head to head · open source
AnythingLLM vs Athena-Public
AnythingLLM has 66,155 GitHub stars, 7,348 forks, 311 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Athena-Public has 589 stars, 78 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. AnythingLLM leads on adoption by 11,132% (66,155 vs 589 stars). AnythingLLM is written in JavaScript under MIT; Athena-Public is written in Python under MIT. AnythingLLM has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Athena-Public 13%. AnythingLLM was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agents, llm), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| AnythingLLM | Athena-Public | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 589 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.3K | ⑂ 78 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick AnythingLLM if
- You weight community size — 66K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Athena-Public if
- You want the Athena-Public feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Athena-Public fits your workflow better
About AnythingLLM
AnythingLLM is a local first AI application that enables users to chat with their documents using any large language model (LLM), local or cloud hosted. It runs as a self hosted service—by default in Docker—and provides a complete interface for document ingestion, agent orchestration, multi user access, and workflow automation without requiring external cloud dependencies. The project lives in the local AI and AI interaction ecosystem, targeting users who want full control over their data and model selection.
read the full AnythingLLM overview →
About Athena-Public
Project Athena A local first agentic PKM that helps you make better decisions with your own context. Capture what you learn, retrieve it when relevant, and carry your context between models — a local first memory, reasoning, and governance layer for any LLM, across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and whatever you switch to next. Own the state. Rent the intelligence. Platforms forget. Athena doesn't. Most assistants remember you so they can agree with you faster. Athena remembers you so it can tell you when you're wrong. Quickstart · How It Works · Scheduled Tasks & Self RSI · llms.txt · Docs · FAQ · Safety · Contributin…
read the full Athena-Public overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AnythingLLM or Athena-Public more popular?
AnythingLLM has 66,155 GitHub stars and Athena-Public has 589. AnythingLLM has the larger community by that measure.
Are AnythingLLM and Athena-Public free?
Both are open source. AnythingLLM is licensed under MIT and Athena-Public under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AnythingLLM and Athena-Public?
AnythingLLM is written in JavaScript and Athena-Public in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, AnythingLLM or Athena-Public?
Choose AnythingLLM if you want the larger community (66,155 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Athena-Public if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.