The short answer
Choose Dify if you want a well-known platform with a public Community Edition you can install today. Consider Hivelock if built-in approvals and tenant isolation matter most, and you are comfortable with early access.
Side-by-side comparison
| Area | Hivelock | Dify |
|---|---|---|
| Main focus | Controlled AI agents and workflows | An LLM app development platform |
| Status | Early access | Established open-source project |
| Builder | Visual workflow canvas and agent drafts | Visual canvas, plus APIs |
| Self-hosting | Yes, with a free Community edition on GitHub | Yes, Community Edition through Docker Compose |
| Licence | Open source, AGPL-3.0, with a commercial option | Modified Apache 2.0, with added conditions |
| Multi-tenant use | Hosted mode is built for many customers | Needs Dify written permission |
| Single sign-on | OpenID Connect, with SAML through Keycloak | Enterprise |
| Human approval | Built in. Changes in chat wait for a person | Not stated on the pages we checked |
| Models | Any OpenAI-compatible model, and local models when self-hosted | Hundreds of proprietary and open-source models, plus self-hosted options |
Details checked on 6 November 2026 against Dify on GitHub, its licence, pricing. "Not stated" means we did not find it on those pages. Products change, so confirm details with the vendor.
Where Dify is stronger
- You can install the Community Edition from a public repository today.
- It has an established project and a plugin marketplace.
- It has published cloud plans.
Where Hivelock is focused
- Agents use only chosen actions, and changes in chat wait for a person.
- Row-level security separates workspaces in the database.
- Each workspace has its own encryption key for secrets and run data.
- The audit log is hash-chained.
Common questions
Can I run Dify for several customers?
Dify's licence says you need its written permission to operate a multi-tenant environment. A tenant is one workspace. Check the licence for your case.
Is Hivelock open source?
Yes. The Community edition is open source under AGPL-3.0, with a commercial licence for paid editions. The code is on GitHub.
Compare with your own process.
Tell us what you want to automate. Get early access.