head to head · open source
Langflow vs Hercules
Langflow has 154,943 GitHub stars, 10,108 forks, 1,056 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hercules has 1,158 stars, 189 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Langflow leads on adoption by 13,280% (154,943 vs 1,158 stars). Langflow is written in Python under MIT; Hercules is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. Langflow has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Hercules 16%. Langflow was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (agents), 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
| Langflow | Hercules | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 155K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 189 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Langflow if
- You weight community size — 155K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Hercules if
- You want the Hercules feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Hercules fits your workflow better
About Langflow
Langflow is a visual builder platform for designing, testing, and deploying AI agents and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) pipelines. It lives in the Python based generative AI ecosystem and targets developers building intelligent applications. The project provides a low code interface to assemble components—such as LLMs, vector stores, memory modules, and tools—into executable workflows, while also exposing those workflows as APIs or MCP servers for integration into external applications.
read the full Langflow overview →
About Hercules
Hercules is an open source, AGPL 3.0 testing agent that turns plain Gherkin feature files into automated end to end UI, API, security, accessibility and visual tests for QA engineers, developers and platform teams who need browser level coverage without writing or maintaining test code.
read the full Hercules overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Langflow or Hercules more popular?
Langflow has 154,943 GitHub stars and Hercules has 1,158. Langflow has the larger community by that measure.
Are Langflow and Hercules free?
Both are open source. Langflow is licensed under MIT and Hercules under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Langflow and Hercules?
Langflow is written in Python and Hercules 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, Langflow or Hercules?
Choose Langflow if you want the larger community (154,943 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Hercules if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.