head to head · open source
AstrBot vs python-telegram-bot
AstrBot has 40,717 GitHub stars, 2,941 forks, 1,516 open issues and last shipped today. python-telegram-bot has 29,483 stars, 6,152 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped today. AstrBot leads on adoption by 38% (40,717 vs 29,483 stars). AstrBot is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; python-telegram-bot is written in Python under GPL-3.0. AstrBot has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, python-telegram-bot 21%. AstrBot was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (chatbot), 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
| AstrBot | python-telegram-bot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 29K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 6.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick AstrBot if
- You weight community size — 41K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick python-telegram-bot if
- You want the python-telegram-bot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and python-telegram-bot fits your workflow better
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 →
About python-telegram-bot
python telegram bot is a pure Python, asynchronous wrapper around the Telegram Bot API, distributed as the python telegram bot package on PyPI and developed in the open under the copyright holder's GPL listing. It lives in the Python ecosystem and targets Python 3.10 and newer. The repository carries the topics bot, chatbot, framework, python and telegram, and the project has been maintained for roughly eleven years. Its tagline, "We have made you a wrapper you can't refuse", is the project's own framing of the role it plays: a library that sits between a Python program and Telegram's servers.…
read the full python-telegram-bot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is AstrBot or python-telegram-bot more popular?
AstrBot has 40,717 GitHub stars and python-telegram-bot has 29,483. AstrBot has the larger community by that measure.
Are AstrBot and python-telegram-bot free?
Both are open source. AstrBot is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and python-telegram-bot under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between AstrBot and python-telegram-bot?
AstrBot is written in Python and python-telegram-bot 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, AstrBot or python-telegram-bot?
Choose AstrBot if you want the larger community (40,717 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose python-telegram-bot if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.