Dify vs Make: orchestration reach vs governance compared
Dify (open source LLM app platform: agents, RAG pipelines and workflows) and Make (visual automation with 2,000+ app integrations) go head-to-head across AiRecMark's deterministic five-dimension index — quality, features, usability, performance and value — with every score drawn from published tool archives as of 2026-09-17. Which workflow automation tool should teams standardize on?
Make Wins by +2.7 Overall Points
Make (84.7/100) leads the Airecmark five-dimension composite, taking Output Quality, Feature Depth, Performance, Value for Money. Dify (82.0/100) holds a tie on the remaining dimensions.
5-Axis Differential Engine Performance
Make takes Performance by 6.0 points (84 vs 78) on AiRecMark's deterministic five-dimension index.
Make takes Value for Money by 4.0 points (88 vs 84) on AiRecMark's deterministic five-dimension index.
Make takes Feature Depth by 2.0 points (88 vs 86) on AiRecMark's deterministic five-dimension index.
Choose Your Workflow Automation Tool by Working Style
Both tools sit near the top of the workflow automation category, but their dimension profiles and pricing models produce clearly distinct working styles.
Standardize on Dify if...
Optimized for: Teams Building RAG & Agent Apps- check_circle True open source Community Edition (Docker self-deploy): cited in the Airecmark editorial assessment as a differentiator versus Make.
- check_circle Visual Workflow Studio plus Knowledge Pipeline: cited in the Airecmark editorial assessment as a differentiator versus Make.
- check_circle BYOK after included model credits: cited in the Airecmark editorial assessment as a differentiator versus Make.
- check_circle Strongest axis — Feature Depth (86/100): its top recorded dimension, optimized for teams Building RAG & Agent Apps.
Standardize on Make if...
Optimized for: Power users automating multi-step cross-app workflows- check_circle Composite lead (84.7/100): tops the Airecmark index against Dify (82.0/100) on the archive-recorded five-dimension composite.
- check_circle Leads Output Quality (85 vs 84): a 1-point edge on the deterministic index.
- check_circle ~13x more volume per dollar vs Zapier's entry plan: cited in the Airecmark editorial assessment as a differentiator versus Dify.
- check_circle Visual builder with deep branching logic: cited in the Airecmark editorial assessment as a differentiator versus Dify.
5-Axis Benchmark Deep Dive
Dimension scores are drawn from the AiRecMark tool archives (V2-5DIM, as of 2026-09-17) on a 0-100 scale; per-axis winner calls use the higher dimension score with deterministic tie handling.
Output Quality
Accuracy, depth and reliability of primary outputsDify posts 84 / 100 on Output Quality. The audit highlights true open source Community Edition (Docker self-deploy) and visual Workflow Studio plus Knowledge Pipeline as its signature strengths.
Make posts 85 / 100 on Output Quality. The audit highlights ~13x more volume per dollar vs Zapier's entry plan and visual builder with deep branching logic as its signature strengths.
Feature Depth
Breadth, maturity and extensibility of the capability setDify posts 86 / 100 on Feature Depth. The audit highlights true open source Community Edition (Docker self-deploy) and visual Workflow Studio plus Knowledge Pipeline as its signature strengths.
Make posts 88 / 100 on Feature Depth. The audit highlights ~13x more volume per dollar vs Zapier's entry plan and visual builder with deep branching logic as its signature strengths.
Usability
Onboarding, interface clarity and daily ergonomicsDify posts 76 / 100 on Usability. The audit highlights true open source Community Edition (Docker self-deploy) and visual Workflow Studio plus Knowledge Pipeline as its signature strengths.
Make posts 76 / 100 on Usability. The audit highlights ~13x more volume per dollar vs Zapier's entry plan and visual builder with deep branching logic as its signature strengths.
Performance
Speed, stability and consistency under production loadDify posts 78 / 100 on Performance. The audit highlights true open source Community Edition (Docker self-deploy) and visual Workflow Studio plus Knowledge Pipeline as its signature strengths.
