Open source AI agent platform comparison
Compare what decides a switch before you commit: what each tool is, open source status, models, where agents run, self-hosting, where your configuration lives, governance, and price to start. Kortix, the open-source AI Operating System, takes the first column; CrewAI, Dify, and n8n follow, with their facts drawn from their own pages.
Open source AI agent platforms, compared
Eight facts that decide a switch, drawn from each vendor's own pages.
| Feature | Open sourceKortix | CrewAI | Dify | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | The open-source AI Operating System | Open-source agent framework | Visual builder for agentic workflows | AI workflow automation platform |
| Open source | Open source. Read it, fork it, audit it. | Yes, built in the open | Community edition; their site also says source-available | Fair-code per their repo, not open source |
| Models | Any model provider with your own keys. | You set the LLM per agent | OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, xAI, Tongyi in Dify | AI models without API keys on Starter |
| Where it runs | Kortix Cloud, your VPC, or your own on-prem network. | Wherever you run your code | Their cloud, your VPC, or self-hosted | Self-hosted or their cloud |
| Self-host | Self-host is free. | You host the runtime yourself | Community edition, self-deploys with Docker | Community Edition self-hosts from GitHub |
| Your configuration | Files in a git repo you own | In YAML, code, or both | In their visual workspace | In their visual canvas |
| Governance | Per-resource permissions for people and agents. Roles, groups, and an audit trail. | SSO, RBAC, and policies on Enterprise | SSO, SAML, RBAC, audit logs on Enterprise | SSO and LDAP on Business |
| Price to start | Free is $0 with 200 credits per month and 1 project. | Free plan; 50 workflow executions a month | Free cloud Sandbox; free community edition | Starter $20 a month, billed yearly |
Prices and plans come from each vendor's own pages, checked October 2026. Kortix facts come from its README, docs, and pricing page.
What each platform is
An AI agent platform is software that runs AI agents for you: the agents plan steps, call tools, and return finished work. The comparison chart on this page covers four of them. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: agents, skills, company memory, and connectors live in one git repo you own, and each session runs on its own cloud computer. CrewAI is an open-source agent framework you install and drive from your own code. Dify is a visual platform for building agentic workflows and knowledge pipelines on one collaborative workspace. n8n is a workflow automation platform that combines AI capabilities with business process automation. Around them sit Dust, a hosted service where teams create, share, and run agents together; OpenHands, an open platform for agentic software development; and Budibase, an open-source internal-tools builder that now runs agents. The community-maintained Awesome AI Agents list on GitHub indexes many more.
Open source, in their own words
Read each vendor's own claim, because the phrase carries a different weight per product. Kortix is open source: the code is public on GitHub with 20,000+ stars, and the README invites you to read it, fork it, and audit it. CrewAI describes its framework as built in the open and publishes it for anyone to install. Dify labels its Community Edition open-source in its site navigation and source-available on its homepage; both words are theirs, and the repository's terms are worth a read before you build on it. n8n's own repository calls the project fair-code rather than open source, and its pricing page points to a standard self-hosted Community Edition. Budibase states plainly that it is open source. OpenHands calls itself open source at the core. Dust presents itself as a hosted service and makes no open-source claim on its site.
Models: whose keys, whose bill
Model access decides your bill and who controls it. Kortix takes any model provider with your own keys, or the ChatGPT plan you already pay for, and you can pick the model per agent, per session, or per message. CrewAI lets you set the LLM per agent. Dify's cloud plans include message credits for models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, xAI, and Tongyi, and you can switch to your own API key when they run out. n8n's Starter plan includes AI models without API keys. Dust includes 20+ models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, and DeepSeek on every plan, with the model chosen per agent. OpenHands runs closed models and open weights like Kimi, DeepSeek, and Qwen.
Where the agents run
An agent that answers in a browser tab differs from one that works on a real machine. Kortix gives every session its own isolated sandbox on its own branch, and thousands of agents can run in parallel on one config. CrewAI's agents run wherever you run your code. Dify deploys on their cloud, in your VPC, or self-hosted. n8n runs self-hosted or in their cloud. Dust runs in their cloud, with single-tenant deployment as an Enterprise arrangement. OpenHands starts on your laptop and scales to the cloud or an enterprise VPC.
