head to head · open source
AnythingLLM vs ChatUI
AnythingLLM has 66,155 GitHub stars, 7,348 forks, 311 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ChatUI has 4,448 stars, 426 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. AnythingLLM leads on adoption by 1,387% (66,155 vs 4,448 stars). AnythingLLM is written in JavaScript under MIT; ChatUI is written in TypeScript under MIT. AnythingLLM has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, ChatUI 10%. AnythingLLM was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | ChatUI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-03-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.3K | ⑂ 426 |
| 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 ChatUI if
- You want the ChatUI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and ChatUI 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 ChatUI
ChatUI is an MIT licensed UI design language and React component library for conversational interfaces, published on npm as @chatui/core and aimed at front end teams that need a ready chat surface instead of hand built message components.
read the full ChatUI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AnythingLLM or ChatUI more popular?
AnythingLLM has 66,155 GitHub stars and ChatUI has 4,448. AnythingLLM has the larger community by that measure.
Are AnythingLLM and ChatUI free?
Both are open source. AnythingLLM is licensed under MIT and ChatUI under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AnythingLLM and ChatUI?
AnythingLLM is written in JavaScript and ChatUI in TypeScript. 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 ChatUI?
Choose AnythingLLM if you want the larger community (66,155 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ChatUI if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.