI applications, and it ships a self-hosted Community Edition. Kortix is open source too.
- 02
Can Kortix build the same visual workflows Dify does?
Kortix takes another route: it runs agents rather than a node canvas. You describe an agent and its tools in markdown and kortix.yaml, and it works across your connectors. Dify fits when the job is a fixed flowchart you want to draw.
- 03
Can I self-host both?
Yes. Dify ships a Community Edition you deploy with Docker Compose. Kortix self-hosts with kortix self-host start, and self-host is free.
- 04
What does Kortix add over Dify?
Agents that run on their own cloud computers and return finished work, with the configuration, skills, memory and connectors in one git repo you own, landing as a change request a person approves.
- 05
Which should I choose?
Choose Dify when you want a visual builder for workflows and RAG. Choose Kortix when you want an open-source AI Operating System you own.
Run an agent workforce you own
One repo, any model, self-host or managed cloud.
Open source · Any model, your keys · Self-host, VPC, or on-prem