head to head · open source
langchain vs Codewhale
langchain has 148,892 GitHub stars, 25,031 forks, 492 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Codewhale has 41,167 stars, 3,571 forks, 110 open issues and last shipped yesterday. langchain leads on adoption by 262% (148,892 vs 41,167 stars). langchain is written in Python under MIT; Codewhale is written in Rust under MIT. langchain has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, Codewhale 9%. langchain 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 | Codewhale | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 149K | ★ 41K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 3.6K |
| 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 Codewhale if
- You want the Codewhale feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Codewhale 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 Codewhale
Codewhale Codewhale is an open source agent that reads your project, edits files, runs commands, and checks its work using a hosted or local model you choose. Start with one task in your terminal. For a larger job, give parts of the work to agents with different models and roles. 简体中文 · 日本語 · Tiếng Việt · Bahasa Indonesia · 한국어 · Español · Português · Русский · Українська · Français · Deutsch · 繁體中文 · हिन्दी · Türkçe · Italiano · Polski · العربية · Català Terminal preview from a v0.9.12 development build. Install macOS / Linux — install the official GitHub release: The installer selects the latest published…
read the full Codewhale overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is langchain or Codewhale more popular?
langchain has 148,892 GitHub stars and Codewhale has 41,167. langchain has the larger community by that measure.
Are langchain and Codewhale free?
Both are open source. langchain is licensed under MIT and Codewhale under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between langchain and Codewhale?
langchain is written in Python and Codewhale in Rust. 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 Codewhale?
Choose langchain if you want the larger community (148,892 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Codewhale if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.