head to head · open source
langchain vs openless
langchain has 148,892 GitHub stars, 25,031 forks, 492 open issues and last shipped yesterday. openless has 4,028 stars, 384 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped yesterday. langchain leads on adoption by 3,596% (148,892 vs 4,028 stars). langchain is written in Python under MIT; openless is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. langchain has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, openless 10%. 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 | openless | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 149K | ★ 4.0K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 384 |
| 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 openless if
- You want the openless feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and openless 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 openless
OpenLess Open source voice input for macOS, Windows & Linux Hold a hotkey, speak, and watch AI polished text stream straight to your cursor — in the writing style you choose. Website · Download · English / 中文 💬 Join our Discord · QQ Group 1078960553 Sponsors OpenLess is sustained by the generous support of its sponsors. 悠雾云数据 · Youwu Cloud Data (knin.net) Developers TRIP Author Chris233 Author / Maintainer bigsong Contributor / Tester HKLHaoBin Android author / Android Maintainer Cooper Contributor aeoform Contributor / Linux Maintainer jimmy54 macOS packaging & developer account OpenLess is a cross platform…
read the full openless overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is langchain or openless more popular?
langchain has 148,892 GitHub stars and openless has 4,028. langchain has the larger community by that measure.
Are langchain and openless free?
Both are open source. langchain is licensed under MIT and openless under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between langchain and openless?
langchain is written in Python and openless 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 openless?
Choose langchain if you want the larger community (148,892 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose openless if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.