Activepieces vs Dify vs Windmill

Side by side, as alternatives to Zapier. Rows that differ are highlighted; the strongest value in a row is marked. Unknown means no source yet.

Activepiecesactivepieces/activepieces

Difylanggenius/dify

Windmillwindmill-labs/windmill

Zapierpaid product

Cost and coverage

Price

$0 software; you run it

Free (100 tasks per month, two-step Zaps); Professional from $19.99/month; Team from $69/month source ↗

App-to-app workflows

Partly

Yes

Scheduled automations

Partly

Yes

AI agent workflows

Partly

Yes

Webhooks

Partly

Yes

Jobs covered

4 of 4 jobs

3 of 4 jobs

All 4

Popularity and activity (from GitHub)

Stars

25,165

159,161Top

18,241

—

Gain this week

104Top

Unknown

—

Signal

Building history

—

Commits / 4 wk

496

775Top

651

—

Latest release

0.92.3 · 2026-10-12

1.17.1 · 2026-09-10

v1.846.1 · 2026-10-21Top

—

Commits / 12 wk

1,316

2,560

1,979

—

People committing / 12 mo

177+

253+

66+

—

Issues opened / closed, 30 days

108 / 81

392 / 319

45 / 26

—

Facts, with sources on each project page

Runs on my machine?Differs

Self-hosted with Docker; Activepieces Cloud also offered

Self-hosted with Docker Compose on your machine or server; Dify Cloud also offered

Self-hosted with Docker Compose or Kubernetes; Windmill cloud also offered

Hosted by the vendor

Code licenceDiffers

MIT (Community Edition); packages/ee and server ee directories under a commercial licence

Dify Open Source License: Apache 2.0 with extra conditions (no multi-tenant service without permission; keep the logo and copyright in the frontend); not an OSI licence

AGPLv3 (clients and OpenFlow spec Apache-2.0); enterprise code proprietary

—

Model weights licenceDiffers

No model weights

No separate model weights

No model weights

—

Commercial useDiffers

Yes for the MIT Community Edition; enterprise features need a paid licence

Commercial use allowed, but a multi-tenant service needs written permission and the web frontend's logo and copyright may not be removed

Free for internal use; reselling, managed service or embedding in a product needs AGPL compliance or a commercial licence

—

Paid services needed?Differs

None required; enterprise licence and Activepieces Cloud are optional

Not required with local models via the Ollama plugin; cloud model APIs, Dify Cloud and Dify Enterprise are optional

None required; Enterprise Edition and Windmill cloud are optional

Subscription

HardwareDiffers

Production sizing: app 1 vCPU / 1 GB per ten workers; each worker 0.5 vCPU / 1 GB; Postgres 2 vCPU / 4 GB; Redis 1 vCPU / 1 GB

Minimum 2 CPU cores and 4 GiB RAM; on macOS the docs ask for a Docker VM with 2 vCPUs and 8 GiB

Rule of thumb 1 vCPU and 1-2 GB RAM per worker, plus Postgres

—

Operating systemsDiffers

Docker or Kubernetes (Helm); host operating systems not listed

Docker on Linux, macOS 10.14+ and Windows (with WSL 2)

Docker on macOS, Windows and Linux; native Windows workers supported

—

Setup effortDiffers

Medium, install script or a single docker run with embedded database

Medium; clone the repo, copy .env and run docker compose up

Medium, Docker Compose (three files) with Postgres

—

Stars over time

Switch to Growth % to compare projects of different sizes fairly.

Activepieces
Dify
Windmill

Focus a point, use arrow keys, or tap for its value.

Tracked daily since 15 Oct 2026. Dashed history: estimated from public records of when people starred the repo. Lines connect observations only; gaps contain no measured points.

Growth % starts at each project's first observed point in the shown range. Zero-star starts are unavailable.

Notes for a video or post

A plain summary with today's date and a link to the sources. Check each project page before you publish.

Activepieces vs Dify vs Windmill (as alternatives to Zapier)
Figures from RepoQuarry, 22 Oct 2026. Sources: https://repoquarry.dev/compare?ids=activepieces,dify,windmill&product=zapier

Zapier: Free (100 tasks per month, two-step Zaps); Professional from $19.99/month; Team from $69/month
Activepieces: free software; does 4 of 4 Zapier jobs
Dify: free software; does 3 of 4 Zapier jobs
Windmill: free software; does 3 of 4 Zapier jobs

- Activepieces: 25,165 GitHub stars, +104 in the last 7 days, 1,316 commits in 12 weeks, licence MIT (Community Edition); packages/ee and server ee directories under a commercial licence
- Dify: 159,161 GitHub stars, 2,560 commits in 12 weeks, licence Dify Open Source License: Apache 2.0 with extra conditions (no multi-tenant service without permission; keep the logo and copyright in the frontend); not an OSI licence
- Windmill: 18,241 GitHub stars, +49 in the last 7 days, 1,979 commits in 12 weeks, licence AGPLv3 (clients and OpenFlow spec Apache-2.0); enterprise code proprietary

Where they differ:
- Runs on my machine?: Activepieces Self-hosted with Docker; Activepieces Cloud also offered; Dify Self-hosted with Docker Compose on your machine or server; Dify Cloud also offered; Windmill Self-hosted with Docker Compose or Kubernetes; Windmill cloud also offered
- Code licence: Activepieces MIT (Community Edition); packages/ee and server ee directories under a commercial licence; Dify Dify Open Source License: Apache 2.0 with extra conditions (no multi-tenant service without permission; keep the logo and copyright in the frontend); not an OSI licence; Windmill AGPLv3 (clients and OpenFlow spec Apache-2.0); enterprise code proprietary
- Model weights licence: Activepieces No model weights; Dify No separate model weights; Windmill No model weights
- Commercial use: Activepieces Yes for the MIT Community Edition; enterprise features need a paid licence; Dify Commercial use allowed, but a multi-tenant service needs written permission and the web frontend's logo and copyright may not be removed; Windmill Free for internal use; reselling, managed service or embedding in a product needs AGPL compliance or a commercial licence
- Paid services needed?: Activepieces None required; enterprise licence and Activepieces Cloud are optional; Dify Not required with local models via the Ollama plugin; cloud model APIs, Dify Cloud and Dify Enterprise are optional; Windmill None required; Enterprise Edition and Windmill cloud are optional
- Hardware: Activepieces Production sizing: app 1 vCPU / 1 GB per ten workers; each worker 0.5 vCPU / 1 GB; Postgres 2 vCPU / 4 GB; Redis 1 vCPU / 1 GB; Dify Minimum 2 CPU cores and 4 GiB RAM; on macOS the docs ask for a Docker VM with 2 vCPUs and 8 GiB; Windmill Rule of thumb 1 vCPU and 1-2 GB RAM per worker, plus Postgres
- Operating systems: Activepieces Docker or Kubernetes (Helm); host operating systems not listed; Dify Docker on Linux, macOS 10.14+ and Windows (with WSL 2); Windmill Docker on macOS, Windows and Linux; native Windows workers supported
- Setup effort: Activepieces Medium, install script or a single docker run with embedded database; Dify Medium; clone the repo, copy .env and run docker compose up; Windmill Medium, Docker Compose (three files) with Postgres

Stars show popularity, not quality. Check each project page before publishing.

Want share images and a ready video description? Open a project's creator kit.

Numbers: GitHub, fetched nightly. Facts: read from each project's own documentation, with the source on its page. How we check. activepieces/activepieces ↗langgenius/dify ↗windmill-labs/windmill ↗

Activepieces vs Dify vs Windmill

Stars over time

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