head to head · open source
headroom vs openless
headroom has 78,773 GitHub stars, 6,155 forks, 643 open issues and last shipped yesterday. openless has 4,041 stars, 385 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. headroom leads on adoption by 1,849% (78,773 vs 4,041 stars). headroom is written in Python under Apache-2.0; openless is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. headroom has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, openless 10%. 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 | openless | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 79K | ★ 4.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.2K | ⑂ 385 |
| 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 openless if
- You want the openless feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and openless 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 openless
OpenLess Open source voice input for macOS, Windows & Linux Hold a hotkey, speak, and watch AI polished text stream straight to your cursor — in the writing style you choose. Website · Download · English / 中文 💬 Join our Discord · QQ Group 1078960553 Sponsors OpenLess is sustained by the generous support of its sponsors. 悠雾云数据 · Youwu Cloud Data (knin.net) Developers TRIP Author Chris233 Author / Maintainer bigsong Contributor / Tester HKLHaoBin Android author / Android Maintainer Cooper Contributor aeoform Contributor / Linux Maintainer jimmy54 macOS packaging & developer account OpenLess is a cross platform…
read the full openless overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is headroom or openless more popular?
headroom has 78,773 GitHub stars and openless has 4,041. headroom has the larger community by that measure.
Are headroom and openless free?
Both are open source. headroom is licensed under Apache-2.0 and openless under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between headroom and openless?
headroom is written in Python and openless in Rust. 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 openless?
Choose headroom if you want the larger community (78,773 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose openless if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.