head to head · open source
Khoj vs thoughtdag
Khoj has 37,547 GitHub stars, 2,498 forks, 148 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. thoughtdag has 511 stars, 50 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Khoj leads on adoption by 7,248% (37,547 vs 511 stars). Khoj is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; thoughtdag is written in TypeScript under MIT. Khoj has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, thoughtdag 10%. thoughtdag was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| Khoj | thoughtdag | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 511 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-02 | 2026-09-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 50 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Khoj if
- You weight community size — 38K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick thoughtdag if
- You want the thoughtdag feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and thoughtdag fits your workflow better
About Khoj
Khoj is a self hostable, open source AI second brain written in Python that turns any local or online large language model into a personal research, automation, and agent platform for individuals, small teams, and enterprises that want their documents and queries kept under their own control.
About thoughtdag
ThoughtDAG is an MIT licensed TypeScript application that turns LLM conversations into an editable thought graph on an infinite canvas, where each exchange becomes a node and the wires between nodes, rather than the whole transcript, decide what the model sees next; it is built for people who branch into side questions and want to keep the useful paths.
read the full thoughtdag overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Khoj or thoughtdag more popular?
Khoj has 37,547 GitHub stars and thoughtdag has 511. Khoj has the larger community by that measure.
Are Khoj and thoughtdag free?
Both are open source. Khoj is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and thoughtdag under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Khoj and thoughtdag?
Khoj is written in Python and thoughtdag 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, Khoj or thoughtdag?
Choose Khoj if you want the larger community (37,547 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose thoughtdag if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.