head to head · open source
headroom vs Envoy AI Gateway
headroom has 78,773 GitHub stars, 6,155 forks, 643 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Envoy AI Gateway has 2,341 stars, 449 forks, 285 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. headroom leads on adoption by 3,265% (78,773 vs 2,341 stars). headroom is written in Python under Apache-2.0; Envoy AI Gateway is written in Go under Apache-2.0. headroom has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Envoy AI Gateway 19%. headroom was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai, 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
| headroom | Envoy AI Gateway | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 79K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.2K | ⑂ 449 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick headroom if
- You weight community size — 79K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Envoy AI Gateway if
- You want the Envoy AI Gateway feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Envoy AI Gateway fits your workflow better
About headroom
Quickstart · Install · Proof · Agents · Docs · Discord · llms.txt AI agents / LLMs: read /llms.txt here, or fetch the live index · full docs blob . Headroom compresses everything your AI agent reads — tool outputs, logs, RAG chunks, files, and conversation history — before it reaches the LLM. Same answers, fraction of the tokens. Compression runs on your machine; no prompt or file content is sent anywhere to be compressed. 10,144 → 1,260 tokens. The same FATAL found. What it does Library — compress(messages) in Python or TypeScript, inline in any app. Proxy — headroom proxy port 8787 , zero code changes, any…
read the full headroom overview →
About Envoy AI Gateway
The open source control plane for AI and agent traffic, powered by Envoy. An Agentic AI Foundation project. Formerly Envoy AI Gateway . Documentation · Quickstart · Blog · Release Notes · Talks Agent Router Agent Router gives application teams one consistent, OpenAI compatible API for every model and tool, from hosted providers to self hosted inference and MCP servers. Platform teams keep credentials, routing, quotas, failover, and usage attribution in one place, enforced by Envoy and Envoy Gateway. Agent Router controls. Envoy carries. Formerly Envoy AI Gateway Envoy AI Gateway is now Agent Router , an Agentic…
read the full Envoy AI Gateway overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is headroom or Envoy AI Gateway more popular?
headroom has 78,773 GitHub stars and Envoy AI Gateway has 2,341. headroom has the larger community by that measure.
Are headroom and Envoy AI Gateway free?
Both are open source. headroom is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Envoy AI Gateway under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between headroom and Envoy AI Gateway?
headroom is written in Python and Envoy AI Gateway in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, headroom or Envoy AI Gateway?
Choose headroom if you want the larger community (78,773 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Envoy AI Gateway if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.