Open source is the reason ComfyUI exists. Comfy started as an open-source project, and millions of people use it for free because of that. This month, Comfy is putting money behind that idea with Open Source Higgsfield: 25,000 USD in prizes for the best open-source apps built with ComfyUI. We are entering, and on Wednesday 28 October, Adrien will be at the Build Night in San Francisco. Here is what the contest asks, what you can win, and why it matters if you work in VFX.
🧩 What the Open Source Higgsfield contest asks
In Comfy's words, Higgsfield said it would open-source its platform, so the community will help. The brief: build a working app that makes a recognizable effect easy for someone else to create. Rebuild an app you like, such as Genjutsu or Cinema Studio, or invent a new one.
The rules, as Comfy's page states them:
- Built with ComfyUI, run as you like: entirely local, on Comfy Cloud, the Developer Platform, Comfy Router, the Comfy SDK, or any mix of them.
- Open source: your repository needs an open-source licence and enough setup detail for someone else to run it on their own machine.
- Other tools are welcome: any other model or technique you combine with ComfyUI must be explained in your demo video.
- Safe and licensed: lawful, safe for work, with no unlicensed IP or likenesses. One submission per person.
What you submit, by Friday 30 October at 9:00 AM PT: the repository (app code, workflow files, licence and local run instructions), a demo video of 2 minutes at most, an optional link to try the app, and a social post that links your demo video on Reddit, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube or TikTok, tagged #OpenSourceHiggsfield. Comfy judges the work, not the video editing: the best demo shows the app working and explains how it was built. The first 200 signups get free credits.
🏆 Prizes and bonuses
- Best Overall: 10,000 USD. Every entry is considered.
- Most Innovative, Most Viral and Open Weights Only: a GeForce RTX 5090 each. Open Weights Only means open-weights models, with no partner nodes or closed-source APIs.
- Ten runners-up: 250 USD in Comfy credits each.
- Model bonuses: 2,000 USD cash for a VFX workflow with LTX as its core video model; 1,000, 500 or 250 USD in FLUX API credits with FLUX 3 as the core model; 1,000 USD in API credits with MiniMax H3 as the core model.
Winners are announced on 6 November and featured on comfy.org/hub, with credit.
🛠️ Why it matters for VFX artists
Many creative AI features sit behind a subscription, on servers you don't control. An open rebuild runs on your own GPU or on a cloud GPU you rent, and you can read it, change it and plug it into a pipeline. For a studio, that also means the footage stays on its own machines. That is how most of ComfyUI grew: custom nodes, LoRAs and workflows that people share for free.
We try to give back the same way. We co-developed the SeedVR2 custom node with NumZ before ComfyUI added native support, and we publish ainvfx-runpod, our open-source toolkit to run ComfyUI on Runpod. For this contest, we are building an app for VFX work on open weights only: no partner nodes and no closed APIs.
📍 The San Francisco Build Night at Frontier Tower
The Build Night runs on Wednesday 28 October, from 3:00 to 10:00 PM PT, at Frontier Tower, hosted by the Comfy team:
- 3:00 to 7:00 PM: build time, with the Comfy team on hand for questions.
- 7:00 to 7:30 PM: presentations from ComfyUI and Runpod.
- 7:30 to 8:30 PM: demos of your work.
- 8:30 to 10:00 PM: open networking.
Attendance is free: register on Luma, which shows the exact address once you are registered, and bring your laptop. A second Build Night runs in Los Angeles on Thursday 29 October, with AI On The Lot.
🤝 Build, then share
You don't need to win to make this worthwhile. Pick an app, build it in the open, and share what you learn: publish the workflow, tag #OpenSourceHiggsfield, and post it where the open-source AI community gathers, such as Banodoco or our own Discord. New to ComfyUI? Part 1 of our masterclass, available as a recording, covers the installation and your first workflows.
If you are in San Francisco on Wednesday, come and find Adrien at the Build Night. Come build with us!
❓ Questions about the contest
Do I have to attend a Build Night to enter? No. The online competition and the Build Nights are separate: you enter through Comfy's submission form, and you register for a Build Night on Luma.
Is the San Francisco Build Night free? Yes. You register on Luma; it shows no fee, and the address appears after you register.
Can I use closed or partner models? Yes, everywhere except the Open Weights Only category, which takes open-weights models only.
When is the deadline? Friday 30 October at 9:00 AM PT. Winners are announced on 6 November.
🔗 Sources & Links
🏆 The contest:
- Open Source Higgsfield (Comfy)
- Sign up • Submit your entry
- Comfy's announcement
- San Francisco Build Night on Luma • Los Angeles Build Night on Luma