What is the basic difference between SAFe and LeSS frameworks in Agile and when to apply them?

Just to comment, I am leading the implementation of SAFe in my current work. Before decide which framework apply we test most of them to understand which best fit in our enteprise architecture. About the differences my recommendation is going to the documentation or analysis you can find out there. At the end, if you do not test them you will not understand the diference, believe me. My last words are: if you have to scale agile then you have implemted agile in the wrong way in the begining or you are buying a silver bullet. In my case, in my actual work place, where I led the transformation to agile that took 3 years (we are in the last phase) I will not be able to convince to my people that we are buying a silver bullet, to be honest.

Great reply Sergio. Got the answer. But from your perspective is there any limit of scaling up with LeSS as compared to SAFe.

SAFe is the 300 (3000?) pound gorilla of scaled agile frameworks from a marketing perspective but is also very disruptive from a roles and practices standpoint. If your organization is willing to revolutionize things then SAFe might be the way to go.

SAFe builds on Scrum, but LeSS is much closer to Scrum as it just builds on the basic Scrum framework. It also provides a simpler model than the four (5?) patterns in SAFe. Your choice is LeSS or LeSS Huge.

As such, I'd say that if you are currently using Scrum effectively, LeSS might be a simpler evolution than SAFe but might not be the right fit for very large companies.

LeSS does have a less prescriptive approach than SAFe which is a good & bad situation from an autonomy and inconsistency perspective.

Kiron

Gaurav, an over simplified answer is that LeSS scales up and SAFe flows down.

LeSS is just Scrum applied to multiple teams working on the same product. It's very similar to Nexus, which was developed by Ken Schwaber, one of the co-creators of Scrum. If your organization is struggling with Scrum, it will struggle with LeSS. But LeSS also focuses on experimentation to adjust over time, which makes it more flexible.
https://less.works/

By contrast, SAFe is a more rigid structure with many pre-defined roles and ceremonies (depending on which version of SAFe you learn). Some organizations are more comfortable with SAFe because it feels more like a traditional organizational structure.
https://www.scaledagileframework.com/

SAFe certainly seems to be the most popular framework right now. Among the alternatives, LeSS seems to be growing in popularity. There is a lot of money involved when you talk about training and certifications, so the discussion around scaled Agile can get ugly. Sergio is exactly right, though, that different organizations will need a different fit.

There is no limit. Most of the companies choose SAFe becuase it seems more "portable" from current structures (if you have an architecture based on portfolio/program/project management) than LeSS.

Thanks Sergio for clarifying this.