No vendor lock-in. By design.
Four layers of portability — models, infrastructure, agent format, and source code. Leave whenever you want, with everything you built.
Portability, all the way down.
Any model (BYOM)
Bring your own keys for Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT), Google (Gemini), or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Run local models via Ollama, llama.cpp, or vLLM. Switch providers per-agent or per-run. No proprietary wrapper, no rate-limited resale.
Any infrastructure
The same binaries run on Appstrate Cloud, on your Kubernetes cluster, on a single VM via docker-compose, or fully air-gapped on-prem. No cloud-only features. Migrate in either direction via the export API.
Open standard (AFPS)
Agents are AFPS packages — a manifest and a prompt, nothing more. The format is a public specification, not a platform feature. Anyone can build an AFPS-compliant runtime. See the spec →
Open source (Apache 2.0)
The entire platform is Apache 2.0. Fork it, audit it, patch it, run it. No contributor license-grab, no source-available tricks. GitHub repo →
The matrix.
Facts, not FUD. Every vendor listed here is a legitimate tool — this is about portability, not quality.
| Dimension | Appstrate | Zapier | Make | Dify | n8n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any model (BYOM) | Claude, GPT, Llama, local via Ollama. BYOK. | Built-in AI only, no model choice. | Integrated LLM steps, no BYOM. | Multi-provider model support. | LangChain nodes, any provider. |
| Any infrastructure | Cloud, self-host, on-prem, air-gapped — same binaries. | Hosted SaaS only. | Hosted SaaS only. | Docker self-host available. | Docker self-host available. |
| Open standard for agents | AFPS — manifest + prompt, portable across runtimes. | Proprietary Zap format. | Proprietary scenario format. | Open source, but app format is Dify-specific. | Workflow JSON is open but n8n-specific. |
| Open source license | Apache 2.0. | Closed source. | Closed source. | Open source (modified Apache 2.0). | Sustainable Use License (fair-code, not OSI). |
Legend: yes · partial · no
The exit strategy, in plain steps.
1. Export via API. A single endpoint dumps your applications, end-users, agents, credentials (encrypted), and run history as JSON. No sales calls, no CSV limits. It is your data, fetched by you.
2. Take your agents anywhere. Each agent exports as an AFPS package — a manifest.json and a prompt.md. Run them on any AFPS-compliant runtime, including your own.
3. Run the same binaries elsewhere. Because Appstrate Cloud and self-host share the same code, you can keep your agents running identically on your own infrastructure — no rewrite, no vendor adapter.
4. Keep the source. Even without Appstrate the company, the platform is Apache 2.0. You can patch it, ship it, or hand it to a different maintainer. The software outlives the vendor.
Portability is not a feature. It's the foundation.
Self-host in 2 minutes — or read the AFPS spec and decide for yourself.