head to head · open source
Jan vs askimo
Jan has 44,630 GitHub stars, 3,052 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped yesterday. askimo has 500 stars, 103 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jan leads on adoption by 8,826% (44,630 vs 500 stars). Jan is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; askimo is written in Kotlin under AGPL-3.0. Jan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, askimo 21%. Jan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (chatgpt, gpt, llm, localai), 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
| Jan | askimo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 500 |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 103 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Jan if
- You weight community size — 45K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick askimo if
- You want the askimo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and askimo fits your workflow better
About Jan
Jan is an open source desktop application that serves as a ChatGPT replacement, enabling users to run large language models (LLMs) locally on their machines or connect to cloud based providers like OpenAI and Anthropic. It is built with Tauri, TypeScript, and integrates llama.cpp for efficient local inference, targeting privacy conscious users who want full control over their AI workflows without sending data to third parties.
About askimo
Askimo is an AGPL 3.0, Kotlin built AI desktop application that combines multi provider chat, local RAG over your own files, multi step Plans, reusable Skills, MCP tools, and delegated agent CLIs in one native client, for individuals who want to work with models without their data leaving the machine.
read the full askimo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jan or askimo more popular?
Jan has 44,630 GitHub stars and askimo has 500. Jan has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jan and askimo free?
Both are open source. Jan has no licence declared in this registry, and askimo is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Jan and askimo?
Jan is written in Rust and askimo in Kotlin. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Jan or askimo?
Choose Jan if you want the larger community (44,630 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose askimo if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.