head to head · open source

llama.cpp vs GPT4All

llama.cpp has 128,581 GitHub stars, 23,334 forks, 2,464 open issues and last shipped yesterday. GPT4All has 77,399 stars, 8,291 forks, 771 open issues and last shipped 1.3 years ago. llama.cpp leads on adoption by 66% (128,581 vs 77,399 stars). llama.cpp is written in C++ under MIT; GPT4All is written in C++ under MIT. llama.cpp has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, GPT4All 11%. llama.cpp 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.

llama.cpp ★ 129K GPT4All ★ 77K category AI & Machine Learning

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Side by side

	llama.cpp	GPT4All
GitHub stars	★ 129K	★ 77K
License	MIT	MIT
Written in	C++	C++
Last push	2026-09-17	2025-05-27
Forks	⑂ 23K	⑂ 8.3K
Self-hosting	Yes	Yes
Data ownership	Your server	Your server

pick llama.cpp if

You weight community size — 129K stars and counting
You want the MIT license terms
Your stack matches C++
You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance

full llama.cpp profile →

pick GPT4All if

You want the GPT4All feature set and don't need the biggest community
You prefer the MIT license terms
Your stack matches C++
You evaluated both and GPT4All fits your workflow better

full GPT4All profile →

About llama.cpp

llama.cpp is a C/C++ library and set of command line tools for running large language models (LLMs) and vision language models (VLMs) locally. It enables inference without external dependencies, targeting diverse hardware including Apple Silicon, x86 CPUs, NVIDIA GPUs (via CUDA), AMD GPUs (via HIP), and other accelerators. The project lives in the ggml ecosystem, leveraging the ggml tensor computation library for low level operations and quantized model execution.

read the full llama.cpp overview →

About GPT4All

GPT4All is an MIT licensed C++ chat application and Python client from Nomic that runs large language models privately on everyday desktops and laptops, built for developers and teams who want local inference without API calls, GPUs, or sending data off device.

read the full GPT4All overview →

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Frequently asked questions

Is llama.cpp or GPT4All more popular?

llama.cpp has 128,581 GitHub stars and GPT4All has 77,399. llama.cpp has the larger community by that measure.

Are llama.cpp and GPT4All free?

Both are open source. llama.cpp is licensed under MIT and GPT4All under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.

What is the difference between llama.cpp and GPT4All?

llama.cpp is written in C++ and GPT4All in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.

Which should I choose, llama.cpp or GPT4All?

Choose llama.cpp if you want the larger community (128,581 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose GPT4All if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.