head to head · open source
langchain vs UltraRAG
langchain has 148,892 GitHub stars, 25,031 forks, 492 open issues and last shipped yesterday. UltraRAG has 5,738 stars, 458 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped yesterday. langchain leads on adoption by 2,495% (148,892 vs 5,738 stars). langchain is written in Python under MIT; UltraRAG is written in Python under Apache-2.0. langchain has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, UltraRAG 8%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| langchain | UltraRAG | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 149K | ★ 5.7K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 25K | ⑂ 458 |
| 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 UltraRAG if
- You want the UltraRAG feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and UltraRAG 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 UltraRAG
Less Code, Lower Barrier, Faster Deployment 简体中文 English Latest News 🔥 [2026.01.23] 🎉 UltraRAG 3.0 Released: Say no to "black box" development—make every line of reasoning logic clearly visible 👉 📖 Blog [2026.01.20] 🎉 AgentCPM Report Model Released! DeepResearch is finally localized: 8B on device writing agent AgentCPM Report is open sourced 👉 🤗 Model Previous News [2025.11.11] 🎉 UltraRAG 2.1 Released: Enhanced knowledge ingestion & multimodal support, with a more complete unified evaluation system! [2025.09.23] New daily RAG paper digest, updated every day 👉 📖 Papers [2025.09.09] Released a…
read the full UltraRAG overview →
More in AI & Machine Learning
Related comparisons
More AI Development Platforms projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the AI Development Platforms field.
Frequently asked questions
Is langchain or UltraRAG more popular?
langchain has 148,892 GitHub stars and UltraRAG has 5,738. langchain has the larger community by that measure.
Are langchain and UltraRAG free?
Both are open source. langchain is licensed under MIT and UltraRAG under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between langchain and UltraRAG?
langchain is written in Python and UltraRAG in Python. 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 UltraRAG?
Choose langchain if you want the larger community (148,892 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose UltraRAG if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.