head to head · open source
llama_index vs burr
llama_index has 52,202 GitHub stars, 8,162 forks, 770 open issues and last shipped yesterday. burr has 2,553 stars, 195 forks, 99 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. llama_index leads on adoption by 1,945% (52,202 vs 2,553 stars). llama_index is written in Python under MIT; burr is written in Python under Apache-2.0. llama_index has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, burr 8%. llama_index 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_index | burr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.2K | ⑂ 195 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick llama_index if
- You weight community size — 52K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick burr if
- You want the burr 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 burr fits your workflow better
About llama_index
LlamaIndex is an MIT licensed, open source Python framework for building agentic applications — retrieval augmented generation systems, agents and multi agent workflows — on top of private documents and data, and it is aimed at AI engineers and teams who need to connect large language models to their own sources of context.
read the full llama_index overview →
About burr
Apache Burr (incubating) is an Apache licensed Python framework for building applications that make decisions — chatbots, agents, and simulations — which you monitor, trace, persist, and execute on your own infrastructure.
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Frequently asked questions
Is llama_index or burr more popular?
llama_index has 52,202 GitHub stars and burr has 2,553. llama_index has the larger community by that measure.
Are llama_index and burr free?
Both are open source. llama_index is licensed under MIT and burr under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between llama_index and burr?
llama_index is written in Python and burr 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_index or burr?
Choose llama_index if you want the larger community (52,202 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose burr if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.