head to head · open source
llama.cpp vs neuron-ai
llama.cpp has 128,619 GitHub stars, 23,351 forks, 2,464 open issues and last shipped today. neuron-ai has 2,098 stars, 246 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped yesterday. llama.cpp leads on adoption by 6,031% (128,619 vs 2,098 stars). llama.cpp is written in C++ under MIT; neuron-ai is written in PHP under MIT. llama.cpp has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, neuron-ai 12%. llama.cpp 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
| llama.cpp | neuron-ai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 129K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 23K | ⑂ 246 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick llama.cpp if
- You weight community size — 129K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick neuron-ai if
- You want the neuron-ai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and neuron-ai fits your workflow better
About llama.cpp
llama.cpp is a C/C++ library and set of command line tools for running large language models (LLMs) and vision language models (VLMs) locally. It enables inference without external dependencies, targeting diverse hardware including Apple Silicon, x86 CPUs, NVIDIA GPUs (via CUDA), AMD GPUs (via HIP), and other accelerators. The project lives in the ggml ecosystem, leveraging the ggml tensor computation library for low level operations and quantized model execution.
read the full llama.cpp overview →
About neuron-ai
Create Full Featured Agentic Applications in PHP [!IMPORTANT] Get early access to new features, exclusive tutorials, and expert tips for building AI agents in PHP. Join a community of PHP developers pioneering the future of AI development. Subscribe to the newsletter Before moving on, support the Neuron AI community giving a GitHub star ⭐️. Thank you! What is Neuron? Neuron is a PHP framework for creating and orchestrating AI Agents. It allows you to integrate AI entities into your PHP applications with a powerful and flexible architecture. We provide tools for the entire agentic application development lifecycle…
read the full neuron-ai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is llama.cpp or neuron-ai more popular?
llama.cpp has 128,619 GitHub stars and neuron-ai has 2,098. llama.cpp has the larger community by that measure.
Are llama.cpp and neuron-ai free?
Both are open source. llama.cpp is licensed under MIT and neuron-ai under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between llama.cpp and neuron-ai?
llama.cpp is written in C++ and neuron-ai in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, llama.cpp or neuron-ai?
Choose llama.cpp if you want the larger community (128,619 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose neuron-ai if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.