head to head · open source
Jan vs kelivo
Jan has 44,566 GitHub stars, 3,040 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kelivo has 3,990 stars, 440 forks, 467 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Jan leads on adoption by 1,017% (44,566 vs 3,990 stars). Jan is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; kelivo is written in Dart under AGPL-3.0. Jan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, kelivo 11%. Jan 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
| Jan | kelivo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 4.0K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Dart |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 440 |
| 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 TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick kelivo if
- You want the kelivo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Dart
- You evaluated both and kelivo 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 kelivo
Kelivo is an open source, cross platform LLM chat client built with Flutter for Android, iOS, macOS, Windows and Linux that lets users connect their own API keys across OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, DeepSeek, OpenRouter and any OpenAI compatible service without switching apps, aimed at people who want that range of models while keeping conversations, settings and files on their own device.
read the full kelivo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jan or kelivo more popular?
Jan has 44,566 GitHub stars and kelivo has 3,990. Jan has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jan and kelivo free?
Both are open source. Jan has no licence declared in this registry, and kelivo is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Jan and kelivo?
Jan is written in TypeScript and kelivo in Dart. 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 kelivo?
Choose Jan if you want the larger community (44,566 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose kelivo if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.