head to head · open source
AnythingLLM vs vellum-assistant
AnythingLLM has 66,155 GitHub stars, 7,348 forks, 311 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vellum-assistant has 1,280 stars, 186 forks, 179 open issues and last shipped today. AnythingLLM leads on adoption by 5,068% (66,155 vs 1,280 stars). AnythingLLM is written in JavaScript under MIT; vellum-assistant is written in TypeScript under MIT. AnythingLLM has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, vellum-assistant 15%. vellum-assistant was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (agentic-ai), 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 | vellum-assistant | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.3K | ⑂ 186 |
| 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 vellum-assistant if
- You want the vellum-assistant feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and vellum-assistant 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 vellum-assistant
A personal AI assistant that evolves with you. 8 different types of memory (episodic, semantic, procedural, emotional, prospective, behavioral, narrative, shared) make it truly yours. It learns how you work, remembers what matters, and takes action across your apps. What It Does If you've set up a Personal AI on OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, or Claude Code, you know how long it takes, and how many times you have to hatch a new one to get it right. Vellum gets you the result you're looking for out of the box, one download away. Get Started 1. Sign up or download the app The desktop app is available for macOS and Windows…
read the full vellum-assistant overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AnythingLLM or vellum-assistant more popular?
AnythingLLM has 66,155 GitHub stars and vellum-assistant has 1,280. AnythingLLM has the larger community by that measure.
Are AnythingLLM and vellum-assistant free?
Both are open source. AnythingLLM is licensed under MIT and vellum-assistant under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AnythingLLM and vellum-assistant?
AnythingLLM is written in JavaScript and vellum-assistant 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 vellum-assistant?
Choose AnythingLLM if you want the larger community (66,155 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose vellum-assistant if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.