head to head · open source
Jan vs rikkahub
Jan has 44,566 GitHub stars, 3,040 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rikkahub has 7,740 stars, 690 forks, 282 open issues and last shipped today. Jan leads on adoption by 476% (44,566 vs 7,740 stars). Jan is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; rikkahub is written in Kotlin under AGPL-3.0. Jan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, rikkahub 9%. rikkahub 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
| Jan | rikkahub | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 7.7K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 690 |
| 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 rikkahub if
- You want the rikkahub feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and rikkahub 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 rikkahub
RikkaHub is a native Android LLM chat client, written in Kotlin and released under the AGPL 3.0 licence, that lets a single user switch between different AI providers inside the same conversation.
read the full rikkahub overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jan or rikkahub more popular?
Jan has 44,566 GitHub stars and rikkahub has 7,740. Jan has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jan and rikkahub free?
Both are open source. Jan has no licence declared in this registry, and rikkahub is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Jan and rikkahub?
Jan is written in TypeScript and rikkahub in Kotlin. 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 rikkahub?
Choose Jan if you want the larger community (44,566 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose rikkahub if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.