Make posts 84 / 100 on Performance. The audit highlights ~13x more volume per dollar vs Zapier's entry plan and visual builder with deep branching logic as its signature strengths.
Value for Money
Pricing fairness relative to delivered capabilityDify posts 84 / 100 on Value for Money. Published entry pricing: Sandbox free (200 credits) · Professional $590/workspace/yr · Team $1,590/yr · Community self-host free.
Make posts 88 / 100 on Value for Money. Published entry pricing: Core $12 / mo (10k credits) · Free 1k credits.
Exhaustive Technical Specification Diff
| Capability / Specification | Dify ($590/yr) | Make ($12/mo) | Deterministic Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Overall AirecMark Score
Composite of the five recorded dimensions
|
82.0 / 100 | 84.7 / 100 | Make (Composite lead) |
|
Output Quality
Accuracy, depth and reliability of primary outputs
|
84 / 100 | 85 / 100 | Make (+1 pts) |
|
Feature Depth
Breadth, maturity and extensibility of the capability set
|
86 / 100 | 88 / 100 | Make (+2 pts) |
|
Usability
Onboarding, interface clarity and daily ergonomics
|
76 / 100 | 76 / 100 | Tie (Identical score) |
|
Performance
Speed, stability and consistency under production load
|
78 / 100 | 84 / 100 | Make (+6 pts) |
|
Value for Money
Pricing fairness relative to delivered capability
|
84 / 100 | 88 / 100 | Make (+4 pts) |
|
Starting Price
Published entry pricing (USD)
|
Sandbox free (200 credits) · Professional $590/workspace/yr · Team $1,590/yr · Community self-host free | Core $12 / mo (10k credits) · Free 1k credits | Tie (Different pricing models) |
|
Best For
Documented target audience
|
Teams Building RAG & Agent Apps | Power users automating multi-step cross-app workflows | Tie (Use-case dependent) |
Migration Playbook: Switching Without Friction
Swapping a daily driver mid-project is costly. Follow this three-step checklist to evaluate Dify and Make on equal terms before standardizing your team.
Export Config, Prompts & Data
Inventory what each candidate needs: prompt libraries, templates, connected accounts and project files. Export from your current stack first so Dify and Make start from the same baseline.
Map Pricing to Your Real Usage
Compare published entry tiers against your expected volume. Dify starts at $590/yr (freemium); Make starts at $12/mo (freemium) — model the monthly cost at your actual workload before committing.
Run a Two-Week Parallel Trial
Run both tools on the same live tasks for ten working days. Score outputs against the five Airecmark dimensions, then let the 2.7-point composite gap — not vendor marketing — decide the standardization call.
Deterministic Evaluation Methodology & Integrity Standard
AiRecMark evaluates every tool against its deterministic five-dimension index (Quality, Features, Usability, Performance, Value) using official documentation, published pricing pages and the published five-dimension rubric. All scores, deltas and winner calls in this dossier are drawn from the published tool archives as of 2026-09-17 and can be traced back to the public tool profiles.
Affiliate Blind Trust Policy: Any referral commissions or partner links generated through AiRecMark are routed into a blind trust utilized exclusively to fund bare-metal compute benchmarks. Zero sponsored placement or ranking distortion is permitted under any circumstances.
Related Head-to-Head Comparisons
Make vs Dify: Governed automation vs flexible canvases
Make vs Dify: governed automation vs flexible canvases
Activepieces vs Dify: no-code workflows vs developer-grade pipelines
2-tool head-to-head with archive-derived scores.
AI Workflow Automation Tools With Free Tier (2026 Roundup)
8-tool head-to-head with archive-derived scores.
Airtable AI vs Dify: which automation tool earns the ops seat
2-tool head-to-head with archive-derived scores.
AiRecMark Tool Rankings
Deterministic leaderboards across archive-recorded AI tools in eight categories.