is it really FOSS?

Dify

Agentic workflow development platform

Nope!
Not FOSS but there are FOSS related licensing, marketing, or transparency issues.

Details

The project is provided under a custom license based on Apache 2.0, which sets limitations on use and modification. The license is titled “Open Source License”. The license also states:

The interactive design of this product is protected by appearance patent.

The project advertises itself as open source in its docs, on it’s blog and within its project readme.

When raised as an issue on GitHub, their repo bot confirmed their misleading use of “open source” but the issue was then closed off. It was raised again, which did get a response indicating a desire to make changes while asking for feedback, but the issue was closed off the same day.

The project appears to have raised at least $2.5m from investors which include Alibaba Cloud. It also seems to generate revenue from a partner marketplace, paid versions of the software, and from providing the software as a service.

Details last reviewed 2025-06-11. Mistakes or outdated information? Let us know by opening an issue on Codeberg.