head to head · open source
headroom vs holmesgpt
headroom has 78,773 GitHub stars, 6,155 forks, 643 open issues and last shipped yesterday. holmesgpt has 3,776 stars, 567 forks, 432 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. headroom leads on adoption by 1,986% (78,773 vs 3,776 stars). headroom is written in Python under Apache-2.0; holmesgpt is written in Python under Apache-2.0. headroom has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, holmesgpt 15%. 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.
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Side by side
| headroom | holmesgpt | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 79K | ★ 3.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.2K | ⑂ 567 |
| 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 holmesgpt if
- You want the holmesgpt 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 holmesgpt 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 holmesgpt
HolmesGPT — The CNCF SRE Agent Installation Docs Open source AI agent for investigating production incidents and finding root causes. Works with any stack — Kubernetes, VMs, cloud providers, databases, and SaaS platforms. We are a Cloud Native Computing Foundation sandbox project. Originally created by Robusta.Dev, with major contributions from Microsoft. New: Operator Mode — Find Problems 24/7 in the Background Most AI agents are great at troubleshooting problems, but still need a human to notice something is wrong and trigger an investigation. Operator mode fixes that — HolmesGPT runs in the background 24/7…
read the full holmesgpt overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is headroom or holmesgpt more popular?
headroom has 78,773 GitHub stars and holmesgpt has 3,776. headroom has the larger community by that measure.
Are headroom and holmesgpt free?
Both are open source. headroom is licensed under Apache-2.0 and holmesgpt under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between headroom and holmesgpt?
headroom is written in Python and holmesgpt 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 holmesgpt?
Choose headroom if you want the larger community (78,773 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose holmesgpt if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.