head to head · open source
headroom vs graphrag
headroom has 72,811 GitHub stars, 5,598 forks, 643 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. graphrag has 36,022 stars, 3,795 forks, 47 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. headroom leads on adoption by 102% (72,811 vs 36,022 stars). headroom is written in Python under Apache-2.0; graphrag is written in Python under MIT. headroom has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, graphrag 11%. headroom was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
← all 13541 open source comparisons
Side by side
| headroom | graphrag | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 36K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 3.8K |
| 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 graphrag if
- You want the graphrag feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and graphrag 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 graphrag
GraphRAG is a modular, Python based, MIT licensed data pipeline and transformation suite from Microsoft Research that uses large language models to extract structured data from unstructured text, then exploits the resulting knowledge graph to form targeted context for question answering over private data.
read the full graphrag overview →
More in AI & Machine Learning
Related comparisons
More AI Development Platforms projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the AI Development Platforms field.
Frequently asked questions
Is headroom or graphrag more popular?
headroom has 72,811 GitHub stars and graphrag has 36,022. headroom has the larger community by that measure.
Are headroom and graphrag free?
Both are open source. headroom is licensed under Apache-2.0 and graphrag under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between headroom and graphrag?
headroom is written in Python and graphrag 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, headroom or graphrag?
Choose headroom if you want the larger community (72,811 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose graphrag if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.