head to head · open source
Jan vs row-bot
Jan has 45,409 GitHub stars, 3,145 forks, 521 open issues and last shipped yesterday. row-bot has 1,685 stars, 201 forks, 30 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Jan leads on adoption by 2,595% (45,409 vs 1,685 stars). Jan is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; row-bot is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Jan has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, row-bot 12%. Jan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | row-bot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.1K | ⑂ 201 |
| 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 row-bot if
- You want the row-bot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and row-bot 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 row-bot
Row Bot (formerly Thoth) Row Bot is a local first desktop AI assistant for doing real work with models, memory and tools. You talk to it in conversations; it remembers what matters in a local knowledge graph, works in the files, code folders, designs, workflows and channels you give it, delegates to focused agents, and asks before anything risky. It runs local models through Ollama, provider API keys, ChatGPT, Claude or Grok subscriptions, or any OpenAI compatible endpoint, and keeps your data on your machine. One React app serves the desktop window, browsers, phones and server mode. Features Conversations that…
read the full row-bot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Jan or row-bot more popular?
Jan has 45,409 GitHub stars and row-bot has 1,685. Jan has the larger community by that measure.
Are Jan and row-bot free?
Both are open source. Jan has no licence declared in this registry, and row-bot is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Jan and row-bot?
Jan is written in Rust and row-bot 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 row-bot?
Choose Jan if you want the larger community (45,409 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose row-bot if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.