head to head · open source
headroom vs LiteLLM
headroom has 72,745 GitHub stars, 5,589 forks, 643 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LiteLLM has 59,003 stars, 11,534 forks, 5,022 open issues and last shipped yesterday. headroom leads on adoption by 23% (72,745 vs 59,003 stars). headroom is written in Python under Apache-2.0; LiteLLM is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence. headroom has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, LiteLLM 20%. LiteLLM was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (anthropic, langchain, 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 | LiteLLM | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 59K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 12K |
| 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 LiteLLM if
- You want the LiteLLM feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and LiteLLM 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 LiteLLM
LiteLLM is an open source AI gateway that provides a unified interface to call over 100 large language model (LLM) providers—including OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, Google VertexAI, and vLLM—using the OpenAI compatible API format. It runs as both a Python SDK for direct integration and as a standalone proxy server for centralized, team or organization wide use.
read the full LiteLLM overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is headroom or LiteLLM more popular?
headroom has 72,745 GitHub stars and LiteLLM has 59,003. headroom has the larger community by that measure.
Are headroom and LiteLLM free?
Both are open source. headroom is licensed under Apache-2.0, and LiteLLM has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between headroom and LiteLLM?
headroom is written in Python and LiteLLM 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 LiteLLM?
Choose headroom if you want the larger community (72,745 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose LiteLLM if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.