head to head · open source
llama_index vs cortexdb
llama_index has 52,893 GitHub stars, 8,558 forks, 770 open issues and last shipped today. cortexdb has 501 stars, 32 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped today. llama_index leads on adoption by 10,457% (52,893 vs 501 stars). llama_index is written in Python under MIT; cortexdb is written in Go under MIT. llama_index has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, cortexdb 6%. llama_index was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (llm), 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
| llama_index | cortexdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 53K | ★ 501 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-14 | 2026-11-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.6K | ⑂ 32 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick llama_index if
- You weight community size — 53K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cortexdb if
- You want the cortexdb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and cortexdb fits your workflow better
About llama_index
🗂️ LlamaIndex (OSS Framework) 🦙 [!NOTE] The current focus of LlamaIndex is to build the best AI powered engine for document parsing and extraction. LlamaParse is our enterprise platform for agentic OCR, parsing, extraction, indexing and more. LiteParse represents our efforts to build the best free, fast, cheap text parser in the market. ParseBench and ExtractBench represent our commitment towards open benchmarking for parsing and extraction. The company itself has undergone an evolution since when this OSS framework first launched 3 years ago in 2023. Since the early days, the framework has consisted of a…
read the full llama_index overview →
About cortexdb
CortexDB AI memory and a knowledge graph in one SQLite file. Pure Go, no service to run, works without an embedding model. Install Use The plugin gives Claude Code and Codex one global brain at /.cortexdb/cortexdb.db , /remember , /recall and an auto recall hook. A session starts with an index of what the brain knows about its project, an agent about to open a file is told what happened to it before, and a session's durable facts are captured with text and credentials kept out. Point several agents or machines at one cortexdb grpc and they share the same memory and graph. In Codex, review and trust the plugin…
read the full cortexdb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is llama_index or cortexdb more popular?
llama_index has 52,893 GitHub stars and cortexdb has 501. llama_index has the larger community by that measure.
Are llama_index and cortexdb free?
Both are open source. llama_index is licensed under MIT and cortexdb under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between llama_index and cortexdb?
llama_index is written in Python and cortexdb in Go. 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 cortexdb?
Choose llama_index if you want the larger community (52,893 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cortexdb if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.