head to head · open source
LibreChat vs Jan
LibreChat has 46,647 GitHub stars, 9,596 forks, 732 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jan has 45,332 stars, 3,133 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LibreChat leads on adoption by 3% (46,647 vs 45,332 stars). LibreChat is written in TypeScript under MIT; Jan is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. LibreChat has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, Jan 7%. LibreChat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (chatgpt), 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
| LibreChat | Jan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 45K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LibreChat if
- You weight community size — 47K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Jan if
- You want the Jan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Jan fits your workflow better
About LibreChat
LibreChat English · 中文 🚀 What's New in v0.8.8 rc2 Agent run control: Interrupt an Agent before visible answer text, steer runs with files and quoted excerpts, durably queue follow ups, and recover saved partial work with Keep going or Answer now . Agent activity: Optional generated labels group reasoning and tool work, fold completed groups into live phase cards, keep generated files visible, summarize multi step phases, and show the current reasoning direction. Human in the loop Agents: Stream up to four related questions, pause for input or tool approval, and resume durably. Unified Agent Builder: Configure…
read the full LibreChat overview →
About Jan
Jan Open source ChatGPT replacement English · 中文 · 日本語 Getting Started Community Changelog Bug reports Jan is bringing the best of open source AI in an easy to use product. Download and run LLMs with full control and privacy . Installation The easiest way to get started is by downloading one of the following versions for your respective operating system: Platform Download Windows jan.exe macOS jan.dmg Linux (deb) jan.deb Linux (AppImage) jan.AppImage Linux (Arm64) How to Download from jan.ai or GitHub Releases. Features Local AI Models : Download and run LLMs (Llama, Gemma, Qwen, GPT oss etc.) from HuggingFace…
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Frequently asked questions
Is LibreChat or Jan more popular?
LibreChat has 46,647 GitHub stars and Jan has 45,332. LibreChat has the larger community by that measure.
Are LibreChat and Jan free?
Both are open source. LibreChat is licensed under MIT, and Jan has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between LibreChat and Jan?
LibreChat is written in TypeScript and Jan 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, LibreChat or Jan?
Choose LibreChat if you want the larger community (46,647 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Jan if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.