Self-hosting, in practice
Self-hosting is where ownership stops being a slogan. Kortix self-host is free: kortix self-host start brings up a production-style instance from Docker images on a laptop, a VPS, your own VPC, or your own on-prem network. Dify's Community Edition self-deploys with Docker, while enterprise-scale self-hosting belongs to the paid Enterprise tier. n8n publishes a standard self-hosted Community Edition on GitHub. CrewAI ships as a framework, so hosting is whatever you deploy it in. Dust offers no self-host path on its site; its single-tenant deployment is a managed Enterprise option. Budibase is open source and self-hosts, or runs on their cloud. The self-hosting guide on this site walks through the setup steps.
Where your configuration lives
This dimension outlasts the others, because it decides what you own a year from now. Kortix keeps agents, skills, memory, connector config, and triggers as text files in one git repo, not settings in someone else's database, so you can diff a change, roll it back, or grep the whole company. CrewAI defines agents in YAML, code, or both, inside your repo. Dify holds its configuration in its visual workspace. n8n holds workflows in its visual canvas. Configuration held in a vendor's app does not travel as files; you rebuild it there, or export whatever their tooling allows. A trigger in Kortix looks like this:
# kortix.yamltriggers: - slug: daily-digest type: cron cron: '0 0 9 * * 1-5' prompt: Summarize yesterday's support tickets and open a change request with the digest.Governance: who can act, and who can see it
Governance decides who can do what, and who can see what happened. Kortix ships per-resource permissions for people and agents, roles, groups, and an audit trail, with approval gates you set that stay off until you set them and a merge that is default-deny for agents. CrewAI puts SSO, RBAC, workload identity, PII redaction, and policies in its Enterprise plan. Dify's SSO, SAML, RBAC, and audit logs are Enterprise features. n8n adds SSO and LDAP from its Business plan upward. Dust reserves SCIM, audit logs, and admin-gated overrides for Enterprise. OpenHands lists access definitions and auditing in its Enterprise tier, and Budibase lists custom RBAC, SSO, SAML, and audit logs. Weigh what each tier includes before the governance question becomes urgent.
What it costs to start
Entry prices set the shape of the later bill, so read the units. Kortix's Free plan is $0 with 200 credits per month and 1 project, and the team plan is $40 per seat per month with 2,500 credits per month per seat, pooled. CrewAI's Free plan includes 50 workflow executions a month, with Enterprise priced custom. Dify's cloud Sandbox is free with 200 message credits, its Community Edition is free to self-host, and its paid cloud plans price per workspace. n8n's Starter plan is $20 a month billed annually. Dust starts free with 500 lifetime credits, then Pro seats at $24 a month billed yearly or $30 monthly. OpenHands is free to download and self-host, with a hosted cloud beside it. All prices were checked in October 2026.
If the chart narrows your field to two, the open source AI agent platforms guide on this site covers integrations and day-two operations, and the self-hosting guide covers installation. Kortix keeps a running guide to the category on its blog.
Questions about the comparison
Yes. CrewAI's own site calls it an open-source agent framework that you install and build on. The company also runs a hosted platform with a free tier and a custom-priced Enterprise plan on top of the framework.
Three of the four chart platforms ship a self-host path. Kortix starts one stack with kortix self-host start, Dify's Community Edition self-deploys with Docker, and n8n publishes a standard self-hosted Community Edition. Dust runs as their hosted service, with single-tenant deployment reserved for Enterprise.
Yes. n8n gates SSO and LDAP behind its Business plan, Dify and CrewAI put SSO, RBAC, and audit features in their Enterprise tiers, and Dust reserves SCIM and audit logs for Enterprise. Kortix sets per-resource permissions for people and agents, with roles, groups, and an audit trail in the product; the per-session audit view follows the plan.
Start with Kortix when you want the work layer itself open source and owned: one git repo holding agents, skills, memory, and connectors, any model on your own keys, and self-host free or managed cloud from $0. CrewAI fits when the job is code you write yourself, Dify when a visual builder suits the team, and n8n for fixed, repeatable automations.