Dify Cloud buys you a managed workspace. Community Edition replaces the subscription with your own server, model bill and operating work. Managed Dify hosting sits between them. The right choice depends on which responsibility you want to keep.
Dify lists the following public Cloud plans. Prices exclude applicable tax. Message credits cover selected models at different credit rates. When credits run out, Dify says you can switch to your own model-provider API key.
| Plan | Workspace price | Message credits | Members | Apps | Knowledge limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandbox | Free | 200 | 1 | 5 | 50 documents, 50 MB |
| Professional | $59 monthly or $590 yearly | 5,000 per month | 3 | 50 | 500 documents, 5 GB |
| Team | $159 monthly or $1,590 yearly | 10,000 per month | 50 | 200 | 1,000 documents, 20 GB |
Source: Dify Cloud pricing, checked 21 October 2026. Enterprise terms are not publicly priced.
Dify Community Edition does not require a Dify Cloud subscription. The official repository states a minimum of two CPU cores and 4 GiB of RAM for the Docker Compose installation. Treat that as the installation floor, not a promise about production capacity.
Your OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini or other provider usage is billed separately. A local model replaces the API bill with compute requirements.
Patching, TLS, backups, monitoring, access control and recovery move to your team unless a managed provider includes them.
Knowledge volume, concurrent workflows, database load and model placement change server demand. The minimum does not define a safe ceiling.
Sources: official Dify repository and self-hosting documentation, checked 21 October 2026.
These are not interchangeable offers. Hetzner and Hostinger sell infrastructure that you operate. Elestio sells a managed Dify service. Check the live checkout because location, tax, public IP, introductory terms and renewal terms can change the bill.
Unmanaged, minimum-sized example
Hetzner lists 2 shared vCPUs, 4 GB RAM and 40 GB NVMe. Its June 2026 price schedule lists €5.49 per month in Germany or Finland before VAT and IPv4. The resources match Dify's published installation minimum, not a production recommendation.
Official facts: CX23 resources and current price schedule.
Unmanaged, more memory
Hostinger documents 2 vCPU cores, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe and 8 TB bandwidth for KVM 2. The public offer uses an introductory monthly equivalent with a higher renewal rate and an upfront term. Compare the total contract price, not only the first displayed monthly number.
Official facts: live VPS offer and VPS resource limits.
Managed dedicated instance
Elestio advertises managed Dify from $16 per month and says the service includes automated backups, SSL, updates and monitoring. Those are vendor claims about the managed service, not independent performance results.
Official facts: managed Dify service and Dify plan details.
Affiliate disclosure: the three provider buttons are commercial links. We may receive compensation after a qualifying action. The linked official sources are non-commercial evidence links.
Cloud credits and external model bills are different things. Self-hosting Dify does not include third-party model usage.
Hetzner's cited price excludes VAT and IPv4. Hostinger's displayed monthly equivalent depends on an upfront term and has a separate renewal price.
A backup product or snapshot is not a recovery plan. Include storage, retention and a tested restore path in any self-hosted comparison.
Cloud and managed hosting price some operating work into the service. An unmanaged VPS leaves patching, alert handling and incident recovery with you.
| Choose | When it fits | What to verify first |
|---|---|---|
| Dify Cloud | You want Dify to operate the workspace and its included quotas fit. | Member, app, storage, document and credit limits. |
| Unmanaged VPS | Your team can own deployment, security, monitoring and recovery. | Resources, tax, IP charges, backup design and model bill. |
| Managed Dify | You want a dedicated instance with routine operations included. | Included support, backup retention, update policy and region. |
For installation responsibilities, continue with the self-hosting decision guide. For a broader provider shortlist, use the Dify hosting comparison.
Yes. Dify Cloud has a free Sandbox plan with 200 message credits, one team member, five apps, 50 knowledge documents and 50 MB of knowledge storage. Dify also provides a Community Edition that can be self-hosted without a Dify Cloud subscription. Infrastructure and model usage remain separate costs.
Dify lists Professional at $59 per workspace per month or $590 per year, and Team at $159 per workspace per month or $1,590 per year. Taxes can be added at checkout. Enterprise pricing requires a sales conversation.
The official Dify repository states a minimum of two CPU cores and 4 GiB of RAM for the Docker Compose installation. That is an installation floor, not a production sizing guarantee. Workload, knowledge storage, concurrency and the model provider determine the capacity you need.
It can have a lower infrastructure bill, but the comparison depends on operator time, backups, storage, public IP charges, taxes, contract terms and model usage. Self-hosting moves those responsibilities to you. It does not remove them.
