head to head · open source
LobeChat vs Leon
LobeChat has 83,716 GitHub stars, 16,033 forks, 922 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Leon has 17,629 stars, 1,479 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped yesterday. LobeChat leads on adoption by 375% (83,716 vs 17,629 stars). LobeChat is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; Leon is written in TypeScript under MIT. LobeChat has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, Leon 8%. LobeChat was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| LobeChat | Leon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 84K | ★ 18K |
| License | Custom / other | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick LobeChat if
- You weight community size — 84K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Leon if
- You want the Leon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Leon fits your workflow better
About LobeChat
[![][image banner]][vercel link] LobeHub LobeHub organizes your agents into 7×24 operation. It hires, schedules, reports on your entire AI team. You stay in charge — without staying online. English · 简体中文 · [Official Site][official site] · [Changelog][changelog] · [Documents][docs] · [Blog][blog] · [Feedback][github issues link] [![][github release shield]][github release link] [![][docker release shield]][docker release link] [![][vercel shield]][vercel link] [![][discord shield]][discord link] [![][codecov shield]][codecov link] [![][github action test shield]][github action test link] [![][github action…
read the full LobeChat overview →
About Leon
Leon Your open source personal AI assistant. I share Leon progress most regularly on X / @grenlouis Follow progress on X / @grenlouis · Website · Newsletter · Roadmap · Story ⚠️ Important Notice (as of 2026 03 29) [!IMPORTANT] Leon is currently focused on the 2.0 Developer Preview on the develop branch. The new documentation is not ready yet . The current docs site and older guides mostly reflect the legacy architecture. If you want the legacy, more stable pre agentic version of Leon, use the master branch. If you want to explore or contribute to Leon's new core, develop is the right place. The most accurate…
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Frequently asked questions
Is LobeChat or Leon more popular?
LobeChat has 83,716 GitHub stars and Leon has 17,629. LobeChat has the larger community by that measure.
Are LobeChat and Leon free?
Both are open source. LobeChat has no licence declared in this registry, and Leon is licensed under MIT. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between LobeChat and Leon?
LobeChat is written in TypeScript and Leon 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, LobeChat or Leon?
Choose LobeChat if you want the larger community (83,716 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Leon if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.