head to head · open source
Jan vs Onyx
Jan has 44,516 GitHub stars, 3,032 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Onyx has 32,149 stars, 4,478 forks, 451 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Jan leads on adoption by 38% (44,516 vs 32,149 stars). Jan is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Onyx is written in Python under a custom or non-standard licence. Jan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Onyx 14%. Jan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (chatgpt, 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 | Onyx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 32K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 4.5K |
| 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 Onyx if
- You want the Onyx feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Onyx 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 Onyx
Onyx is an open source AI application layer that gives teams a self hostable chat interface with retrieval augmented generation over their own company data and more than 50 indexing connectors.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jan or Onyx more popular?
Jan has 44,516 GitHub stars and Onyx has 32,149. Jan has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jan and Onyx free?
Neither Jan nor Onyx 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 Jan and Onyx?
Jan is written in TypeScript and Onyx 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 Onyx?
Choose Jan if you want the larger community (44,516 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Onyx if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.