head to head · open source
AnythingLLM vs Orkas
AnythingLLM has 66,141 GitHub stars, 7,347 forks, 311 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Orkas has 2,029 stars, 83 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped yesterday. AnythingLLM leads on adoption by 3,160% (66,141 vs 2,029 stars). AnythingLLM is written in JavaScript under MIT; Orkas is written in TypeScript under MIT. AnythingLLM has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Orkas 4%. Orkas was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (agent-orchestration, agentic-ai, ai-agents), 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 | Orkas | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.3K | ⑂ 83 |
| 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 Orkas if
- You want the Orkas feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Orkas 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 Orkas
Orkas is an open source, local first AI desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux in which a Commander LLM plans a goal and coordinates specialist sub agents from one chat, built for people who want to command a team of agents rather than talk to a single chatbot.
read the full Orkas overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AnythingLLM or Orkas more popular?
AnythingLLM has 66,141 GitHub stars and Orkas has 2,029. AnythingLLM has the larger community by that measure.
Are AnythingLLM and Orkas free?
Both are open source. AnythingLLM is licensed under MIT and Orkas under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AnythingLLM and Orkas?
AnythingLLM is written in JavaScript and Orkas 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 Orkas?
Choose AnythingLLM if you want the larger community (66,141 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Orkas if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.