head to head · open source
headroom vs Envoy AI Gateway
headroom has 73,130 GitHub stars, 5,624 forks, 643 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Envoy AI Gateway has 2,121 stars, 382 forks, 285 open issues and last shipped today. headroom leads on adoption by 3,348% (73,130 vs 2,121 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 18%. Envoy AI Gateway 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 | ★ 73K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 382 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick headroom if
- You weight community size — 73K 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
Headroom is an Apache 2.0 Python library, local proxy, agent wrapper and MCP server that compresses tool outputs, logs, files, RAG chunks and conversation history before they reach an LLM, and it is built for developers running AI coding agents or LLM applications who want to cut token usage without changing the answers they get.
read the full headroom overview →
About Envoy AI Gateway
Envoy AI Gateway is an open source control plane for AI and agent traffic, powered by Envoy. The README says the project is now Agent Router, an Agentic AI Foundation project, while the directory entry still uses the Envoy AI Gateway name. It lives in the Envoy, Envoy Gateway, Kubernetes, API gateway, LLM, and AI gateway ecosystem.
read the full Envoy AI Gateway overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is headroom or Envoy AI Gateway more popular?
headroom has 73,130 GitHub stars and Envoy AI Gateway has 2,121. 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 (73,130 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.