head to head · open source
Jan vs GPTCache
Jan has 44,613 GitHub stars, 3,049 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped today. GPTCache has 8,201 stars, 596 forks, 101 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jan leads on adoption by 444% (44,613 vs 8,201 stars). Jan is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; GPTCache is written in Python under MIT. Jan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, GPTCache 7%. Jan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (chatgpt, gpt, 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
| Jan | GPTCache | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 8.2K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 596 |
| 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 GPTCache if
- You want the GPTCache feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and GPTCache 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 GPTCache
GPTCache is an MIT licensed Python library that builds a semantic cache for large language model queries, letting applications built on ChatGPT and other LLMs answer repeated or semantically similar prompts from a local cache instead of issuing a fresh, billable API call each time.
read the full GPTCache overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jan or GPTCache more popular?
Jan has 44,613 GitHub stars and GPTCache has 8,201. Jan has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jan and GPTCache free?
Both are open source. Jan has no licence declared in this registry, and GPTCache is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Jan and GPTCache?
Jan is written in Rust and GPTCache 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, Jan or GPTCache?
Choose Jan if you want the larger community (44,613 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose GPTCache if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.