LangGraph vs Dify
Both are alternatives to OpenAI AgentKit. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Dify vs LangGraph — same comparison, one verdict.
LangGraph
TOP PICKAgents as an explicit state graph — the closest thing to what you are leaving.
LangGraph models an agent as a graph of nodes with explicit state, checkpointing and human-in-the-loop interrupts, which is very nearly the mental model Agent Builder gave you — with the difference that the graph is code in your repository. It is the most battle-tested option for production agents that must survive restarts, resume mid-run and be inspected when they go wrong. MIT-licensed, roughly 38.5k GitHub stars and pushed to daily as of 2026-07-30. LangGraph Platform is a paid hosted deployment tier, but the framework itself is complete without it — the distinction is worth checking before you build on anything you assume is free.
Dify
The visual builder AgentKit was — but read the licence before you commit.
Dify is the closest replacement for Agent Builder specifically: a visual canvas for wiring prompts, tools, retrieval and branching, with a hosted-app layer on top, so a team that liked drawing the workflow does not have to start writing graphs in Python. It is by far the most-starred project in this comparison at around 150.8k. One important correction to how it is usually described. Dify is very widely listed as open source, and its own licence file is headed "Open Source License", but the text is a modified Apache-2.0 with two additional conditions: you may not use the source to operate a multi-tenant service without written authorisation, and you may not remove or alter Dify's logo and copyright notices in the frontend. Those restrictions mean it does not meet the Open Source Definition. It is source-available. For most internal use that changes nothing; if you intend to build a product for your own customers on top of it, it changes everything, and it is exactly the clause people discover late.
Side by side
| LangGraph | Dify | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 92 | 72 |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | Modified Apache-2.0 (source-available, not OSI open source) |
| Pricing | Free and open source. LangGraph Platform is an optional paid hosted tier. | Free to self-host within the licence terms. Dify Cloud and a commercial licence are paid. |
LangGraph is Macrostack's recommended OpenAI AgentKit alternative, so it's our pick here.
LangGraph
Strengths
- +Explicit state graph maps closely onto what Agent Builder did
- +Checkpointing and resumable runs — genuinely production-grade
- +Human-in-the-loop interrupts are a first-class feature, not a workaround
- +MIT and in your repository: nobody can announce a sunset date for it
Trade-offs
- −Steepest learning curve here — you are writing the graph, not drawing it
- −Carries LangChain ecosystem conventions whether or not you want them
- −Verbose for simple agents that only need a loop and two tools
- −The hosted platform is where the operational conveniences live
Dify
Strengths
- +The nearest thing to Agent Builder's visual canvas — smallest conceptual jump
- +Self-hostable, with retrieval, tools and app hosting in one product
- +Enormous community and the most stars of anything in this comparison
- +Non-engineers can read and change the workflow, which is rare here
Trade-offs
- −Not open source despite near-universal description as such — multi-tenant use needs a commercial licence
- −Branding and logo may not be removed from the frontend
- −Visual workflows are harder to review, diff and version than code
- −Single-vendor control, and the licence explicitly reserves the right to tighten
More OpenAI AgentKit head-to-heads
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Facts verified 2026-07-30. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.