head to head · open source
llama.cpp vs SeaGOAT
llama.cpp has 128,619 GitHub stars, 23,351 forks, 2,464 open issues and last shipped today. SeaGOAT has 1,308 stars, 92 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. llama.cpp leads on adoption by 9,733% (128,619 vs 1,308 stars). llama.cpp is written in C++ under MIT; SeaGOAT is written in Python under MIT. llama.cpp has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, SeaGOAT 7%. 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 | SeaGOAT | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 129K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 23K | ⑂ 92 |
| 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 SeaGOAT if
- You want the SeaGOAT feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and SeaGOAT 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 SeaGOAT
[!TIP] Check out zeitgrep, another search tool I am working on! SeaGOAT A code search engine for the AI age. SeaGOAT is a local search tool that leverages vector embeddings to enable you to search your codebase semantically. Getting started Install SeaGOAT In order to install SeaGOAT, you need to have the following dependencies already installed on your computer: Python 3.11 or newer ripgrep bat ( optional , highly recommended) When bat is installed, it is used to display results as long as color is enabled. When SeaGOAT is used as part of a pipeline, a grep line output format is used. When color is enabled, but …
read the full SeaGOAT overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is llama.cpp or SeaGOAT more popular?
llama.cpp has 128,619 GitHub stars and SeaGOAT has 1,308. llama.cpp has the larger community by that measure.
Are llama.cpp and SeaGOAT free?
Both are open source. llama.cpp is licensed under MIT and SeaGOAT under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between llama.cpp and SeaGOAT?
llama.cpp is written in C++ and SeaGOAT 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, llama.cpp or SeaGOAT?
Choose llama.cpp if you want the larger community (128,619 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose SeaGOAT if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.