head to head · open source
headroom vs opik
headroom has 73,130 GitHub stars, 5,624 forks, 643 open issues and last shipped yesterday. opik has 22,149 stars, 1,808 forks, 258 open issues and last shipped today. headroom leads on adoption by 230% (73,130 vs 22,149 stars). headroom is written in Python under Apache-2.0; opik is written in Python under Apache-2.0. headroom has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, opik 8%. opik was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (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 | opik | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 73K | ★ 22K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| 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 opik if
- You want the opik 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 opik 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 opik
Opik is open source LLM observability, evaluation, and AI agent tracing platform for teams building LLM apps, RAG systems, and agentic workflows, built by Comet, Apache 2.0 licensed, free to self host full platform.
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Frequently asked questions
Is headroom or opik more popular?
headroom has 73,130 GitHub stars and opik has 22,149. headroom has the larger community by that measure.
Are headroom and opik free?
Both are open source. headroom is licensed under Apache-2.0 and opik under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between headroom and opik?
headroom is written in Python and opik 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 opik?
Choose headroom if you want the larger community (73,130 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose opik if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.