head to head · open source
gpt-load vs optillm
gpt-load has 6,865 GitHub stars, 759 forks, 21 open issues and last shipped today. optillm has 4,296 stars, 388 forks, 23 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. gpt-load leads on adoption by 60% (6,865 vs 4,296 stars). gpt-load is written in Go under MIT; optillm is written in Python under Apache-2.0. gpt-load has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, optillm 9%. gpt-load was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (api-gateway, 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 | optillm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.9K | ★ 4.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 759 | ⑂ 388 |
| 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 optillm if
- You want the optillm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and optillm 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 optillm
OptiLLM is a Python project that provides an optimizing inference proxy for large language models. It exposes an OpenAI API compatible endpoint and sits between an application and model providers, allowing callers to request reasoning oriented optimizations without changing model weights or adding training. The project lives in the developer tools and API development ecosystem, and its topics connect it to agents, agentic workflows, API gateways, chain of thought prompting, and generative AI inference.
read the full optillm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gpt-load or optillm more popular?
gpt-load has 6,865 GitHub stars and optillm has 4,296. gpt-load has the larger community by that measure.
Are gpt-load and optillm free?
Both are open source. gpt-load is licensed under MIT and optillm under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gpt-load and optillm?
gpt-load is written in Go and optillm 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, gpt-load or optillm?
Choose gpt-load if you want the larger community (6,865 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose optillm if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.