head to head · open source
LobeChat vs Jan
LobeChat has 82,547 GitHub stars, 15,891 forks, 922 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jan has 44,512 stars, 3,032 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LobeChat leads on adoption by 85% (82,547 vs 44,512 stars). LobeChat is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Jan is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. LobeChat has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, Jan 7%. LobeChat 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
| LobeChat | Jan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 83K | ★ 45K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LobeChat if
- You weight community size — 83K 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 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 TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Jan fits your workflow better
About LobeChat
LobeHub is an open source platform for managing, building, and operating AI agent teams. It functions as a Chief Agent Operator (CAO), enabling users to organize, schedule, and monitor autonomous AI agents around the clock. The project lives in the AI interaction and interfaces ecosystem, integrating with major LLM providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, and Alibaba’s GLM series.
read the full LobeChat overview →
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.
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Frequently asked questions
Is LobeChat or Jan more popular?
LobeChat has 82,547 GitHub stars and Jan has 44,512. LobeChat has the larger community by that measure.
Are LobeChat and Jan free?
Neither LobeChat nor Jan declares a licence in this registry, so check each project's own repository before relying on either for a commercial use. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between LobeChat and Jan?
LobeChat is written in TypeScript and Jan in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, LobeChat or Jan?
Choose LobeChat if you want the larger community (82,547 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Jan if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.