head to head · open source
Jan vs Onyx
Jan has 45,270 GitHub stars, 3,130 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Onyx has 33,157 stars, 4,688 forks, 451 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Jan leads on adoption by 37% (45,270 vs 33,157 stars). Jan is written in Rust 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 | ★ 33K |
| License | Custom / other | Custom / other |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 4.7K |
| 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 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 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…
About Onyx
Onyx The Open Source AI Platform Onyx is the application layer for LLMs bringing a feature rich interface that can be easily hosted by anyone. Onyx enables LLMs through advanced capabilities like RAG, web search, code execution, file creation, deep research and more. Connect your applications with over 50+ indexing based connectors provided out of the box or via MCP. [!TIP] Deploy with a single command: ⭐ Features 🔍 Agentic RAG: Get best in class search and answer quality based on hybrid index + AI Agents for information retrieval Benchmark to release soon! 🔬 Deep Research: Get in depth reports with a multi…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jan or Onyx more popular?
Jan has 45,270 GitHub stars and Onyx has 33,157. 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 Rust 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 (45,270 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Onyx if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.