head to head · open source
gpt-load vs macai
gpt-load has 6,865 GitHub stars, 759 forks, 21 open issues and last shipped today. macai has 932 stars, 77 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. gpt-load leads on adoption by 637% (6,865 vs 932 stars). gpt-load is written in Go under MIT; macai is written in Swift under Apache-2.0. gpt-load has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, macai 8%. gpt-load was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (claude, gemini, llm), 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
| gpt-load | macai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.9K | ★ 932 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-08-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 759 | ⑂ 77 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gpt-load if
- You weight community size — 6.9K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick macai if
- You want the macai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and macai fits your workflow better
About gpt-load
GPT Load is a self hosted AI gateway written in Go and released under the MIT license. It gives applications a single entry point — one base URL and one AccessKey — for reaching many AI providers at once. Providers, accounts, credentials, models, and routing policy are configured in the bundled management UI rather than in application code.
read the full gpt-load overview →
About macai
macai is an all in one native macOS AI chat application that connects to virtually any AI provider — ChatGPT, Claude, xAI (Grok), Google Gemini, Perplexity, Ollama, OpenRouter, and almost any OpenAI compatible API — and it is built for people on macOS 14.0 or later who want one app instead of a different client per provider.
read the full macai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gpt-load or macai more popular?
gpt-load has 6,865 GitHub stars and macai has 932. gpt-load has the larger community by that measure.
Are gpt-load and macai free?
Both are open source. gpt-load is licensed under MIT and macai under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gpt-load and macai?
gpt-load is written in Go and macai in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gpt-load or macai?
Choose gpt-load if you want the larger community (6,865 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose macai if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.