head to head · open source
langchain vs Bifrost
langchain has 148,892 GitHub stars, 25,031 forks, 492 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bifrost has 9,295 stars, 1,512 forks, 1,014 open issues and last shipped yesterday. langchain leads on adoption by 1,502% (148,892 vs 9,295 stars). langchain is written in Python under MIT; Bifrost is written in Go under Apache-2.0. langchain has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, Bifrost 16%. Bifrost 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
| langchain | Bifrost | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 149K | ★ 9.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick langchain if
- You weight community size — 149K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Bifrost if
- You want the Bifrost feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Bifrost fits your workflow better
About langchain
The agent engineering platform. LangChain is a framework for building agents and LLM powered applications. It helps you chain together interoperable components and third party integrations to simplify AI application development — all while future proofing decisions as the underlying technology evolves. [!TIP] Just getting started? Check out Deep Agents — a higher level package built on LangChain for agents that have built in capabilities for common usage patterns such as planning, subagents, file system usage, and more. Quickstart If you're looking for more advanced customization or agent orchestration, check…
read the full langchain overview →
About Bifrost
Bifrost AI Gateway The fastest way to build AI applications that never go down Bifrost is a high performance AI gateway that unifies access to 23+ providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex, and more) through a single OpenAI compatible API. Deploy in seconds with zero configuration and get automatic failover, load balancing, semantic caching, and enterprise grade features. Quick Start Go from zero to production ready AI gateway in under a minute. Step 1: Start Bifrost Gateway Step 2: Configure via Web UI Step 3: Make your first API call That's it! Your AI gateway is running with a web interface for…
read the full Bifrost overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is langchain or Bifrost more popular?
langchain has 148,892 GitHub stars and Bifrost has 9,295. langchain has the larger community by that measure.
Are langchain and Bifrost free?
Both are open source. langchain is licensed under MIT and Bifrost under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between langchain and Bifrost?
langchain is written in Python and Bifrost in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, langchain or Bifrost?
Choose langchain if you want the larger community (148,892 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Bifrost if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.