head to head · open source

llama.cpp vs txtai

llama.cpp has 133,181 GitHub stars, 25,063 forks, 2,464 open issues and last shipped yesterday. txtai has 13,062 stars, 960 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. llama.cpp leads on adoption by 920% (133,181 vs 13,062 stars). llama.cpp is written in C++ under MIT; txtai is written in Python under Apache-2.0. llama.cpp has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, txtai 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.

llama.cpp ★ 133K txtai ★ 13K category AI & Machine Learning

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Side by side

	llama.cpp	txtai
GitHub stars	★ 133K	★ 13K
License	MIT	Apache-2.0
Written in	C++	Python
Last push	2026-11-02	2026-11-01
Forks	⑂ 25K	⑂ 960
Self-hosting	Yes	Yes
Data ownership	Your server	Your server

pick llama.cpp if

You weight community size — 133K stars and counting
You want the MIT license terms
Your stack matches C++
You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance

full llama.cpp profile →

pick txtai if

You want the txtai feature set and don't need the biggest community
You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
Your stack matches Python
You evaluated both and txtai fits your workflow better

full txtai profile →

About llama.cpp

llama.cpp LLM inference in C/C++ ggml / ops / maintainer PRs%20sort%3Aupdated desc) / dev stats / lib llama API / llama server REST API Quick start A few options to get llama.cpp installed on your machine: Visit and follow the instructions Run with Docker see our Docker documentation Download pre built binaries from the releases page Build from source by cloning this repository check out our build guide Once installed: VLM session with llama cli Built in web UI against llama serve Description The main goal of llama.cpp is to enable LLM (and VLM) inference with minimal setup and state of the art performance on a…

read the full llama.cpp overview →

About txtai

All in one AI framework txtai is an all in one AI framework for semantic search, LLM orchestration and language model workflows. The key component of txtai is an embeddings database, which is a union of vector indexes (sparse and dense), graph networks and relational databases. This foundation enables vector search and/or serves as a powerful knowledge source for large language model (LLM) applications. Build autonomous agents, retrieval augmented generation (RAG) processes, multi model workflows and more. Summary of txtai features: 🔎 Vector search with SQL, object storage, topic modeling, graph analysis and…

read the full txtai overview →

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Frequently asked questions

Is llama.cpp or txtai more popular?

llama.cpp has 133,181 GitHub stars and txtai has 13,062. llama.cpp has the larger community by that measure.

Are llama.cpp and txtai free?

Both are open source. llama.cpp is licensed under MIT and txtai under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.

What is the difference between llama.cpp and txtai?

llama.cpp is written in C++ and txtai 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 txtai?

Choose llama.cpp if you want the larger community (133,181 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose txtai if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.