head to head · open source
chatbox vs AstrBot
chatbox has 41,791 GitHub stars, 4,252 forks, 1,290 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. AstrBot has 40,628 stars, 2,925 forks, 1,516 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chatbox leads on adoption by 3% (41,791 vs 40,628 stars). chatbox is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0; AstrBot is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. chatbox has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, AstrBot 7%. AstrBot was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (chatbot, chatgpt, gemini, gpt), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| chatbox | AstrBot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 41K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.3K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chatbox if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick AstrBot if
- You want the AstrBot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and AstrBot fits your workflow better
About chatbox
Chatbox (Community Edition) is a cross platform desktop client for large language models, written in TypeScript and released under the GPL 3.0 license. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and it connects to a range of providers including OpenAI (ChatGPT), Azure OpenAI, Claude, Google Gemini Pro, Ollama and ChatGLM 6B. The project lives in the AI interaction and interfaces ecosystem, where desktop chat front ends sit between a user and one or more hosted or locally hosted model APIs. The repository carries 41,767 stars and 4,251 forks across four years of history.
read the full chatbox overview →
About AstrBot
AstrBot is an open source all in one Agent chatbot platform written in Python and licensed under AGPL 3.0. It integrates with mainstream instant messaging applications and provides conversational AI infrastructure for individuals, developers, and teams. The project lives in the AI and machine learning ecosystem, specifically the AI interaction and interfaces category, and it has been developed over roughly four years. Its repository carries 40,504 stars and 2,915 forks, and its documented homepage is astrbot.app. Topics attached to the project include agent, ai, chatbot, chatgpt, discord, docker, gemini, gpt, lla…
read the full AstrBot overview →
More in AI & Machine Learning
Related comparisons
More AI Interaction & Interfaces projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the AI Interaction & Interfaces field.
Frequently asked questions
Is chatbox or AstrBot more popular?
chatbox has 41,791 GitHub stars and AstrBot has 40,628. chatbox has the larger community by that measure.
Are chatbox and AstrBot free?
Both are open source. chatbox is licensed under GPL-3.0 and AstrBot under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chatbox and AstrBot?
chatbox is written in TypeScript and AstrBot 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, chatbox or AstrBot?
Choose chatbox if you want the larger community (41,791 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose AstrBot if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.