head to head · open source
langchain vs Langfuse
langchain has 146,562 GitHub stars, 24,508 forks, 492 open issues and last shipped today. Langfuse has 34,746 stars, 3,791 forks, 926 open issues and last shipped yesterday. langchain leads on adoption by 322% (146,562 vs 34,746 stars). langchain is written in Python under MIT; Langfuse is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. langchain has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, Langfuse 11%. langchain was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (langchain), 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 | Langfuse | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 147K | ★ 35K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 3.8K |
| 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 Langfuse if
- You want the Langfuse feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Langfuse 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 Langfuse
Langfuse is an open source LLM engineering platform for building, monitoring, and improving AI powered applications. It lives in the LLMops ecosystem and provides tooling for the full development lifecycle—from prompt iteration and evaluation to observability and dataset management. Built with TypeScript and powered by ClickHouse, it enables teams to track LLM calls, user sessions, and internal logic like retrieval or agent actions in a unified interface.
read the full Langfuse overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is langchain or Langfuse more popular?
langchain has 146,562 GitHub stars and Langfuse has 34,746. langchain has the larger community by that measure.
Are langchain and Langfuse free?
Both are open source. langchain is licensed under MIT, and Langfuse has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between langchain and Langfuse?
langchain is written in Python and Langfuse 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, langchain or Langfuse?
Choose langchain if you want the larger community (146,562 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Langfuse if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.