head to head · open source
langchain vs cli
langchain has 146,562 GitHub stars, 24,508 forks, 492 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cli has 31,040 stars, 1,840 forks, 131 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. langchain leads on adoption by 372% (146,562 vs 31,040 stars). langchain is written in Python under MIT; cli is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. langchain has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, cli 6%. langchain 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
| langchain | cli | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 147K | ★ 31K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick langchain if
- You weight community size — 147K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cli if
- You want the cli feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and cli fits your workflow better
About langchain
LangChain is an open source framework for building agents and LLM powered applications, written in Python and released under the MIT license. It lives in the AI and machine learning ecosystem, specifically among AI development platforms, and it works by chaining together interoperable components and third party integrations so that AI application development becomes simpler. The project describes itself as the agent engineering platform, and its abstractions are designed to keep applications working as the underlying technology evolves.
read the full langchain overview →
About cli
gws is a command line tool for Google Workspace, written in Rust and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It provides a single interface for Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Sheets, Docs, Chat, Admin, and the wider set of Workspace APIs. Rather than shipping a fixed list of commands, it reads Google's own Discovery Service at runtime and builds its entire command surface dynamically, so new API endpoints and methods appear without a CLI release. The project lives in the Google Workspace ecosystem and is explicitly not an officially supported Google product.
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Frequently asked questions
Is langchain or cli more popular?
langchain has 146,562 GitHub stars and cli has 31,040. langchain has the larger community by that measure.
Are langchain and cli free?
Both are open source. langchain is licensed under MIT and cli under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between langchain and cli?
langchain is written in Python and cli in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, langchain or cli?
Choose langchain if you want the larger community (146,562 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cli if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.