head to head · open source
Langflow vs langchain
Langflow has 156,266 GitHub stars, 10,311 forks, 1,056 open issues and last shipped yesterday. langchain has 148,892 stars, 25,031 forks, 492 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Langflow leads on adoption by 5% (156,266 vs 148,892 stars). Langflow is written in Python under MIT; langchain is written in Python under MIT. Langflow has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, langchain 17%. langchain was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (agents, chatgpt, generative-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
| Langflow | langchain | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 156K | ★ 149K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10K | ⑂ 25K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Langflow if
- You weight community size — 156K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick langchain if
- You want the langchain feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and langchain fits your workflow better
About Langflow
Langflow is a powerful platform for building and deploying AI powered agents and workflows. It provides developers with both a visual authoring experience and built in API and MCP servers that turn every workflow into a tool that can be integrated into applications built on any framework or stack. Langflow comes with batteries included and supports all major LLMs, vector databases and a growing library of AI tools. ✨ Highlight features Visual builder interface to quickly get started and iterate. Source code access lets you customize any component using Python. Interactive playground to immediately test and…
read the full Langflow overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Langflow or langchain more popular?
Langflow has 156,266 GitHub stars and langchain has 148,892. Langflow has the larger community by that measure.
Are Langflow and langchain free?
Both are open source. Langflow is licensed under MIT and langchain under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Langflow and langchain?
Langflow is written in Python and langchain 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 langchain?
Choose Langflow if you want the larger community (156,266 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose langchain if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.