AllAddin vs Dynamo for Revit
Dynamo and AllAddin both let you do things in Revit without writing Revit add-in C# from scratch. They go about it very differently. Dynamo gives you a visual programming canvas; AllAddin generates code from plain-language requests. The right tool depends on what you are trying to do.
What each one is
Dynamo
Visual programming environment shipped by Autodesk inside Revit. You wire up nodes - "Select All Walls", "Get Parameter", "Set Parameter" - into a graph. The graph runs against the active document. There is a community of node packages and a rich library of example graphs.
You design the graph. You debug the graph. The graph is the artefact - it lives in a .dyn file you save and share.
AllAddin
AI cooperator agent that lives inside Revit as a chat panel. You ask in plain language ("set the fire rating on every door on Level 02 to 60 minutes"); AllAddin writes IronPython or C# code, runs it inside a Revit transaction, and reports what changed.
The code is the artefact, but you do not write it. You can save successful patterns as ribbon buttons via the Tool Creator without ever looking at the code.
When Dynamo is the right answer
Dynamo wins when the work is a repeatable graph that you want to share, version, and version-control. A complex parametric facade. A panelisation routine that needs to be auditable by another BIM developer. A graph that runs as part of a stage-gate review. The graph is the deliverable, not just the result of the graph.
Dynamo also wins when you have an existing investment in node packages (LunchBox, archi-lab, Bumblebee) and a team that has learned to read graphs.
When AllAddin is the right answer
AllAddin wins when the work is a one-off operation you want done now, or a recurring task you want to describe rather than wire up. "Tag every door on this sheet with its fire rating, but skip the doors hosted in walls without ratings, then export the schedule" - a 30-line ask, done in one chat exchange, optionally saved as a one-click ribbon button for next time.
AllAddin also wins when no one on the team is fluent in Dynamo graphs. Plain language is a lower-friction interface than visual programming for ad-hoc tasks.
They are not mutually exclusive
Both can live on the same machine. A Revit user can fire up Dynamo for the parametric facade and AllAddin for the tagging-and-export sweep, in the same session. AllAddin does not replace Dynamo; it sits at a different point in the workflow.
Where Dynamo is stronger
Reproducibility. Sharing. Audit. Anything where another human needs to read what was done. A Dynamo graph is a document; a chat transcript is a footprint.
Where AllAddin is stronger
Time-to-result on a novel task. The fastest path from "I need to do X" to "X is done" when X is not already in your node library. Also: discipline-aware code generation (the agent knows MEP from structure from architecture) and automated retry on failure.