head to head · open source
generative-ai-for-beginners vs distilly
generative-ai-for-beginners has 119,956 GitHub stars, 63,149 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped yesterday. distilly has 24,828 stars, 2,154 forks, 37 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. generative-ai-for-beginners leads on adoption by 383% (119,956 vs 24,828 stars). generative-ai-for-beginners is written in Jupyter Notebook under MIT; distilly is written in Python under MIT. generative-ai-for-beginners has attracted 53% as many forks as stars, distilly 9%. generative-ai-for-beginners 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
| generative-ai-for-beginners | distilly | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 120K | ★ 25K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Jupyter Notebook | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 63K | ⑂ 2.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick generative-ai-for-beginners if
- You weight community size — 120K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Jupyter Notebook
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick distilly if
- You want the distilly feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and distilly fits your workflow better
About generative-ai-for-beginners
Generative AI for Beginners is Microsoft's free, MIT licensed curriculum of 21 Jupyter Notebook lessons that teaches developers how to start building generative AI applications, aimed at newcomers who want a structured, self paced path instead of scattered documentation.
read the full generative-ai-for-beginners overview →
About distilly
Distilly is an MIT licensed Python project that distills a person's messages, documents, interviews, and public sources into a reusable, source grounded Person Profile — packaged as an Agent Skill — so AI agents and compatible bots can work with that person's experience, judgment, voice, and ways of working.
read the full distilly overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is generative-ai-for-beginners or distilly more popular?
generative-ai-for-beginners has 119,956 GitHub stars and distilly has 24,828. generative-ai-for-beginners has the larger community by that measure.
Are generative-ai-for-beginners and distilly free?
Both are open source. generative-ai-for-beginners is licensed under MIT and distilly under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between generative-ai-for-beginners and distilly?
generative-ai-for-beginners is written in Jupyter Notebook and distilly 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, generative-ai-for-beginners or distilly?
Choose generative-ai-for-beginners if you want the larger community (119,956 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose distilly if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.