head to head · open source
langchain vs Envoy AI Gateway
langchain has 146,538 GitHub stars, 24,504 forks, 492 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Envoy AI Gateway has 2,115 stars, 378 forks, 285 open issues and last shipped yesterday. langchain leads on adoption by 6,829% (146,538 vs 2,115 stars). langchain is written in Python under MIT; Envoy AI Gateway is written in Go under Apache-2.0. langchain has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, Envoy AI Gateway 18%. langchain was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), 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
| langchain | Envoy AI Gateway | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 147K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 378 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick langchain if
- You weight community size — 147K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Envoy AI Gateway if
- You want the Envoy AI Gateway 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 Envoy AI Gateway fits your workflow better
About langchain
LangChain is an open source framework for building agents and LLM powered applications, written in Python and released under the MIT license. It lives in the AI and machine learning ecosystem, specifically among AI development platforms, and it works by chaining together interoperable components and third party integrations so that AI application development becomes simpler. The project describes itself as the agent engineering platform, and its abstractions are designed to keep applications working as the underlying technology evolves.
read the full langchain overview →
About Envoy AI Gateway
Envoy AI Gateway is an open source control plane for AI and agent traffic, powered by Envoy. The README says the project is now Agent Router, an Agentic AI Foundation project, while the directory entry still uses the Envoy AI Gateway name. It lives in the Envoy, Envoy Gateway, Kubernetes, API gateway, LLM, and AI gateway ecosystem.
read the full Envoy AI Gateway overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is langchain or Envoy AI Gateway more popular?
langchain has 146,538 GitHub stars and Envoy AI Gateway has 2,115. langchain has the larger community by that measure.
Are langchain and Envoy AI Gateway free?
Both are open source. langchain is licensed under MIT and Envoy AI Gateway under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between langchain and Envoy AI Gateway?
langchain is written in Python and Envoy AI Gateway 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 Envoy AI Gateway?
Choose langchain if you want the larger community (146,538 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Envoy AI Gateway if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.